Books.Guardian.co.uk – Liz Hoggard – The Observer
Psychotherapist Amy Bloom’s new book is a breakneck tale that explores the American immigrant experience
When Amy Bloom confided to a friend that her new novel, Away, was running late, he replied tartly: ‘Oh, darling, expecting a writer to meet a deadline is like expecting a drag queen to come on time for dinner. Don’t give it another thought.’ It’s a lovely image – and rather apt. Bloom primarily writes literary fiction, but five years ago, she published the non-fiction study, Normal: Transsexual CEOs, Crossdressing Cops and Hermaphrodites with Attitude. The book, an extended version of an essay she wrote for the New Yorker, caused a sensation, partly because she showed there is no such thing as ‘normal’ on the sexual continuum, but also because she dared to suggest that the female partners of cross-dressers often have rather a tough time.