|
TRANS-SISTER RADIO concerns a newly divorced schoolteacher, Allison Banks, who falls in love with the man who teaches a summer course on film in which she is registered. The twist? Dana Stevens, the professor she loves, is not exactly what he seems from the outside: this well-manicured, gentle-faced man is in actuality a woman --- and he is facing an upcoming sex change. Allison's daughter Carly and her ex-husband Will try to deal with her new passion as best they can. With Will the president of Vermont Public Radio, TRANS-SISTER RADIO ends up alternating between the transcripts of a public radio conversation about the dilemma and individual chapters narrated by each of the characters in order to tell the long and involved and very contemporary tale.
However, as in other books by Chris Bohjalian, I don't get the feeling that he has completely nestled under the skin of each of these characters. Allison seems to me to be the most fully realized, but Carly and Will and Dana seem like cardboard cutouts of real people. Although the story makes sense and the topic is remarkably provocative, it feels like the emotional resonance of the story drowns under the flipping around of the narratives. Too many perspectives makes it hard in this case to really understand what is going on. I would prefer, of all the characters, to see this story from one perspective, perhaps the daughter's.
The erotic love that Dana and Allison share is understandable and the extent of their dilemma in continuing to love each other is understandable as well. But it feels more like a journalistic take on a curious and utterly modern twist in a love affair. It was difficult for me to get through this book as I kept yearning for one character with whom I could truly relate. There wasn't one, ultimately, so the narrative fell flat.
Bohjalian is a fine writer --- his words flow together nicely and we're never lost in the plot. But there is a depth that is missing here. Perhaps after having to research so deeply the information needed to tell us Dana's story, there wasn't a lot of energy left over to infuse it with the beating heart of real people and a real love story. It was a fine read, but I felt like the issue deserved a less even tone. A complicated and confusing case of sexual redefinition, changing the lives of all four main characters, should have left me crying and irrevocably moved. It didn't. A fine beach read, but if you're looking for something more involved, you'll feel unfulfilled.
--- Reviewed by Jana Siciliano
Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.
© Copyright 1996-2008, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
Back to top.
|
