12/13/2023 0 Comments Tooth fairy book 1980sThe disparate nature of the sentences is an effective representation of thought process of a mind inundated with information constantly. “I write this in the hope that aphorism-like statements, when added one to another, might accrue to make some larger statement that will placate despair,” Chase writes. The Tooth Fairy requires a reader’s full attention, reading like a mix of Joe Brainard’s I Remember and a Twitter feed. Clifford moves from indecisiveness to some certainty, even when that certainty means understanding when things can only be managed or when those things are out of his hands entirely, and learns that change comes both in the future and the past. Readers see how, as a twenty-something, Clifford struggles with his homosexuality as he graduates from college, moves from California to New York and starts a tumultuous relationship with a woman referred to as “E.” In the more recent past, he struggles to make the decision to place his aging parents in nursing home, assesses his relationship with his boyfriend John and learns new information about his deceased older brother Ken (who was the subject of Chase’s previous memoir, The Hurry-Up Song) after finally letting himself read Ken’s journals and speak to Ken’s friends. Set against the backdrop of two major national events-the beginning stages of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, and 9/11- The Tooth Fairy is a collection of interconnected essays that explore the family dynamics and romantic relationships Clifford struggles with during both time periods. These are some of single-sentence paragraphs of stray observations and journal notes that build up to a portrait of the uneasy stasis that is Clifford Chase’s life in New York City during the early months of 2001. An eight year relationship yet no shared apartment. The pills he must now take to maintain his body. The PR job, full of positive words, that’s starting to bring him down after fifteen years. A fat dog overjoyed with the plastic steak in its mouth.
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