A BITCH FOR GOD

A struggling screenwriter becomes entangled with a cult in Carlton’s novel, set during the height of the AIDS crisis.

Tyler St. George is an aspiring writer in Los Angeles in the early 1990s during the worst days of the AIDS crisis—as a gay man, it torments him to see so many of his friends succumb to the deadly disease and the community to which he belongs be ravaged. Desperate to make a difference of some kind, he begins working as a chef (he’s got real culinary talent) working for Manna from Heaven, a nonprofit organization that delivers food to those dying from AIDS. The operation is run by Lakshmi Steinmetz, a self-styled sage who promotes an incoherent mix of Christian and Buddhist teachings and brazenly presents herself as a prophet on a par with Jesus Christ. Tyler is not impressed by her at all, as evidenced by his memorable reaction to her hubristic con: “I could see that most of it was gibberish, malarkey, the disconnected ramblings of a mildly schizophrenic woman who had read a lot of books, some of them taught by her husband, and then she regurgitated them. It was speaking in tongues.” To make matters worse, she’s not just a charlatan but a hypocritical boss, one who advocates caring for the sick and dying but who refuses to offer healthcare to her own workers. Tyler’s pay is meager, and he quickly finds himself buried in debt and exhausted by the relentless work, his requests for modest raises dismissed. Robert Braverman, a famously handsome model, joins the organization, and this seems to promise reform—his “IQ was as big as his cock but his heart seemed even bigger.” However, Lakshmi turns on him, as she turns on everyone, and a personal war between them ensues.

The author paints a delicate but powerful portrait of a time haunted by AIDS and the heartbreaking effect it had on the gay community in California and beyond. The crisis was a monumental event even for those who were never infected, as Tyler points out to his longtime boyfriend, Kyle: “Kyle, the best thing that ever happened to this relationship was the AIDS crisis. We were forced to be monogamous and the fighting ended. I liked it, the peace that followed ... I felt safe with you.” Tyler is a fascinating protagonist—he is disgusted by Lakshmi’s nihilistic opportunism, but he also wonders if he isn’t just as much of a shallow opportunist. However, far too much of the book is devoted to the internecine disputes within Lakshmi’s cult—her workers are routinely humiliated by her, are either fired or quit in fits of impatient exhaustion, then sign non-disclosure agreements in exchange for generous severance packages. This cycle palls, especially since there is never any mystery about Lakshmi’s character—like Tyler, the reader knows from the very beginning that she is a narcissistic fraud. Still, despite the dreary repetitiveness of the narrative, Carlton’s poignant and unflinching depiction of the battle against AIDS, and the grim rise of those who profited from it, warrants a read.

A bracing account of the destruction left in the wake of AIDS.