P'tit Cadeau, by Anel Viz

P'tit Cadeau

Anel Viz

Ben is an artist on sabbatical from the American college where he teaches. He has a year in France and wants to fill hi sketchbooks and canvases with the remarkable sights he can find in the south of France and in Italy. He did not expect that one of his favorite subjects for his art would come to mean so much to him, his new model and lover, Jean-Yves Cadot.

The two men meet in the small mountain town of Sainte-Repouze where Jean-Yves' father took the family after a scandal involving a priest at the young man's school in Dijon. The young man, now in his early twenties, lives with his spiteful and bitter sister who considers him simple-minded and a naughty child. Ben befriends him, discovers he is anything but simpleminded but very possibly too childlike for his own good. His relationship with Jean-Yves grows as he paints and draws him, in works like the cover painting, "Boy Wading". He resists his growing attraction to him, believing the young man is heterosexual, but they eventually become quite ardent lovers. The novel chronicles their relationship as Ben sets Jean-Yves on the road to self confidence and achievement.

I could not believe how often my emotional reaction to the story changed, right along with the narrator Ben's. At first I was charmed by Ben's kindness and Jean-Yves sweetness, but I soon saw how the complicating factors in their couplehood, namely Ben's fear of falling in love with someone he would be forced to leave to return to the states, I became just as anxious as Ben and Jean-Yves. From there I saw how dependent the young man was and felt the desperation that itself was replaced by a sneaking suspicion that he was more manipulator than dependent. Separated for years, I started to long to know how Jean-Yves was coping, how he was living his life, and was as anxious as Ben to see him again. Along with the artist narrator I found him strong, talented, and more appealing than ever. I wanted to keep him, as did Ben.

What this boils down to is, quite simply, a real relationship. Romances are about ups and downs, yes, but not usually ones that mirror the lives of us mortals. Ben and Jean-Yves are as changeable, as likely to make mistakes, as likely to surprise themselves and others, and as unpredictable as any other two humans on the earth. No two people will hold the same roles nor relationships either, the give and take being the norm, unlike in much fiction. I found this powerful, so much more satisfying than books where not only the story is fiction but the types of people in them as well. Viz is a wonderful writer, as neat, both economical and eloquent and satisfying as I have read.

Something I noticed in one of Viz's other novels, The City of Lovely Brothers, that I found in P'tit Cadeau I was charmed to find here as well. The fictional author/narrator breaks into the recounting of the story to let drop little hints as to future incidents or situations. Just enough to tweak your curiosity but not to give anything away. This could be tiresome, but in Viz's hands it's like a sprinkling of unexpected spice in the chef d'oeuvre. Ben mentions , for instance, that although at the point in the narrative it looks like the two men are splitting forever, Jean-Yves "still" enjoys being Ben's model years later. How tantalizing! You find yourself even more curious to see how that comes about. No predictability, just a flash of something sparkling off in the distance.

Two other elements I appreciated. Jean-Yves is not just gay. He is naturally disposed to making love to women, but he loves Ben, who happens to be male. To my mind, love and sexuality are far too fluid to define narrowly, but at the same time love you have for a special person is fixed. For Jean-Yves his love and lover is Ben. He enjoys sex with him because he loves him, and that is in spite of horrible abuse as a child. I also liked how Viz introduces the case of gay marriage through introducing his characters so the reader will come to understand in a visceral way what the lack of marital rights would mean to two people of either gender who love each other. That is how you turn "them" into "us".

The sex. There is no question that one of Viz's gifts is writing erotic scenes without narrowing the novels he writes to simply erotic novels. His sex scenes are hot, and though some might call them unduly graphic, I don't agree. I don't see why one wouldn't want to experience all the joys a loving couple share. It is just too bad many readers who could gain so much from the novels will be put off by the sex.

I read few contemporary novels, but the sheer pleasure of this expertly crafted love story was worth getting lost out of time for its duration. I bought it for my Kindle 3 and thank the author and the publisher, Silver Publishing, for enabling text to speech so I could read it.