Slings and Arrows - Paperback

by Jonathan Arnowitz-Taylor (Author)

Slings and Arrows delivers a literary tour de force with unflinching candor and emotional depth. Set in early 1980s Detroit against the backdrop of Reagan-era conservatism, twenty-two-year-old Jamie Goldberg navigates the treacherous territory between self-destruction and redemption. After surviving a period of anonymous sexual encounters, Jamie seeks connection through political activism and theater, discovering in Shakespeare's Hamlet a mirror for his own struggles with identity and desire. Like Philip Roth confronting taboos through searing introspection, Arnowitz-Taylor creates in Jamie a protagonist of remarkable psychological complexity-a young man confronting the ultimate challenge: learning to love himself in a world determined to make that impossible. With echoes of Tony Kushner's moral urgency and Edmund White's sensual honesty, this novel transforms personal trauma into artistic triumph.

After years of self-destructive promiscuity fueled by alcohol, drugs, and trauma, theater student Jamie Goldberg has sworn off the dangerous underworld that nearly consumed him. But when he's cast as Horatio in his university's production of Hamlet, what should be a triumph becomes another trap-the predatory director expects sexual favors, and Jamie must share the stage with Ben, his former bully, now playing the lead.

Throwing himself into his studies, then politics, then a job at a conservative bank that alienates his liberal friends, Jamie tries everything to avoid confronting what he finds "profoundly unacceptable" about himself. But the shadows of his teenage sexual assault follow him everywhere, warping his understanding of love and desire. Even his activist mother can't accept her gay son.

In 1980s Detroit, where the LGBTQ community seemed to exist only in "dark, loud, and seedy bars," Jamie faces an impossible choice: continue running from his authentic self, or finally embrace the truth that terrifies him most. But in a world filled with violent ex-cons, dangerous exes, and predators masquerading as mentors, finding the courage to be himself might be the most dangerous act of all.

"An excellent coming-of-age novel with an indelible lead." -Kirkus Reviews

Content Note: This novel contains mature themes including past sexual trauma, substance use, and adult sexual content. Recommended for readers 18+.