In the Country of the Great King

March 1, 1993
``There are a lot of characters,'' Katelyn Wells says to Arista Bellefleurs in evaluating her new novel, which also constitutes the bulk of Ashley's novel. Indeed, plot is subordinated to an unwieldy web of relationships, centered on Greenwich Village. In the guise of fictional characters, Katelyn is attracted to Arista, in Arista's tale, but carries a torch for Nelson Little; Quentin Cox is hiding out in Italy because he has AIDS and his lover of 20 years, Buff Carrington, has disappeared. Long ago, Luke Serensons was one of the two lovers of Maggie Silvernails, who has returned to her Zuni roots in the desert. The other was Jamie Callahan, whose former wife, Eve, commits suicide by jumping out of a window, very near the Rev. Christian Davies (on whom Arista has a crush; Eve meets his late wife after she dies) and Henry Chang. Who is Henry Chang? Just another undeveloped character, like everyone else here. Ashley ( The Christ of the Butterflies ) drives home the interconnectedness of her characters by running scenes together like a transition in an Escher print. The story takes a forgiving view of humanity, yet it still reads like a Greenwich Village soap opera steeped in pretense and wan psychology.