Back in high school chemistry, we defined the term as the science of mixingelements, creating a compound that is very different than either of the ingredients.It works the same way with people, as pointed out in Lewis DeSimone's excellent first novel, "Chemistry".
The narrator of the book is Neal, a gay man in his late 20's who is a new arrival in San Francisco.Having left behind a failed relationship in his native Boston, Neal finds a unfulfilling but well-paying job as an ad copywriter, and starts to explore the city with Martin, an older man who is the brother of a female friend back in Boston.On one of his first trips to a local bar, Neal is charmed by the impulsive and outgoing Zak, and the two begin a relationship, despite not having much in common (other than a mutual attraction to each other) and Zak's increasingly worse mood swings.It soon becomes apparent that Zak's condition is more physical (a "chemical imbalance") than behavioral, and Neal stands by him throughout a most difficult time in his life, despite Martin's suggestion that their relationship is more than a bit one-sided and codependent. Ultimately, Neal has to take a step back and look at what the relationship is doing to him, as opposed to what he really gets out of it.
A frank, intelligently-written and well paced novel, saying what needs to be said to people who rush into "loving" relationships without really understanding what the word should mean.As someone who has occasionally tended toward codependence in past friendships and at least one relationship, the book definitely spoke to me, and I recommend it highly to all.
Product DescriptionHow much does biology have to do with who a person is?
Chemistry is the emotionally charged story of Neal and Zach, passionate gay lovers torn apart by mental illness. At first meeting they discover a sexual and emotional chemistry that cannot be denied. Then, as illness consumes one, each must grow, repair himself, and work to become stronger and more independent to ultimately conquer the life-crushing consequences wrought by mental illness and emotional dependency. This touching, introspective story will move you-and have you thinking about the motivations and events in your own life.
Neal Bauer is an intellectual and rather controlled gay man, in love with the idea of being in love. His past holds an unhealthy relationship which he struggles to come to grips with. Now he is faced with another relationship with a man in which he can lose himself, a descent of self into the inevitable trap of codependence.Zach Reddison is a free spirit, highly sexual, the product of an unhappy and abusive childhood. Zach has spent much of his life wandering in an attempt to escape his painful past. His swirling descent into clinical depression and serious mental illness is the stuff of nightmares for both him and for his lover.
I'd grown used to Zach, to the weight his body lent the other side of the bed. After all this time (back then, three months seemed like a very long time), I began to take for granted his inevitable place in my life. It never occurred to me that he could be temporary, like the others. I didn't think in terms of temporary or permanent; Zach was simply there, that was all there was to it. He was real to me in a way that no other man had ever been-in a physical sense, as inexorable and undeniable as a mountain range or a sea. Before, I had made fantasies of my lovers, loved them for the most abstract of reasons-the creamy notes of longing that wept from Adam's cello; the swirl of ideas that excited me whenever Brian opened his mouth-but Zach was different. Unique among them, Zach struck me primarily as a physical, tangible presence-flesh, bone, blood. He was tousled head of chestnut hair, unkempt on the pillow beside me in the morning when I woke early and waited for his eyes to! open.
Chemistry is the story of the chemical attraction between lovers, the brain chemistry that determines personality and mood, the medications needed for regaining mental health, and the relationships between people who care for one another. It is an enthralling novel of courage, liberation, and self-realization.
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To me, Dean Koontz has always been a writer who is either on again or off again.He has written books that are outstanding in the suspense field (Intensity, Dark Rivers of the Heart), and those that are largely a mess (Sole Survivor, Tick Tock).False Memory falls somewhere in between.Thisnovel of mind control and nefarious conspiracies has several scenes ofheart-pounding suspense, but often times it plods along as the author dragsout situations through several chapters that would have been much moreeffective if they had been compacted into a shorter space.For example,one of the main characters, Martie Rhodes is mysteriously afflicted withsevere autophobia (the fear of one's self), which results in her irrationalfear that she will attempt to murder everyone she loves.Unfortunately thereader has to suffer through chapter after chapter after chapter of Martierunning madly through the house trying to dispose of every item that mightpotentially be turned into a weapon, and it gets really boring really fast.This is not to say that the whole book is bad; in fact it's quite good attimes. The novel's villain is viciously evil and very well crafted.Theauthor is especially good at honing his characterizations as well asmaintaining that almost undefinable trait that only the best writershave--he makes you want to keep reading. Special note: I found it prettyamusing that one of the characters who appears late in the novel is anarcissistic writer who spends a great deal oftime writing phony reviews to make his own book seem better than it is, and phonynegative reviews of his most serious competitor's book.I assume Koontzdoesn't need to do this, because he really is a terrific writer.
