The Boston Castrato by Colin W. Sargent

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It's so easy to be smug in a new century--you can't see what you're mistakes are going to be.

This is stories with stories within a story, all summarizing life in post-WWI Boston. From the new immigrants, poor and easily displaced and lost to the Gilded Age blue-bloods dithering, falling prey to ennui or attempting to evolve. Rafael Peach is the axis from which the story is told.

At times, it's like watching a carousel, the story's participants come around and round as you wait for the music to stop. This is historical fiction with salacious on dits of early twentieth century Boston. Everyone has a secret to keep and they're all juicy from murder to cuckold to blackmail it's all dirty, dressed up in pressed clothes.

Rafael Peach, street urchin with a gift for song. He attracts attention one day and every changes. His castration by Diletti and the subsequent betrayal cuts deep as Raffi's promised career is stolen and he's hidden, and then shuffled off to America. He's growing up but his body is not changing. That sense of other is intensified and begins to cause problems with the other boys. 

Fleeing the situation, Raffi learns a trade and an understanding of himself and acceptance. It is Raffi's tenure at the Parker House that alters his life's course. Raffi's fraternization with Victor and Amy Lowell's entourage leads to interesting adventures as the tilt-a-whirl is sent spinning. The unbridled decadence and showmanship as the posh try to outdo each other in outrageous acts careless of collateral damage. Corruption, murder, and extortion, another fine day in Boston as players get moved around the board, and old acquaintances meet again.

Discussions on the spectrum of sexuality touched on are fairly broad. Now is not the first time people are facing it even if it feels like it. Majority oppression merely means that we have to relearn it, again and again. But homosexuality, intersexuality, and gender queer has been around as long as people have. There are no long discussions or debates. Period appropriate terms are used, some wildly politically incorrect by our standards, but reflective of the time. Interestingly enough, those who are less common seem to be more content with their life than those who are deemed "normal". 

While the short, ever-changing point of view format of the chapters was a bit disorienting it certainly added an urgency. I took a few breaks because I found it difficult to jump in and out of people's minds and sub-stories so frequently. The quotes at the beginning of the chapters are wonderful entrees, Neapolitan aphorisms that tied in with each. 

Overall, an entertaining exposé of early twentieth century Boston.

Art is suppose to provoke, not just delight.