Coming of Age

In literary terms, a "coming of age" story is defined as a narrative in which a young character, male or female, is awakened to a broader, deeper, more mature, and realistic understanding of the self, of the world, of life, and of the relationships between the three. That understanding, that insight, can be social, political, moral, emotional, psychological, sexual, or any combination thereof. The process of "coming of age" in "The Beautiful Room is Empty" involves all these aspects, putting particular emphasis on the sexual but also highlighting the social and the psychological. Political aspects come into play in the narrative's final chapter, in a fictionalized account of a real-life circumstance that continues to have repercussions today, over forty years after the event took place. Moral and emotional elements receive significantly less page time.

As discussed throughout the book, however, "The Beautiful Room is Empty" can...