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K.M. Soehnlein burst onto the literary
scene with his bestselling debut novel, The
World of Normal Boys, which told the
story of a suburban family's disintegration
and a young man's
coming of age with both rage and a ferocious tenderness.
Now, in You Can Say
You Knew Me When, he tackles
the thorny landscape of fathers and sons, exploring
the risks of connection and the impossibility of
life without it.
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Jamie Garner is returning to his hometown in New Jersey
for the first time in years. The occasion is his estranged
father's funeral. His father could never accept the fact
that Jamie was gay, and this haunts every facet of Jamie's
life back in San Francisco at the height of the dot.com
bubble. Jamie's long absence has created tension between
him and his relatives, even his once-close sister Deirdre.
Jamie is wondering why he even bothered coming back when
he stumbles across a box of old memories from his father's
youth -- a year spent in "Frisco" as a Beatnik...and
a photograph of a beautiful young man mysteriously signed "You
can say you knew me when."
Jamie becomes obsessed with piecing together the events
of his father's life in San Francisco so many years ago.
Was his father gay? Why did he have so many gay friends
then but totally reject his son years later? And why would
he never speak of his year in San Francisco? Jamie hunts
down and interviews people mentioned in his father's letters
and journal, he visits the places his father visited, he
reads the books his father read, but the man in the photograph
remains tantalizingly out of reach.
As Jamie's obsession grows, his life begins to fall apart.
He starts using drugs more and more, he completely neglects
his work, and he even starts cheating on Woody, his steady
boyfriend. Can Jamie find what he's looking for in his
father's life before he destroys his own?
You Can Say You Knew Me When is author K.M. Soehnlein's
second novel, following his well-received The
World of Normal Boys. His second offering is a very grown-up story.
There is considerable recreational drug use as well as
unprotected sex. It's also well-told and beautifully written.
Even though for much of the book I found myself wanting
to slap some sense into Jamie, I couldn't help relating
to him and recognizing bits of myself in him. I found myself
rooting for him to get himself together. He's a very three-dimensional,
realistic protagonist.
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