The Tooth Fairy: Parents, Lovers, and Other Wayward Deities (A Memoir)
In his acclaimed first novel, Winkie (2007), Chase pushed the envelope of literary fiction with a post-9/11 satire about a sentient teddy bear accused of terrorism. In this equally groundbreaking memoir, Chase looks back on his past and recent life using bite-size paragraphs “in the hope,” he says, “that aphorism-like statements, when added to one another, might accrue to make some larger statement that will placate despair.” In eight sections bearing titles such as “As If” and “The Condition of Leftover Baggage,” Chase groups his snapshot memories around such recurring themes as the state of his long-term same-sex partnership, a visit with aging parents at his California boyhood home, and his impressions of New York City. There are longer, touching collections of observations about a doomed heterosexual relationship before Chase came to terms with being gay, and sad, funny memories of his older brother, who succumbed to AIDS. Although Chase’s unusual rhetorical framework takes getting used to, the grander life portrait emerging from the puzzle pieces is breathtaking and often heartrendingly poignant. --Carl Hays