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Boy, was I in for a shock.
Different People is not at all light-hearted. On the surface, it's a classic tale of two people meant for each other, whose circumstances preclude them from actually getting together. The title couldn't be more apt either: Eric, openly gay son of a liberal singel mother; Cal, closted son of activist fundamentalist Christian parents --- whose father worked with the Anita Bryant anti-gay campaign no less. Cal, as would be expected in a dramatic story, runs himself through the ringer, but the depths to which he sinks are told in a level of detail that makes you wonder just want Orland himself must have gone through growing up, or who he's associated with, to be able to achieve. His description of how someone feels who is unhappy with themselves, their decisions and their lives is spot on. It was hard not to completely break down crying while reading his story.
Interwoven with Cal's story, is Eric's story --- buff, beautiful, well adjusted, and yet his life is no picnic either, and he makes his mistakes as well, though he doesn't sink quite to the depths that Cal does.
At risk of telling too much, despite the intense story, it's not a tragedy, and the story ends on an upbeat note. It even has a believable upbeat ending, although I suspect the circumstances that lead to it are all too rare in real life, and the vast majority of people who get buried as far as either Cal or Eric, for that matter, do, don't have an "upbeat ending". But it does at least leave us with hope: hope that if it's reasonably possible for these two to dig themselves out of the cavern they've dug for themselves, there's hope for the rest of us to get out of the potholes of life that we dig for ourselves.
Posted by abatie at November 16, 2003 08:58 PM