Tuesday, May 31, 2016

SIMPLE SIMON by William Poe




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.