Just As I Am: A Novel (Invisible Life Trilogy) - Softcover

Harris, E. Lynn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385469705 ISBN 13: 9780385469708

Publisher: Anchor, 1995

Synopsis

E. Lynn Harris's blend of rich, romantic  storytelling and controversial contemporary issues like  race and bisexuality have found an enthusiastic and  diverse audience across America. Readers celebrate  the arrival in paperback of his second novel,  Just As I Am, which picks up where  Invisible Life left off,  introducing Harris's appealing and authentic characters to a  new set of joys, conflicts, and choices. Raymond,  a young black lawyer from the South, struggles to  come to terms with his sexuality and with the grim  reality of AIDS. Nicole, an aspiring  singer/actress, experiences frustration in both her career and  in her attempts to find a genuine love  relationship. Both characters share an eclectic group of  friends who challenge them, and the reader, to look at  themselves and the world around thern through  different eyes. By portraying Nicole's and Raymond's  joys, as well as their pain, Harris never ceases to  remind us that life, like love, is about  self-acceptance. In this vivid portrait of contemporary  black life, with all its pressures and the  complications of bisexuality, AIDS, and racism, Harris  confirms a faith in the power of love -- love of all  kinds -- to thrill and to heal, which will warm the  hearts of readers everywhere.

About this title

Review

At the end of Invisible Life, Raymond and Nicole had just ended a blossoming love affair when Nicole found herself unable to cope with Raymond's bisexuality. Just As I Am begins soon after that, as the two former lovers try to rebuild their lives. Raymond has moved to Atlanta to practice law, and he continues to question whether he's genuinely bisexual or really gay, but is unable to accept that a real lifetime love might happen with anyone but a wife. (The reappearance of charismatic--and closeted--pro football player Basil Henderson doesn't exactly make things easier for him.) Nicole has agreed to marry her rich, white lover, who's bankrolling her latest Broadway effort, even though she's not sure she loves him. She and Raymond are reunited when their mutual best friend, Kyle, succumbs to his HIV infection and Raymond returns to New York City to be by his side. Over the years, E. Lynn Harris has proved himself a powerful male counterpart to the commercial success of African American authors like Terry McMillan; the turbulent plot of Just As I Am, with its relentless focus on characters' feelings, ably demonstrates how he's become so popular.

From the Publisher

"Just As I Am more than delivers on the promise of Invisible Life. Harris gives his readers a refreshing view of African-American achievement, a touching characterization of a man living with AIDS, and a sensitive depiction of gay/straight friendships that is much to be hoped for in the world outside the book's pages." -- The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

About this edition

• Publisher: Anchor
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0385469705
• ISBN 13: 9780385469708
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384