Equal Affections

This is the story of the funny, loving, and tragic Cooper family living in the 70s. Louise, the indomitable matriarch, has had cancer for twenty years. Her son Danny, a lawyer, lives in a New Jersey suburb with his lover Walter, who is slowly growing obsessed with on-line sex; her daughter April is a lesbian activist and folk singer (who knows how to perform a do-it-yourself artificial insemination using basic kitchen utensils). As Louise battles the slow withdrawal of her husband (who is having an affair with Lillian) and the ravages of her disease (that ends in death), and as the entire Cooper family struggles to come to terms with her illness, David Leavitt reveals the profound depth and compassion of his narrative command.