The End of it All
A Novel
by
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Nick sat on the balcony, feet elevated on the railing, one foot crossed over the other. He smoked, which was not in itself atypical, but even the most zealous non-smoker would have agreed that it complemented the languid pose and the expression of rich contemplation. Just the faintest summer dusk remained and Nick was sure that with the length of another cigarette the world would again turn back to black. His guest still slept, and it appeared to him, on leaving the cool bedroom, that he might not have any intention of ever getting up. Nick certainly would not wake him, not now, not when he was enjoying his peaceful solitude.In fact, if his guest should get up now it might shatter the utter perfection of the moment.
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About the Book
This is a story of existential crises. Nick Stanton is a contemporary gay man who is searching for answers to questions he is unable to articulate. Part One: While having drinks with his boyfriend in a New York bar, Nick is confronted with a sharp awareness of time. In this section, we follow Nick’s fragmenting consciousness as he begins to assess his life with his boyfriend, Giovanni. There are several breaks into the past. Part Two: This section follows Nick through a linear twenty-four period before he drives to home to Florida alone. It is a chapter of sexual abysses. He lunches with his best friend, April, and tries to express what he’s going through. April suggests therapy. They extend their late lunch to happy hour. They meet a group of Wall Street twenty-something and Nick feels out of place. He breaks from the group and grudgingly befriends two college students from Michigan. During his drive to Florida, he has a self-abasing sexual encounter at a rest stop. Part Three: We are introduced to his family and old friends. Nick experiences them all under a new awareness. The unexpected appearance of his first love produces a fresh possibility, but he’s crushed again. He’s involved in a fatal car accident on the drive back to New York. Part Four: Nick’s recovery and culpability. In hospital he meets a young man from the accident. Is terrified over the intense human turn of guilt and responsibility. Nick returns to New York, to the former routine of life but with numbing expectation. Boyfriend leaves for Europe for two weeks and he is left to brood. Meets an idealistic young man on the subway train; suggests he could be the one but Nick gives him up. Part Five: The young man from the accident appears at his doorstep. They are together for several days and, in the end, Nick is forced to make a choice.
About the Author
Alex Alvarez was born in Miami, Florida and is of Cuban-Colombian descent. He majored in English literature at University of South Florida and concentrated his graduate studies on Henry James at Florida Atlantic University. Immediately aft er graduation, Alex spent two months traveling Europe before settling in Poland, the germ of his fi rst novel, Warsaw Central. He is currently a teaching faculty at New York City Colleges and Universities.