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Summary
Summary
"Evaristo''s confident control of the language, her vibrant use of humor, rhythm and poetry, and the realistic mix of Caribbean patois with both street and the Queen''s English...fix characters in the reader''s mind."
-- New York Times Sunday Book Review
"As a writer at the Guardian once proclaimed, if you don''t know Evaristo''s work, you should...the novel proves to be revolutionary in its honest portrayal of gay men...and Evaristo''s writing is both intelligible and compelling."
-- Library Journal (starred review)
"Evaristo crafts a colorful look at a unique character confronting social normativity with a well-tuned voice and a resonant humanity."
-- Publishers Weekly
"In this vibrant novel, Evaristo draws wonderful character portraits of complex individuals as well as the West Indian immigrant culture in Britain."
-- Booklist
"Although Evaristo has always been an innovative stylist, her latest novel, the critically acclaimed, award-winning smash, Mr. Loverman , is her chef d''oeuvre; a masterful dissection of the life of a 74-year-old, British-Caribbean gay man."
-- Huffington Post
Included in the Bay Area Reporter ''s "Pride Reading List: Prose & Poetry"
Included in Baltimore Out Loud ''s Pride Reading List
"If the novelist''s job is to make sense of the world, Bernardine Evaristo''s entire oeuvre attests to her desire to upend preconceived notions of what is and isn''t impossible and reflect that mirror right back at her readers. Mr. Loverman is a powerful, morally rigorous and joyful novel and Bernardine Evaristo is a writer at the height of her imaginative powers."
-- Huff Post Books
"Barrington Jedediah Walker lives in London, but he also lives a lie...As his marriage self-destructs, Barrington sees an opportunity to be with the man he loves, but after such protracted misery in this comic, touching book, happiness seems distant and frightening."
-- Village Voice
" Mr. Loverman is a brilliant portrayal of a life that is only lived fully during the twilight years and the struggle within to get there...This is a book for everyone, not to be shelved into a grouping for just one sector of society."
-- NEWZ4U.NET
"Barrington is the kind of character that is naturally likeable; from his love of Shakespeare down to the tips of his boots, he oozes charm and charisma."
-- Lit Reactor
"It takes you and shakes you silly, leaving you stunned...Of the many books I''ve read so far this year, Mr. Loverman is one of the best."
-- 1330v
" Mr. Loverman is beautifully written book that will leave readers wanting to discuss it with everyone they know."
-- Bloggers Recommend
"Delightful...a good read."
-- Book Reviews Given by Arlena
"Bernardine Evaristo uncovers characters lost to history and myth and with compassion, an original and brilliant voice, and an unparalleled craft--all tinged with humor--she restores them and thus us."
-- Chris Abani, author of The Secret History of Las Vegas
"Evaristo is extremely attentive to the function of language, the power of words to shape reality."
-- Ron Charles , Washington Post Book World
Barrington Jedidiah Walker is seventy-four and leads a double life. Born and bred in Antigua, he''s lived in Hackney, London, for years. A flamboyant, wise-cracking character with a dapper taste in retro suits and a fondness for Shakespeare, Barrington is a husband, father, grandfather--and also secretly gay, lovers with his childhood friend, Morris.
His deeply religious and disappointed wife, Carmel, thinks he sleeps with other women. When their marriage goes into meltdown, Barrington wants to divorce Carmel and live with Morris, but after a lifetime of fear and deception, will he manage to break away? With an abundance of laugh-out-loud humor and wit, Mr. Loverman explodes cultural myths and shows the extent of what can happen when people fear the consequences of being true to themselves.
Author Notes
Bernardine Evaristo was born in London to a Nigerian father and English mother. She is a former poet in residence at the Museum of London.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Evaristo's (Blonde Roots) enjoyable new novel follows Barrington Walker, a 74 year-old Antiguan man living in Hackney, London. A husband, father, and grandfather, Barry is a respectable elder with deep pockets and antiquated views of masculinity, but he's also a flamboyant character with deep affections for retro suits, highbrow literature, and his childhood friend and gay lover, Morris. In the twilight of life, Barry is out of patience with his bitter wife, Carmel, and their disintegrated marriage, and he longs to accept Morris's offer to move in together. Barry tells his story in a winning mix of patois and eloquent "speaky-spoky," that is insightful and often hilarious as he confronts his "scaredy-cat" fears and the probable ramifications of finally following his heart. Interspersed chapters from Carmel's point of view highlight her experiences in 10 year intervals, with poetic sentence fragments mixed with longing, self-talk, and prayer; these monologues lend balance to the narrative and trouble the reader's alliance. Barry's story parades a wide range of characters of varying depth and complication, and pivotal conflicts that don't always beget significant consequences. Despite an ending too neatly tied, Evaristo crafts a colorful look at a unique character confronting social normativity with a well-tuned voice and a resonant humanity. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Barrington Walker is a 74-year-old transplanted Antiguan living in Hackney, London, and wrestling with a late-life crisis. For more than 20 years, he has pondered leaving his profoundly unhappy wife, Carmel, for his lover and childhood friend, Morris de la Roux. Barry is a dapper dresser, lover of Shakespeare, wise investor, and shrewd observer of the human condition. But he is unable to reconcile his own inner conflicts and come to account for what his actions and inactions have cost his wife and his lover. Can he do it this time, with his daughters more than grown up? Carmel herself is obviously dissatisfied with the marriage, giving Barry an ultimatum as she journeys back to Antigua to see her dying father. She is fed up with his weekends of drinking and carousing with, she thinks, women. He is fed up with her clutch of churchy, judgmental friends so critical of him. In this vibrant novel, Evaristo draws wonderful character portraits of complex individuals as well as the West Indian immigrant culture in Britain.--Bush, Vanessa Copyright 2014 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
