Chester Aaron - Symptoms of Terminal Passion conveys the reader along on an anguished voyage occupied with craving, some delight and some not. Author Aaron transcribes with irrepressible benevolence and eagerness. This is not the first Aaron work I have read, it will not be the last.
Presented as a sequence of sketches, Symptoms of Terminal Passion is an exploratory journey bursting with the relationships of mature couples from Tuscany to California.
The Secret of Thyme acquaints us with Sergeant Anthony Sabini as he is writing a letter. Older than most of his men, settled on the hood of a half track stopped near his tank; the memo he was writing was to his sister Grazia. The scent of thyme cause Sabini to pause for a moment. Such memories were stirred by that fragrance.
Winterswijk leads us to Amersterdam, descending toward Schiphol; in 1945 Ben had only seen Holland from ground level. Here and now he was aboard an El Al airplane. Passport in hand he approached the official, waited for his baggage, and tried to locate Nikki.
Ben has two weeks he can spend in Holland; who knows what will take place during that time. Nikki has no yearning to move to America, and she has a distinctly dissimilar view of relationships than does he.
Spanning few pages is Miwok Moon and Sheldon Horowitz, he a fiery tressed, cobalt eyed fellow who thinks of himself as a Miwok Indian, might actually think of himself as a Jew.
Sheldon’s Los Angeles born father, Herman Horowitz, is a gentleman of sentiment, sensitivity and craving. Sheldon’s mother Elsie Whispers is petite, stocky, brown haired, and, far more gorgeous in Sheldon’s eyes than any Hollywood variety of the Indian Princess. Elsie is a Miwok Indian.
Thirty Minutes in Bologna: finds Charley who is sitting on the top step of the Piazza Maggiore. He is not surprised to see the ethereal figure of Maggie appear from the mists at the end of the piazza. Charley has been haunted by her phantasm figure from the time he left California. Her presence is always with him, alongside him, nearby.
Reading The Female of the Species is a touching glimpse into the like, love and loss that associations can bring. This narrative is one of the longer pieces and brings the reader to an instant of marvel, expectation and rebirth, and, undeniably, love.
Its Not a Bad Life is bursting with humming birds, and anticipation and nourishment arranged with, perchance, love. Larry and Judith kept the feeder filled with nectar and became so familiar with 5 of the tiny feathered denizens that they gave them names.
There was the Anna, she with a rounded beak, they called Julia Roberts, while the Rufous they christened Pavarotti. John Wayne was an antagonistic Black chin while the smaller Calliope who disregarded bees and yellow jackets; Larry had labeled Schwarzenegger. Judith was convinced they were all males with the exception of the Rufous.
Once married and now not; Larry and Judith’s enduring relationship is essentially a pretty good one, maybe it is even better than when they were married.
Transporting the narratives to a close Author Aaron provides Thicker Than Water. Clay and Gina are awake at 4:15 AM. It is not desire they are enjoying, it is debate, and enjoy is not the word to define their conversation.
Chester Aaron’s Symptoms of Terminal Passion captures and intrigues as the reader journeys this touching assortment of anecdotes with commencement in Tuscany and finale in California. The interactions of adult, conventional and older couples, who are self-sacrificing, communicative and comfortable with the natural world deliver the grist for the numerous accounts.
The hypothesis for the seven anecdotes offered on the pages of Symptoms of Terminal Passion are identifiable: demise, expectation, love and forfeiture, aftershock of war as well as war itself, old world contrasted with new, Italian food, nevertheless, all are presented in characteristic Aaron unanticipated method uniting many of the fundamentals drawn from Aaron’s broad experiences.
Winterswijk brought together a pair of distinct elements. Aaron uses cleverness and flamboyance to interweave the appealing inelegance experiences often subsequent when attempting to bring back what was, or is remembered as what was with a previous love in Holland while assimilating with nearly unreal memories of the Holocaust.
For each fervent account, Writer Aaron attentively brings together complex, and at times seemingly ironic emotions with the panache and style of a writer who writes from the heart.
Chester Aaron’s Symptoms of Terminal Passion brings to the reading a rich interleaving of essences, and scents, of people and settings, and of qualities and relationships.
Anecdotes are calculated to draw the reader into the narratives on the search to discover those plot interweaving’s purified in the expected splendid Aaron prose.
As always Aaron’s characters exemplify all the warts and shortcomings and requirements and crankiness along with the charisma and appetite as do we all. That Writer Aaron knows people, and craving and how to spin a tale is apparent.
Symptoms of Terminal Passion is another of the straightforwardly read, well written works offered by a writer who has much to tell.
Happy to recommend Chester Aaron’s Symptoms of Terminal Passion.
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Reviewed by Molly Reviews BOOKS molly martin
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About the Author: Prolific author of novels, stories, and memoirs – over 20 are published, Chester Aaron was born in 1923 in a Pennsylvania coal-mine town, saw combat in World War II in a machine gun platoon, and was with the troops that liberated Dachau.
His professional career has included working as an X ray technician and following publication of his first novel in 1967, he joined the faculty of St. Mary's College in Moraga, Cal, where Aaron served as literature and writing professor. He retired as a full professor in 1997.
Amazon Product Details
Title Symptoms of Terminal Passion
AUTHOR Chester Aaron
GENRE Slice of Life
Paperback: 126 pages
Publisher: El Leon Literary Arts
ISBN-10: 0976298376
ISBN-13: 978-0976298373
