Review: Search for Complete by Stephen G. Hardy

Poetic, philosophical, and imaginative, Search for Complete by Stephen G. Hardy is a novel about love, loneliness, and friendship within a delightful fantasy framework.

As Christopher, Laura, and David strive to find their own paths to happiness, the reader is guided through a whirlwind of emotions and insightful examinations of each character’s psyche. Both lyrical and symbolic, this book manages exactly to do what its title suggests – not give straightforward, easy answers on how to achieve “completeness,” but rather to beautifully describe the twists and turns of the journey towards happiness.

Christopher has just moved away from Seattle for a new job and a new life in San Diego. Leaving behind a painful breakup with the young dancer Gabriel, he hopes that he will be able to find some solace from pain and loneliness in California, pushed forward by a strange sense of purpose that he can’t quite explain, and encouraged by his friend and confidante Joseph-Marie.

In San Diego, he meets Laura and David, to whom he is a complete enigma. Christopher is very good-looking, kind, intelligent, and charming, but there is something more to him that they cannot fathom. He seems both young and old at the same time, genuinely interested and yet oddly detached. As Christopher listens to his instincts and opens up about his secrets with the new people in his life, he finds that perhaps his loneliness will not be permanent.

Drawing from and expanding on Aristophanes’ story about the original men, as told by Plato in the Symposium, Search for Complete combines myth, fantasy, and psychological understanding, resulting in a book both very humane and surreal. In the beginning, man was a complete creature, both male and female, perfectly happy and satisfied. Then Zeus, jealous of their perfection, decided to split them apart – an origin story that the characters try to reconcile in their own lives. The deep emotional search of Christopher, Laura, and David, though marked by their individual circumstances, has a universal ring of truth, as they strive to reach intense, fully-rounded happiness that all humans hope to experience – the kind of happiness that transcends “good” or “bad,” which results in a profound connection to the world.

Written clearly with obvious knowledge of his subject and empathy for his characters, Hardy cleverly avoids the risk of seeming too allegorical or obscure, which would be easy in a story based in part on myth. Although the book may seem at times like it is trying to give a mythological explanation to asexuality, homosexuality, gender fluidity, or transgender identity, it avoids simple explanations and stereotypes by diving deep into characters’ lives and motivations as they struggle to negotiate recognizable and realistic trials and tribulations. The novel also has a refreshing perspective on friendship and romantic relationships, presenting an original take on what it means to be a family.

In the wrong hands, such a story could be pedantic or proselytizing, but Hardy perfectly combines the scope of a fable within the dual frameworks of contemporary fiction and fantasy. Both gentle and deep, cheerful and profound, Search for Complete is a book that will make readers dream and reflect in equal measure.