IN 2012, AT the age of 82, the indomitable stage and screen actor Christopher Plummer won his first Academy Award for his energetic portrayal of Hal Fields, a 75-year-old who comes out of the closet shortly after his wife's death, in Mike Mills's structurally complex romantic comedy "Beginners." In the film, Hal's full-throttled, last-call embrace of life inspires his son, Oliver, to fully embrace his own, while asking what exactly it takes to start life anew, and when, if ever, it's too late. Bernardine Evaristo's latest novel, "Mr. Loverman," summons these same questions in a rousing, provocative way. This is Evaristo's sixth book. Known for her lyricism, wit and unflinching view of modern Britain, Evaristo here presents Barrington Jedidiah Walker, a wisecracking, rum-and-Coke-swigging West Indian transplant who navigates London's Hackney borough as he sorts through this particular conundrum. Like Hal Fields, Barrington is in his mid-70s and gay, though a lifetime of fear and shame has kept him from outwardly identifying with the types of men those around him call pooftahs, homos, bullers, antimen, batty boys, pansies and the like. Barrington is married to the Bible-toting Pentecostalist Carmel, all the while maintaining a secret affair with Morris de la Roux, whom he's loved since they were teenagers in Antigua. Finally, after 50 years in a dead-end marriage, Barrington decides it's time to ask for a divorce and move in with Morris. The problem is, he still isn't sure he's ready to come out - to "jump into the great abyss of social alienation," as he puts it. Whether he can muster the strength to do so is the question that drives the story. The novel opens in May 2010, but Evaristo quickly backtracks to critical moments from the past, both in London and Antigua, that relate to Barrington's current dilemma. "This is what happens when 75 percent of your life is in the past," Barrington notes. "Each step forward triggers a step backward." Evaristo is more than adept at these shifts, not only in Barrington's perspective but also in Carmel's, enlarging tenfold the dimensions of Barrington's predicament by intertwining historical and contemporary issues of race, immigration, generational divides, neighborhood gentrification, sibling rivalries, social progress, social disillusionment and, most directly, AfricanCaribbean sexuality. This is rich territory - dense - and Evaristo clearly knows her subjects. So much is said, so much ground covered so quickly, that one might easily get lost in the interwoven threads if not for Evaristo's confident control of the language, her vibrant use of humor, rhythm and poetry, and the realistic mix of Caribbean patois with both street and the Queen's English helping to fix characters in the reader's mind. Yet there are occasional passages in which the prose feels forced, notably with secondary characters like Barrington's daughters, the dowdy social worker Donna and the shallow stylist Maxine, whose descriptions and dialogue often seem inflated to overcompensate for their lack of subtlety. (Maxine calling her friends "my gay boys" feels not just trite but cringe-worthy.) Moreover, I longed for greater complexity in Barrington and Morris's relationship, in their communication with each other, a few gestures toward the graceful hint at hidden intricacies Evaristo provides at the end of the book. Meanwhile, as Barrington cajoles and drinks and struggles and makes desperate mistakes along the way to figuring out if he is capable of living openly as the man he has secretly been all of his life, we are reminded that he cannot see himself as others do - certainly not as his wife and daughters see him, or even as the community around him does. We are forced to consider the nature of his fears, both real and imagined, and how they have pressed him to lead a double life, stalling countless possibilities for happiness and causing himself and others so much pain. After 50 years of dead-end marriage, the hero decides to move in with his boyfriend. ELLERY WASHINGTON is an associate professor of creative writing at the Pratt Institute. He is at work on a novel, "Buffalo."
Library Journal Review
As a writer at the Guardian once proclaimed, if you don't know Evaristo's work, you should. The Royal Society of Literature Fellow, whose works have been named Book of the Year nine times by various British papers, writes of Barrington Walker, a 74-year-old Antiguan living in London with his wife of 50 years. Despite their long-standing union and their two daughters and grandson, Barrington is unhappy. He wants to leave his wife, who has long suspected his infidelity, for childhood friend Morris, with whom he has maintained an affair for nearly 60 years. As Evaristo details the love between Morris and Barrington while also introducing us to younger characters grappling with their identities, the novel proves to be revolutionary in its honest portrayal of gay men. Evaristo further reveals the barely known phenomenon of intrahomosexual discrimination and differences in how gays and lesbians have been portrayed in various nations and periods in history. The Walker family relationships are particularly intriguing, with no character appearing insensate, and Evaristo's writing is both intelligible and compelling. VERDICT Like James Baldwin's Another Country, this work will appeal to readers of gay and literary fiction.-Ashanti White, Yelm, WA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
