Equal Affections

Equal Affections tells the story of the funny, loving, and tragic Cooper family. Louise, the indomitable matriarch, has had cancer for twenty years. Her son Danny, a lawyer, lives in a New Jersey suburb with his lover Walter, who is slowly growing obsessed with on-line sex; her daughter April is a lesbian activist and folk singer, who knows how to perform a do-it-yourself artificial insemination using basic kitchen utensils. As Louise battles the slow withdrawal of her husband and the ravages of her disease, and as the entire Cooper family struggles to come to terms with her illness, David Leavitt reveals the profound depth and compassion of his narrative command. Leavitt has written from the point of view of a raging, self-dramatizing mother with clarity and with such compassion that we understand her bitterness and mourn her lost chances. – The New York Times Book Review