Fall Asleep Forgetting Book

"Now finished with me, she dressed. Paul brought my clothes to me. Then she took her husband's hand and walked with him back along the water's edge, to home I suppose. She might have just finished a morning swim by the look of her relaxed gait, feeling no regret for abruptly leaving the embraces of the sea. But not me. I felt as if I had witnessed a horrible accident and had just watched the ambulance pull away, feeling intensely drawn into others' lives and then left alone in the shrieking, silent aftermath with absolutely no idea what would happen next."

Such is the sexual and emotional intensity that permeates the pages of Fall Asleep Forgetting. This journal entry by Claude is one of many which are interwoven into a tale of an African- American restaurateur who is dying, his beautiful but withdrawn wife, and this woman, Claude, who becomes entangled in their relationship. Other players include a jealous transvestite, a Korean War veteran, as well as accidental parents and their misfit child turned savior. They all live in or nearby an unusual trailer park on Long Island Sound, all struggling with humor and heart to survive the summer of 2001. These characters are often plagued by overindulgence, whether seduced by lavish foods, religious zeal, or sexual desire. Their lives collide in surprising ways and each is, in the end, handed the opportunity to act heroically.

Publishers Weekly

The novel opens in 1959 with a small piece about a wife leaving her indifferent husband to find independence and then jumps to the summer of 2001 and a trailer park in Long Island, home to an odd group of characters whose only commonality is their address. They include the park’s transvestite owner and her former stockbroker boyfriend, a couple with an impudent young daughter and a rocky marriage, and Claude, a park employee who falls unexpectedly into a sexual relationship with Sloan, the wife of local restaurant owner Paul, who is dying of cancer and planning his suicide. Paul observes the couple’s lovemaking from afar, remaining a silent witness to the relationship he has encouraged. As the affair continues and Claude’s passion for Sloan grows, the characters’ lives begin to collide. Slow moving and repetitive, especially in the sexual encounters between Claude and Sloan, the story, while good in theory, needs more developed characters to create any prolonged interest. (July)