The Deaf-Mute Boy

West meets East and rich meets poor in this thin story of the ill-fated friendship between a gay Columbia University professor and a teenage Tunisian deaf-mute boy. Maurice Burke, in Sousse, Tunisia, to speak at an archeology conference, meets Nidhal on the beach and shortly thereafter becomes bent on helping the boy after seeing him bullied. Maurice turns to a local imam for help and is warned that matters are too complicated. Maurice doesn't heed the warnings and continues to pursue what he believes are the boy's best interests. Unfortunately, Maurice's powerful sense of obligation to the boy remains mysterious and muddled, and though Geraci (Loving Sander ) does an excellent job of capturing Tunisian medina life, his portrayal of political unrest and violence is vague. The climax, which takes place during a riot, makes the novel feel like a morality play. (Nov.)