Gentleman death

the long version

A decade after the publication of Graeme Gibson's highly acclaimed third novel, Perpetual Motion, comes Gentleman Death, his intriguing, humane, and sometimes outrageous portrayal of fifty-six-year-old novelist Robert Fraser as he comes face to face with creativity, his mortality, and the death of his father and brother. Set mainly in Toronto, Gentleman Death also takes us to London and Scotland to follow the escapades of Simpson, called back into service by the sinister, manipulative Powys. Service, in this case, is donating sperm anonymously to a young woman bent on single motherhood. To Berlin just before the Chernobyl disaster, where Dunbar, an enigmatic tourist, meets and becomes captivated by Lena, with whom he begins to sense an almost forgotten freedom and elation. And, not coincidentally, to New York City, where, at a glitzy fundrai sing event, Fraser has an unexpected, intensely personal encounter. Gibson juxtaposes reality and fiction to reveal not only the legacies one generation bequeaths to the next, but also the responsibilities that we, the living, have to our own dead. Hard-edged but compassionate, and often very funny, Gentleman Death is an exploration of individual and collective losses, the absurdities and alarms of aging, and, finally, the maturity that grows from reconciliation. Gentleman Death confirms Graeme Gibson's reputation as one of the most accomplished novelists writing in Canada today.