About The Book

The eloquent, powerful novel of a funny, loving, tragic, and complex family whose indomitable matriarch, Louise Cooper, has had cancer for 20 years. Battling both the slow withdrawal of her husband and the ravages of her disease, Louise must realize that even the kindness of her children will not save her.

Equal Affections tells the story of the funny, loving, and tragic Cooper family. Louise, the indomitable matriarch, has had cancer for twenty years. Her son Danny, a lawyer, lives in a New Jersey suburb with his lover Walter, who is slowly growing obsessed with on-line sex; her daughter April is a lesbian activist and folk singer, who knows how to perform a do-it-yourself artificial insemination using basic kitchen utensils. As Louise battles the slow withdrawal of her husband and the ravages of her disease, and as the entire Cooper family struggles to come to terms with her illness, David Leavitt reveals the profound depth and compassion of his narrative command.

Praise

“Rich, funny, varied, and true to contemporary American life.” –Doris Grumbach

“A gritty, passionate novel . . . [Leavitt] has written from the point of view of a raging, self-dramatizing mother with clarity and with such compassion that we understand her bitterness and mourn her lost chances.” –The New York Times Book Review

“Leavitt’s skills with character and scene come through as strongly as his most fervent fans would expect. The prose is utterly elegant.” –The Advocate

“The world within these pages, so different from yet so similar to our own, is one in which all of us should tread water.” –The New Orleans Times-Picayune