Alcibiades, Mon Amour shares with Maxwell’s other pointedly unpredictable novels (like Rafael Jerome) confident and nimble prose, themes of self discovery and intellectual longing, incisive exploration of sexual mores and American culture, an ethos of formal daring and surprise, and a smart blending of humanity and tension. What begins as the story of one obsession unravels into many, charting the complex boundaries between bodies and minds. At the novel’s heart is Plato’s Symposium, whose chorus of voices rings through the pages. Readers familiar with Greek philosophy—and how young people’s encounters with it can be transformative—will delight in this contemporary exploration, while readers fascinated by contemporary minds facing the past will find these explorations of love, sex, mentorship, and more electric.
Together, Alan and Alcibiades explore urgent questions: “Wouldn’t it be nice if wisdom could flow into fools simply by the act of touching?” For both, though, touch—and wisdom—may be all too dangerous. Culminating in personal reckonings with marriage, queerness, and the search for knowledge, Alcibiades, Mon Amour is a fast-paced drama that will both startle and satisfy.
Takeaway: Smart, time-crossed novel of a student, a professor, ancient Greece, and obsession.
Comparable Titles: Michelle Hart’s We Do What We Do in the Dark, Susan Choi’s My Education.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-
