Author: Brian Antoni
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
Published: 2008-03-01
Total Pages: 304
ISBN-13: 1555848427
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“Decadence has never seemed so sweet and innocent as it does in Brian Antoni’s lost world of deco and disco in pre-millennial Miami.” —Jay McInerney This second novel by the acclaimed author of Paradise Overdose, is a “candy-colored and warmhearted . . . story of one man’s moral and sexual flowering” (The New York Times Book Review). At the ripe old age of twenty-nine, globe-trotting, trust fund-endowed Gabriel Tucker is horrified to learn that all that’s left of his inheritance is a crumbling Miami Beach apartment building named the Venus De Milo Arms. Alone, penniless, and lacking any sort of useful skills, he heads to Miami to reconstruct his life. His new neighbors are an unlikely mix of tenants: an elderly Holocaust survivor, a lip-synching drag queen, a cynical two-bit gossip columnist, and a rebellious young performance artist who Gabriel starts to fall for. Quickly he is thrust into the outrageous world of South Beach, where temptations abound and quick fortunes, mountains of drugs, nonstop sex, and beautiful women (and men) for sale (or rent) are the order of the day. He becomes a ringside witness to the excesses and intrigues of Italian fashion empires, Cuban refugee supermodels, rapacious German developers, old-fashioned crooked politicians, and a cast of colorful characters that would make Caligula blush. South Beach’s debauched and seductive glow makes for an unlikely place to start over. But it is here, among the faded art deco buildings and eclectic residents, that Gabriel will find a home—and a love—that he never expected. “[Antoni] mischievously and triumphantly combines explicit sexual encounters with keen, hilarious social commentary and genuine compassion to create a love letter to a crazy place and a sweet tale of friendship, succor, and love.” —Booklist
