Ms. Hen reviews Leading Men

 

Leading Men

Christopher Castellani

Viking

2019

Ms. Hen found this at a Little Free Library near where she lives. She has seen the author around Boston many times at events, but never got around to reading his books. She doesn't know what took her so long, but when something is meant to be, it happens.

She happened to be reading this at the same time she was watching the second season of HBO's WHITE LOTUS, which also takes place in Italy, and the two works complimented each other. Ms. Hen could smell the warmth of summer as she read this novel, and as well as the sea and the wine and marinara sauce.

This novel is about Tennessee Williams, and his lover Frank Merlo, while they stay in Italy in the 1950s. They go to a party in Portofino given by Truman Capote, and meet a Swedish mother and daughter who appear to need help. The mother, Bitte, wants to marry a rich man, and the daughter, Anja wants to be an actress. Tennessee and Frank decide to assist Anja with her career.

The narrative travels back and forth between time when Tennessee and Frank first meet Anja, to Anja in present day, and also to when Frank is sick with cancer in the hospital in New York. Anja in present time is over eighty, and becomes friends with the son of Sandro, a man she met in Italy when she was young. She tells him about Tennessee's last play that is in her possession, and he tries to convince her to produce it.

Ms. Hen adored this novel. She loves reading about writers and how quirky and unstable they are, the way they work, and their habits, and lifestyles. The world was different in Tennessee Williams' time, not better or worse, but different. Women had it worse, and were not respected, but the gay men in this novel admire straight women, and enjoy their company.

This novel gives an excellent example of writing in varying timelines. Ms. Hen got to see Anja as a young woman, then an elderly woman, and she saw how she had evolved, and the world had transformed around her. Experiencing characters at different phases of life, not gradually, but with sharp lines between the chapters is an exciting way to read. There's a lot to Anja, and the other characters, that occurs that is not mentioned, but is written between the lines. Ms. Hen likes not having the whole package handed to her neatly.

Ms. Hen read this novel slowly, because she did not want it to end. She wanted to keep living in this world, with Tennessee and Frank and Anja and Sandro, because it's a beautiful world, full of artists and the possibility of beauty. Artists create beauty, but the world around them is not always beautiful. Ms. Hen dreams of a beautiful world, and this novel helped her experience that for a little while.