music, books, love and kindness

The Death of Ganymede by Clayton Kinnelon Greiman is surprisingly good. It's almost too good. The author writes so intelligently and has so much to say that I read more slowly than I usually do a book. But I think his ideas, though possibly too controversial for some, are worth taking the time to digest fully.

Steeped in both Greek mythology and Christian religion, his first two tales, especially "The Handmaid's Prophecy," inspired me to find the source material. The famous painting "Sacred and Profane Love" by Giovanni Baglione is featured in the beginning of the book and is key to many of the ideas scattered throughout Greiman's work.

This collection of stories, thoughts and vinaigrettes had me furiously underlining in my Kindle. His sometimes harsh, but hard-to-argue with insights on sex vs. love are far more than entertainment. If I'm understanding him right, Greiman is reminding the gay community (particularly the gay male community) that sex without love is about as low as a person can go, both for their salvation and their soul.

Fidelity is also critical: "Honor Thy Partner. Promiscuity is not to be tolerated. A breach of fidelity is a breach of faith, and a breach of faith is an unpardonable act. Love must not be defamed by debauchery." These are all ideas that anyone who values love and their own self can follow.

With its borderline esoteric approach and Godly advice, The Death of Ganymede may not always be for everyone, but for anyone lost and searching, there is comfort to be found here. I found myself nodding at some points: "Language has fallen. Beauty has become synonymous with Lust and is trampled in the dust."

I cannot believe how wise and helpful this book is at times. It's so much more than I thought it would be and much easier to decipher than it was in the beginning. Maybe it's me just reading into what I want to read, but I also think Greiman is saying love is worth waiting for and being celibate and patient is far better than jumping into something casual and convenient out of nothing more than sheer physical need or loneliness.

He also addresses another universal truth, one regarding society's insistence we all pair off: "It is the great lie we are all told, foremost by our parents, born of the belief we'll be miserable alone. Yet, it's fundamentally untrue." To those of us who choose to be alone or are alone or (even better) do not mind being alone, this is one of the best sentences in the whole book. While Clayton Kinnelon Greiman's writing may need a closer, slower reading than other authors, he is always sincere and passionate and, never, dull.