Reviewer:
IndieReader
Publisher:
CreateSpace
Pages: 462
IR
Verdict: SIMPLE
SIMON is an engaging tale of a gay man's quest for enlightenment and
self-acceptance.
A young gay man struggles with
his identity as he recovers from drug abuse.
Simon Powell is in rehab,
trying to break free of cocaine addiction with the help of his lover Thad and
his mother Vivian. As part of his therapy, he is told to write out his life
story, and his feelings about his past. His reminiscences begin with his troubled
childhood in rural Arkansas, where his discovery of his own homosexuality
leaves him feeling rejected and irreparably separate from his family and
friends. Finding solace and family in Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, he
becomes a leading fundraiser and provider of spiritual guidance – but he must
deny his own sexuality in order to hold on to his secure place in the church,
and the resulting conflict, along with internal church conflict, leads him to
lose faith. Embroiled in drug addiction and despair, can Simon ever learn to
love himself as he is, and accept the love others have for him?
SIMPLE SIMON is a touching,
thoughtful look at one man’s search for family, self-acceptance, and the
ability to love and be loved. The author does not preach or spend too much time
on explication, but simply draws Simon’s life as it goes on, deftly showing his
emotional conflicts and self-doubt along with his triumphs and successes. The
Unification Church is shown with both honesty and sympathy, as a collection of
human beings with both virtues and flaws, rather than either an evil cult or a
group of holy saints. It is not difficult to see either the comfort and
certainty Simon finds there or the reason that that comfort and security cannot
last. The book does leave out a substantial and rather crucial part of Simon’s
life after he leaves the church, including the beginning of his relationship
with Thad. For such a vital part of Simon’s life – his salvation, perhaps –
Thad is left rather mysteriously offstage for the most part.
SIMPLE SIMON is an engaging
tale of a gay man’s quest for enlightenment and self-acceptance.
