Tales My Body Told Me by Wayne Courtois

Title: Tales My Body Told Me  
Author: Wayne Courtois
Publisher: Lethe Press
Length: Novel/320 pages Ebook
Buy the book: Ebook,  Paperback

Blurb:

Sex. Satire. Mystery. Foul Play. True Love. Not necessarily in that order.

Paul Lavarnway thought he had settled into comfortable, middle-aged domesticity in Kansas City with his husband Eric. So how is it he finds himself confined with four other gay men at East Oak House, a spooky old mansion from which they can see the rundown, off-season resort of Two Piers, Maine, with its single pier and silent Ferris Wheel? He can’t remember. Is it the drugs? The group therapy meant to help Paul and his housemates learn to be happy ex-gays?

While winter deepens outside the windows, Paul and his companions and their sweetly sinister mentor Brian explore the past and the future without ever quite understanding their present in the hot-house atmosphere of East Oak House. As memory comes to the surface, Paul discovers truths about himself, his husband, the man who came between them, and the accidental lover whose death looks more and more like murder.

Shifting with surreal grace from profound emotion to shallow sex to mystery and horror to outrageous comedy to redemption (maybe), Tales My Body Told Me is a novel like no other.

Review:

Tales My Body Told Me is a bit of a jumbled mess. There are several elements thrown in on a very meandering road that eventually leads to a point, but by that time I had forgotten the purpose and direction of the book. There are flashes of excellence amid the chaos and the author’s unique voice and beautiful prose shines through. Unfortunately the entire plot feels directionless with long rambling scenes that seem to have no point and offer little to the story itself. The characters seem to lack any definition and the main character is inherently unlikable. All of this combines to make the story seem as through you’re reading through a fogged lens, never quite sure what is reality and what is not.

The story starts with Paul living in some kind of a halfway house. His memories are disjointed and he can’t quite remember how or why he got there. The home seems to be a very small, private recovery center for gay men that want be straight. There are 4 other residents and the overseer. Paul struggles to make sense of his day to day life with memories flashes of his past. The story follows Paul as he indulges in graphic, frequent day dreams about sex with other residents which may or may not have happened. At the same time, the story gives glimpses into Paul’s past and how he came to be at the recovery center.

The plot from the summary sounds interesting and the concept of mystery surrounding a recovery center for gay men has a lot of potential. In fact I read the book as soon as I got it. Unfortunately the mystery aspect is not a main driving force nor is it very well defined or executed. The mystery is convoluted, improbable, and ends up with a really silly resolution despite the strong premise. The mastermind, which is no spoiler to tell you, is an incredibly old man that can barely talk so the entire resolution at the end seems just stupid. Not to mention there are long rambling scenes that does nothing to promote the mystery nor really advances the book at all. These tend to be filled with anonymous sex, random insights, page after page of the main character’s self indulgent whining.

Part of the problem with the book is the main character, Paul. Paul is well defined and constantly given time and attention to develop, but unfortunately he’s not a very likable man. Paul destroys his relationship with his partner for no real reason nor does he even recognize his actions and their consequences until afterwards. He spends the entire space of the book crying and whining about his predicament, which he himself causes and does absolutely nothing to correct or better. He lacks any motivation, insight, or courage to take charge of his life. He is content to drift in the wake of others’ and let them direct his life. He maybe regrets his actions but it’s difficult to assign that emotion to him since he mostly pities himself more than anything. The book also makes a point of describing just about any and every unflattering characterization to Paul so much that I had no idea why his partner would do the things he did.

Beyond an unlikable narrator, the pace is very slow. Like I’ve said the story reads like a winding, snaking road with a destination at the end but no strong direction to get there. The writing has moments of sheer brilliance which shows the author’s skill. These shine in the quiet moments of great descriptions, the chilly Maine coast, fearful scary basement, and the emotions of the characters fleeting in their experiences. With a more strongly plotted story, this book could have really shined. Instead it languished in unimportant scenes that offered little to the whole. For example there is almost an entire chapter devoted to the characters as they watch a scary movie. There are no additional insights offered to the men involved, or the mystery in general. This is just an indulgent chapter showing the closeness of men and seeking each other out. Similarly, there is a lot of sex between all the men, pretty consistently and regularly with very little out of emotion but steeped in shame and convenience.

Without a strong focus, the scenes seem too arbitrary from sex to flashbacks to elements of mystery. Perhaps the book is meant to be a glimpse into the mindset of those that seek out such recovery centers, but none of the characters ever delve into that possibility. Perhaps the book is meant to be a mystery, yet the mystery is almost unimportant and given the least amount of attention and focus. Perhaps the book is meant to look at the mistakes and missteps of an older man, struggling through life and that comes across but in a very unflattering, unappealing manner. Either way I didn’t enjoy reading this unfortunately even as the moments of real skill kept me carrying through to the end. I’d definitely check out other offerings by this author – in fact I really loved his Report from Winter – but this is not one I can recommend.