They Whisper.

New York, NY Penguin Group: Penguin Press, 1995. Paperback First Edition Thus; First Printing indicated. First Edition Thus; First Printing indicated. Very Near Fine in Wraps: shows only the most minute indications of use: just a hint of wear to extremities; mildest rubbing. Binding square and secure; text clean. Very close to 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. 333pp. Trade Paperback. This is an incredible story. In 1994, it was on USA Today's bestseller list for three weeks, peaking at 105. Perhaps the puritanical hangover that plagues the righteous majority impeded its ascendancy, or maybe too many browsers, thumbing a fast flip two or three times noticed very little white, too many pages square with solid blocks of type, some all italics, some sentences so long nary a period for a page or two, and no chapters either, no place to stop and go pee, decided they'd rather not and tucked the book back on the shelf. Indeed, it took me about forty pages to get comfortable with the writing style. THEY WHISPER is the first person narrative of Ira Holloway, an erogenous and sensitive man who loves women, who finds rapturous beauty in the crinkle of an instep as easily as in "her henna nipples" (pg. 300) or the "soft sargasso struck with this same sunlight there between her legs" (pg 308). Ira is so sensitive and responsive that he hears the ethereal whispers of a woman's thoughts. Mr. Butler does not push this phenomenon on the reader, he just lets it happen, and we accept it as a necessary device for Ira to adopt an omnipresent point of view in order to tell his story. The whispering, along with the long runs of indirect and interior dialogue, interior monologue and stream of consciousness without chapters, at times feels like automatic writing but it eventually captivates. Around page 149 the story was dragging, but recovered enough until page 192 when I wanted to quit, and then on page 193 I sensed the shadow of tragedy and kept on going. I'm glad I did. Ira and his whispering women touch first on a nebulous relationship between sexuality and death, sexuality and fear, and then delve into sexuality and jealousy and particularly sexuality and religion. For his incredible sentience, Ira seems a larger than life character. He loves women and respects them; he perceives them precisely and is therefore able to respond in word or deed without risk of presumption or failure. If we were all like Ira and his whispering women, we truly would be making love instead of war.