STICKY KISSES

A glittery Christmas holiday season in Georgia provides the fitting backdrop for this moving, poignant portrait of a family's reconciliation, imbued with the transformative grace of forgiveness. After four years of silence, Thom Sandler, a gay man in his 30s recently diagnosed as HIV positive, contacts his sister, Abby, in Philadelphia and urges her to visit him in Atlanta, where he now lives and where they both grew up. Abby is sole caregiver to their mother, Lucille, a bitter widower who alienated Thom when she suggested that the disclosure of Thom's homosexuality somehow contributed to his father's death weeks later. Abby quickly warms to her brother's friends, especially young boyfriend Chip and the flashy, effervescent Connie. She makes romantic headway with handsome stranger Philip DeMunn, keeping the affair secret from her brother. Initially reluctant, Abby eventually adjusts to Thom's world and gains a deeper understanding of her brother's complex struggles with gay life, issues with identity and his potentially life-threatening infection. After a somewhat melodramatic group vacation in Key West, Fla., Lucille appears, lending loving support to her son during a minor bout of illness and making peace with him. Episodes from Thom's past break up the narrative, adding depth and insight to Johnson's very appealing protagonist. Johnson writes with the same winning flair and affecting poignancy that propelled his debut novel, Pagan Babies. Here, he effectively harnesses the sweeping notions of family by presenting his own take on the power of blood ties. (Oct.)