First Person Plural is an idea novel, a thought experiment. What would it be like if two people, two brothers, different in almost every way, but sharing one body, were faced with working out the heterosexual/homosexual conflict? How would they handle that very real, very serious social issue, because they had to, because they did not have the option of running away, of growing apart? How would they learn to find acceptance? How would they allow, and enable, each other to fully be themselves?

The difficulty of carrying out this thought experiment seems evident in the difficulty with which the novel really takes off. While the idea of the novel grabbed me immediately, it took a long time for the story to draw me in, to insist that I continue reading. It seemed laboured, like a heavy plane straining to take off. In order to control the experiment, Beierle takes a long time to set the scene, to put all the variables in place. Some of these efforts seemed a little too controlled. To mitigate the problems of their 'freakhood', so that the main focus could be on the tension resulting from sexual orientation, Beierle places his protagonists in a professional, well-educated, white, financially secure and well-connected family where the boys are able to grow up in a very sheltered and controlled environment. While understandable, the setup seems a bit forced.

The core idea of the novel was powerful enough to keep me reading, even if at times with a measure of impatience, but somewhere in the second half of the novel I was hooked. Suddenly I was engaged. I was involved, not just intellectually, the novel's initial appeal, with the idea of it, but emotionally. I wanted to be there for them, not only as a fly on the wall, but as a friend. I wanted them to work things out, to learn to accept each other for who they truly were. I wanted to see them grow and be happy.

First Person Plural is definitely not your campy, gay beach novel. It may not have the lyrical prose of a Salman Rushdie or Hanif Kureishi novel, nor the poetic language of a Michael Ondaatje or Anne Michaels novel. But these, while wonderful in their works, are not always necessary. Beierle's simple, concise, straight-forward prose is effective. First Person Plural, to be released on August 28th, 2007, should find its place on the bookshelf alongside other serious works of literary fiction.