David Rothenberg's Reviews

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If I would describe the plot of Chris Bohjalian's new novel, TRANS-SISTER RADIO, with a broad brush, it might well sound like an outline for a Rickie Lake or Jerry Springer Show. Let me illustrate: Allison Banks, a Vermont schoolteacher, divorced and mother of a college-aged coed, falls in love with a film professor from a near-by university.

Dana, the professor, has a major secret. Though he is androgynous in appearance he is, nevertheless, quite the heterosexual lover, but a man with a secret. He is planning a sex change! And Allison must decide whether to break off the relationship or enter into a lesbian affair with the man she loves. Or the woman she loves, after the operation.

Townspeople are scandalized - and this upwardly mobile, civilized group of people suddenly turns into a sanitized version of the bigots in the film "Boys Don't Cry." Dana describes them as Babbitt vulgarians.

In Mr. Bohjalian's deft telling of this story, TRANS-SISTER RADIO, while inherently startling for its unsettling premise, is, nevertheless, a revealing tale of today and a novel that you can't dismiss.

TRANS-SISTER RADIO, a double entendre title about gender politics and radio reporting, is also about blurred distinctions in a sexually confused society. A movie such as the overpraised "American Beauty" aspires to such levels, but this book forces readers to consider their fears and prejudices about human sexuality.

The author is both a first-rate story-teller and a subtle social essayist. It is a wonderful combination that results in the most absorbing book you will read this year.

HARMONY BOOKS has published TRANS-SISTER RADIO, and the author is Chris Bohjalian. It's due out in early May.

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