The Boom Economy — Brian Bouldrey

For an HIV-positive gay man like Dennis Bacchus, living an active life in early 1990s San Francisco, life was a race against time. New friends were made as quickly as old ones died; it was exhausting, exhilarating and some choices made because, well, why not? Dennis and Jimmy became friends that way until a drug break-through changed everything – an imminent end was no longer certain. With the reprieve, Dennis travels. In France, a chance train encounter introduces Isabelle, a free-living young woman whose presence shakes up his world. On another journey, with Jimmy and Isabelle, Vancouver and Alaska are included. Inspired to become a Catholic priest, Dennis learns to balance his dual life as a celibate gay man and a Jesuit seminarian, teaching in Minneapolis and ministering to AIDS patients in Santa Clara. The Boom Economy covers what was supposed to be the last decade of Dennis Bacchus' life, but turns out to be the first decade of the rest of it. It's a novel about conversion – all of the social, spiritual, and emotional problems of changing from one life to another. The third of Brian Bouldrey's exquisitely wise, tender and witty novels, it was first published in 2003. Brad Craft provides a foreword to the new edition. Bouldrey's diverse and colorful cast of characters, his keen depiction of the complexities of people's psyches, and his deft mixture of the comic and the serious make for a wonderfully rich read. His theme – that love is always risky, no matter what your situation – is beautifully explored in this smart, sensual, and savvy novel. — Phillip Gambone, Out Magazine Bouldrey's prose is crisp and elegant. He has a gift for using small details and seemingly unlikely events to illuminate his story-line and his characterizations. He also employs poetry, namely the verses that Dennis scribbles in his notebook, to provide a look into the nascent priest's restless psyche. The Boom Economy offers a memorable tale that Bouldrey tells with skill, style, and a refreshing economy. — Jim Nawrocki, Gay & Lesbian Review I have long admired the wit, compassion and utter poise of Brian Bouldrey's work, his way of finding the hilarity in desperately sad situations, the sharpness and intelligence of his observations of the little details that make up our lives. The Boom Economy is the story of a spiritual quest; and a comedy of manners about living with HIV; and an exploration of love and friendship and loneliness at the end of the century. The amazing thing is that it's so funny, so tender, and so wise all at the same time. —  Dan Chaon, Among the Missing