After reading The Page
Turner and quickly sending it to the charity shop, I was delighted to find
this book and read something of literary significance written by Leavitt.
The Lost Language of
Cranes is, without a doubt, one of the best books I read in 2016. What I
liked so much about it is that it can be read as a gay novel just as easily as
it can be read as a novel on generational divides, family crises, and so many
other things. As a pretty straight-forward heterosexual white reader, I found
that I could empathize and sympathize with all the Benjamins, while I suspect
that a gay audience would be – understandably – more critical of Rose.
The book allows non-gay readers to reach a better (although
by no means full, clearly!) understanding of the AIDS scare of the 1980s, of
the problems homosexuals face when growing up and coming out, and also of the
practical and physical aspects of gay sex – my mom told me Leavitt openly
declared that he wanted to educate people in his books, and The Lost Language of Cranes clearly
proves this.
Also, the story made me long for New York – a city that I am
afraid I won’t get to visit again for a little while, with the baby and all…
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