The Limits of Pleasure

Fiction. Gay/Lesbian Studies. Jewish Studies. Even during scorching sexual encounters with strangers in public parks and gay baths, Dave Miller is haunted by images-some perverse, some downright homey-of his dead family. In two intertwined chronologies, this remarkable novel follows Dave, a 40-year-old Jewish man who was raised by his Orthodox, Holocaust-survivor grandmother. From the cruising spots of Boston to the gay tourist scene in Amsterdam, Dave trysts dangerously with every available man. "We've heard of survivors' guilt, but Daniel Jaffe brings us a visceral understanding of its less understood concomitant, survivors' rage, in this extraordinarily fearless novel."--Diane Lefer.