“The Right Side of the Wrong Bed”– opposites in love

Smith, Frederick. “The Right Side of the Wrong Bed”, Kensington. 2007.

Opposites in Love

Amos Lassen

Kenny Kane is thirty-three years old and the administrator of a university. He also is an African-American who seems to have everything—he is good looking, well employed, has a new BMW and a beautiful home as well as a very sexy boyfriend who is a firefighter, Da Von Holloway. But there is a problem. Da Von is not faithful and he is cheating on Kenny with a woman. Kenny feels that the seven years the two men have spent together are for nil and does not have the stamina to look for someone new. By surprise a new person enters Kenny’s life, a Jeremy Lopez, twenty-one year Latino from East Los Angeles. The two meet in a bar n West Hollywood and Kenny buys the young man a drink. Kenny was satisfied to just have a drink with Jeremy but Jeremy has other ideas and before Kenny realizes it he realizes that he is having great fun being with Jeremy and his friends. Kenny wonders if Jeremy is the man for him or is he just waking up on “the right side of the wrong bed”. As Kenny and Jeremy court each other, we go with them on their rollercoaster relationship in which they love and argue. They both examine their lives as they get to know themselves and each other. The novel looks deeply at the world of young men and their lives and loves.

The novel is very real and because of that it gives a lot of food for thought. I found it fascinating and funny, melancholy and sad but it ism above all else, compelling.