A Passionate Engagement is both a love story and a story of political activism.
In this remarkable memoir, Ken Harvey (award-winning author of if you were with me everything would be all right) reveals his own experience of coming out as a gay man, of meeting and falling in love with the man who would become his husband, and of growing into a social and political activist.
Much of the story is filled with the kind of sensitive writing that Harvey demonstrated in his earlier work, but this book also shows a different side as he moves from the fictional to non-fictional, as he puts himself bluntly in the middle of the conflict.
PRAISE
“POWERFUL”and “MOVING”
“a seamless fusion of politics and the personal. . .”
“There’s no question more important than whether or not you get to marry the person you love. Ken Harvey shows what happens when personal lives intersect with a great political struggle, and he does it with enormous insight. This is a subtle, sensitive, and very moving book.”
“A Passionate Engagement is as timely as it is moving…The vital importance of the availability of marriage to everyone shines through in this important story of true love and political activism.”
“Ken Harvey has written a memoir that is a fine book on so many levels. The utter simplicity of retelling his childhood is as tender a story as any in the literature...echoes of Salinger and Joyce haunt the pages.”
“This is a very timely story about a truly important social movement. Reading about Harvey going from observer to a fighting advocate for same-sex marriage offers hope to the reader - the hope that other states will follow Massachusetts in allowing the right for every individual to marry the person he or she loves.”
“This is a wonderful memoir to better understand the reasons for change in our country’s future.”
“If your giftee loves to read memoirs that empower, then wrap up “A Passionate Engagement” by Ken Harvey. In this slim book, Harvey talks about coming out, meeting his husband and becoming an activist. Politics play an important part in this book, so it might be a good choice for anyone who’s politics-minded, too.”
“As Harvey looks at his own political life, we see the political life of so many and we are lucky to have this so clearly presented to us in such beautiful language. The fact that it is so personal makes it all the more real and important. It pulled me in on the first page and has had a profound effect on me and it looks like it will be heading toward my ten best of 2010.”
“With this member, (Harvey) not only speaks for himself, but gives voice to each person still searching for a native tongue.”
“A Passionate Engagement is both love story and activist journal, intimate personal narrative and social commentary chronicle. Harvey delivers a moving but never mawkish account of an important human drive and how it intersects with politics, public perception, and personal struggle.”
“. . . you can’t do better than A Passionate Engagement–and you might buy extras for friends and family of all sociopolitical and sexual persuasions.”
“As Harvey looks at his own political life, we see the political life of so many and we are lucky to have this so clearly presented to us in such beautiful language. The fact that it is so personal makes it all the more real and important. It pulled me in on the first page and has had a profound effect on me and it looks like it will be heading toward my ten best of 2010.”
“This is a very timely story about a truly important social movement. Reading about Harvey going from observer to a fighting advocate for same-sex marriage offers hope to the reader - the hope that other states will follow Massachusetts in allowing the right for every individual to marry the person he or she loves.”
“Violet Quill Award-winner Ken Harvey’s memoir A Passionate Engagement recounts his humorous coming out in Massachusetts during the battle against the same-sex marriage ban. Harvey... proves an excellent eyewitness to the defiance of those who changed him from a reluctant activist to a proud soldier of love and war. It’s the perfect holiday read to gear up for a new year full of tumbles in the sheets and in the streets.”
“A Passionate Engagement is a fine addition to any Gay studies or memoir collection.”