The Forever Marathon by Jameson Currier; Chelsea Station Editions, $18
It is common knowledge that loving relationships wax and wane over time, their commitments ebbing and flowing across the span of open arrangements and anniversaries, through sheer delight and dismal discord. In the opening pages of accomplished gay author Jameson Currier's fifth novel The Forever Marathon, a longtime, middle-aged gay couple bickers about dry cleaning and whether one is coming home that evening or not. The set-up makes for an inauspicious beginning to a novel that could use some sugar and spice, but is as real as it gets.
Jesse and Adam's relationship, having endured for 24 years ("in gay time, that's longer than forever," an onlooker remarks), has seen better days. Their partnership is fraying along its edges, and the sexy fun enjoyed in the beginning has now become a faded memory �" a reminder that both men have morphed into different people, with painfully dissimilar needs and desires. The temporary fix for their frustration and interpersonal angst is to place themselves in the presence of younger, sexier men: Adam with his personal trainer, and Jesse taking day trips to New York City in search of the ultimate temporary distraction.
Currier's story isn't a protracted examination of the disappointed and the misunderstood, but instead smoothly plays out over the course of two days as the men, who met while each was in graduate school then transplanted themselves from the Manhattan shuffle to suburban Pennsylvania, take a stern look at their future. Adam's livelihood as a psychotherapist more than compensates for law-school-dropout Jesse's lack of employment and lack of desire to do anything other than be a housewife and pitch-perfect party host.
While Jesse is off sulking on a bus into Manhattan to visit a "friend" (actually a liposuction consultation), Adam's Porsche stalls out in the gym parking lot, setting Currier's uncomplicated plot into motion. Adam accepts a ride home with young, blond-bearded Shane, who makes a series of pit stops, and the day goes downhill from there. Meanwhile, Adam and Jesse leave each other a series of nasty voicemails, re-fueling that morning's argument and exacerbating a situation that becomes increasingly implausible. If your relationship has devolved to the point of days-long bickering, leaving each other nasty messages, and being apart to play around with other guys, then what's the point?
Both men arrive back home just in time to host an ironic 10th-anniversary party for another couple, but the backlash from the day before erupts in a swirl of hospital visits, drug dealers, and missing cars. The petty one-upmanship of Adam and Jesse's epic battle does grow tiresome, and the reader may eventually wish these dejected queens would just separate already and enjoy the rest of their lives with others. But the ride itself is ultimately a fun one. Currier is a talented storyteller with a knack for engrossing characterization and bona fide emotion.