Jameson Currier expands his richly detailed storytelling to an international level, weaving together the intertwining stories of the search for a missing journalist in the Bamiyan region of Afghanistan with a young man's search for his older brother in Manhattan in the aftermath of 9/11 into a sweeping, multi–cultural novel of what it means to be a gay citizen of the world. Currier once again targets the big themes of modern gay life: identity, faith, homophobia, romance, and the complexity of relationships, but at the heart of The Third Buddha are the little acts of random kindness that continue to astonish in times of crisis and war.
I feel I must start this review with a disclaimer. I consider Jameson Currier as a friend of mind and I have great respect for him as a writer as well. However that does not mean that I am biased when I review him and that would not matter anyway because he is such a fine writer. I actually admired his work before we ever met.
What amazes me about Jim Currier is that he is able to write about anything and to me that is the mark of a good author. He is totally realistic even when he writes about things that are beyond our imagination and in “The Third Buddha”, he tackles Afghanistan and to my knowledge he has not been there recently. Yet his book reads as if he knows the territory well. That is what Currier does, he surprises us and every book he writes is like a gift that needs to be unwrapped. As we unwrap, we are surprised at what we find inside and this is true for all of his books but especially for “Buddha”. It is amazing that he knows so much about the country and it is obvious that he has done his homework well. For that reason, I am not going to say much about the plot because to do would be to ruin the surprises that the book contains. But what I will say this—Currier ingeniously brings together two stories; in one a young man searches for his brother after the disaster on September 11 in New York City and in the other is the search for a journalist who is missing in Afghanistan. The two plots discuss what it is to be gay in today’s world.
Replete with a well drawn cast of characters, Currier makes us think about who we are, about those who hate and dismiss us, about how we believe and about how difficult relationships can be. One thing that stuck in my mind as I became involved in the plot was that famous line uttered by Blanche DuBois in “A Streetcar Named Desire”, “Whoever you are, I have always depended upon the kindness of strangers” and acts of kindness is a theme that runs throughout the book. Currier also reminds us that we are at war now and although we may not always think about it, we must be aware that it is going on and it does affect the way we live.
I realize that this is not as deep a review as I usually write but that is because I want everyone to extract the same joy and beauty from this book as I did. Suffice it to say that it is beautifully written but that is one of Jameson Currier’s trademarks. Likewise Currier builds characters that are real and that we can identify with and his literature is bold and real, I know you would not want me to spoil that for you. Get a copy as soon as it comes out and treat yourself to a wonderful reading experience.
