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There were several factors that ushered in the Sexual Revolution in America. One was undoubtedly the work of Dr. Alfred Kinsey from the late 1930s to the early 1950s and his groundbreaking publications SEXUAL BEHAVIOR IN THE HUMAN MALE and SEXUAL BEHAVIOR IN THE HUMAN FEMALE, also known as the Kinsey Report. Kinsey and his colleagues cataloged America's sexual habits and stunned the nation with their frank and scientific approach to a topic considered taboo in polite company. So who was the man who pioneered "sex research," and who were the men and women who helped him in his study as both researchers and subjects? T.C. Boyle, in his latest novel THE INNER CIRCLE, imagines Dr. Kinsey as a dynamic, oversexed and eccentric individual obsessed with his work.
Like THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE, Boyle's fanciful and fun fictionalized portrait of John Harvey Kellogg, THE INNER CIRCLE takes an interesting American icon and writes a novel around him. Here we are introduced to Dr. Kinsey, or "Prok" as he is called by the narrator, John Milk. Milk is a shy, small town senior at Indiana University when he takes Kinsey's class on marriage and sexuality. The class itself is controversial, and Kinsey quickly becomes known as "Dr. Sex." He asks students and faculty to give him their sexual histories for his fledgling research. Milk volunteers and is eventually offered a job with Kinsey, thus becoming the first of the inner circle.
Over the years the circle grows, and John Milk marries and starts a family. The inner circle, however, is where his loyalty really lies. From the beginning his relationship with Kinsey is complicated. Kinsey apparently hires Milk as his assistant based on physical attraction rather than on skills or experience (Milk graduates with an English degree, not a science degree). They become involved in a sexual relationship, and soon after that, Milk becomes involved with Kinsey's wife, Mac --- with Kinsey's consent and even encouragement. And thus the story goes; Kinsey directs his research and the sexual lives of his inner circle.
Kinsey, as imagined by Boyle, is a bizarre character; manipulative and often unfeeling. Sex for him is a purely physical act with little or no emotion involved. Milk is passive, which makes him a good narrator. However, despite the tantalizing subject matter (and Boyle doesn't spare the reader the sex scenes), the book starts to drag around the middle. We are privy to many intimate moments and much personal information as the circle gathers histories across the country and experiments personally, but Boyle doesn't seem to be able to move the characters much beyond that and none are particularly likeable. In fact, the novel is a bit frustrating in the emotional stagnation of John Milk and the utter control over him and the others that Kinsey seems to have. Why should we care about Milk? What about him are we to relate to? Boyle is unclear.
On the one hand, THE INNER CIRCLE is a book about sex; the sex lives of individuals and the sex life of a puritanical mid-century nation. On the other hand, it is about relationships; both power relationships and marriages. Milk's marriage is, as one might easily imagine, strained under the weight of his work and also under the demands Kinsey puts on his inner circle to participate in his lifestyle of insatiable sexual desire.
THE INNER CIRCLE is less dynamic and recommendable than THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE, but only because it is slightly repetitious and thus verging on dull. Overall though it is an interesting novel, centered on a unique personality and a moment of awakening in America.
--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
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