The Kingdom of Sand

"Timely and pressing . . .[The Kingdom of Sand] has the wit and keen, often biting observations of gay life that made me fall in love with Holleran's books all those years ago. [It] is Andrew Holleran at his best." --Jeffrey Masters, The Advocate

One of the great appeals of Florida has always been the sense that the minute you get here you have permission to collapse.

The Kingdom of Sand is a poignant tale of desire and dread--Andrew Holleran's first new book in sixteen years. The nameless narrator is a gay man who moved to Florida to look after his aging parents--during the height of the AIDS epidemic--and has found himself unable to leave after their deaths. With gallows humor, he chronicles the indignities of growing old in a small town.

At the heart of the novel is the story of his friendship with Earl, whom he met cruising at the local boat ramp. For the last twenty years, he has been visiting Earl to watch classic films together and critique the neighbors. Earl is the only person in town with whom he can truly be himself. Now Earl's health is failing, and our increasingly misanthropic narrator must contend with the fact that once Earl dies, he will be completely alone. He distracts himself with sexual encounters at the video porn store and visits to Walgreens. All the while, he shares reflections on illness and death that are at once funny and heartbreaking.

Holleran's first novel, Dancer from the Dance, is widely regarded as a classic work of gay literature. Reviewers have described his subsequent books as beautiful, exhilarating, seductive, haunting, and bold. The Kingdom of Sand displays all of Holleran's considerable gifts; it's an elegy to sex and a stunningly honest exploration of loneliness and the endless need for human connection, especially as we count down our days.

Author: Andrew Holleran
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 06/07/2022
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.50h x 6.00w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780374600969

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 01/01/2022 pg. 9
Booklist 03/01/2022 pg. 24
Kirkus Reviews 04/01/2022
Publishers Weekly 04/11/2022
Library Journal 06/03/2022 pg. 1