Justin Torres’ stunningly ambitious sophomore outing Blackouts does the tricky work of functioning as more than a novel. The book is an artifact documenting the life and work of queer activist Jan Gay, whose research from the 1930s became the basis of Sex Variants: A Study in Homosexual Patterns—though, for reasons revealed as the story progresses, her name never graces the cover, nor is it attached to the finished work at all. We learn her true story through the fictional narrative of Juan Gay, a gay Puerto Rican man who, as he lies dying in a space between life and death called the Palace, shares his story and his connection to Jan with the story’s unnamed narrator, a young queer man of Puerto Rican ancestry who first connected with Juan ten years prior in a mental institution. Read More
