The limits of pleasure

D. Jaffe

Through two intertwining chronologies, this novel follows Dave Miller, a 40-year old gay Jewish man who was raised by his Orthodox grandmother. A year after her death, Dave travels to Amsterdam, the home of Anne Frank, whom Grandma revered; yet Dave, feeling undeserving to confront the suffering that Grandma endured in the concentration camps, cannot bring himself to visit Anne Frank's house. In the novel's second timeline, Dave deals with his own tormented psyche in the aftermath of Grandma's death. he exposes himself to HIV and betrays his Jewish heritage again and again thourgh compulisive sexual behavior.