The Geography of Pluto

Twenty-eight-year-old Will, a teacher living in Montreal, has spent the last few months recovering from a breakup with his first serious boyfriend, Max. He has resumed his search for companionship, but has he truly moved on? Will’s mother Katherine – one of the few people, perhaps the only one, who loves him unconditionally – is also in recovery, from a bout with colon cancer that haunts her body and mind with the possibility of relapse. Having experienced heartbreak, and fearful of tragedy, Will must come to terms with the rule of impermanence: to see past lost treasures and unwanted returns, to find hope and solace in the absolute certainty of change. In The Geography of Pluto, Christopher DiRaddo perfectly captures the ebb and flow of life through the insightful, exciting, and often playful story of a young man’s day-to-day struggle with uncertainty.

Reviews

“(The) book is so sharply written and so full of insights into the human condition… DiRaddo has crafted a fine book about one young gay man’s struggle to realize his first big relationship really is over while holding his mother’s hand as she struggles through a cancer diagnosis and treatment. Set in Montreal’s gay milieu in the 1990s, The Geography of Pluto is one of those books that gets better as you keep reading, a rare combination of thoughtful writing that’s also hugely entertaining.”— Matthew Hays, Daily Xtra

“The only novel I know of that climaxes with a colonoscopy, The Geography of Pluto provides an honest and moving account of one gay man’s life in Montreal. Friendship, desire, rejection, first love, and, above all, the bond between parent and child, are dramatized with deceptive simplicity. Embellished with a strong sense of place and season, its real location is the human heart — which is why I could not put it down.”— Andrew Holleran, author of Dancer from the Dance