THE B-SIDE OF DANIEL GARNEAU

A gay young man ponders his future in Yeh’s novel.

Medical student Daniel is in a happy, loving relationship with David in Toronto, but he’s got the nagging sense that not everything is as it should be. For one thing, David’s brother wants him to be a sperm donor for him and his partner, which Daniel isn’t really on board with. In the background is Marcus, who Daniel dated before David and who is often on Daniel’s mind. As the months go by, Daniel starts to realize that he and David are forming a family, and that David has been doing the heavy lifting in their relationship; Daniel resolves to commit to the relationship and ask David to marry him. Of course, once Daniel makes this decision, Marcus reappears (“There he was: my ex-boyfriend in a trench coat and Ray-Bans, leaning against a glorious red convertible with cream-coloured bucket seats. I felt like Mia Sara summoned out of school by Ferris Bueller. It wasn’t a Ferrari 250GT, but it might as well have been”). Ultimately, Daniel has to decide what shape he wants his adult life to take, and whether his “happily ever after” is with David. The novel has a large cast of quirky characters, most of them artists. The narrative covers a year in the life of Daniel, who moves through a series of interesting events on his way to discovering who he is and what he wants; he attends a literary salon in which all of the readers are naked, consoles his peers about their messy love lives, graduates from medical school, fights with his best friend, endures his brother’s homophobic girlfriend, and becomes part of an art exhibit when nude photos of him are included in one of Marcus’ installations. The story is a fun trip through the lives of this eclectic group of friends, and the relationship between Daniel and David is equal parts raunchy and sweet. This is the third book in a trilogy, but it works fine as a standalone story.

A fun, funny look at gay life in Toronto.