Archive for the ‘Fiction: Gay & Lesbian’ Category

Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez

ISBN: 0689857705
272 pages
published in 2001.

I was a bit put off by this book at first. The idea of gay young adult novels is rarely done well, in my opinion. It’s really hard to break away from the stereotypes of gay youth and actually present a novel that is thoughtful and intelligent. Unfortunately, when writing about characters that are gay, it’s impossible to not write and worry about the effect a book like this might have. So there is a “political” message underneath this, being a gay-positive book, and I worry about it being done strongly yet intelligently.

This story follows the lives of three highschool seniors – Nelson, Kyle and Jason, and each chapter alternates from their points of view. Nelson is a flamboyant class clown – and Sanchez doesn’t seem to have a problem portraying him like a huge stereotype. This bothered me a bit. Nelson is, of course, in love with his best friend Kyle, although Kyle doesn’t seem to reciprocate his feelings. So Nelson finds himself following boy after boy in hopes that he will find himself in “love”. When he has unprotected sex one night – his first time having sex – he worries that he is HIV-positive.

Kyle is a bit shier than Nelson. He’s a swimmer, gentle-natured and friendly. He has a big crush on Jason, but doesn’t think that he has a chance with him because Jason is a huge jock with a girlfriend and seems to ignore him no matter what he does. So, he’s shocked when he shows up to a gay youth group one night.

Jason has seemed to always suspect he was gay or bisexual, but due to his terrible homelife including an alcoholic, violent, homophobic father, he has never had the opportunity to discover what that might mean. He has a girlfriend, and loves her, but finds himself having feelings for men as well. I’d probably classify Jason as bisexual rather than gay. Anyway, when he realizes Kyle has a crush on him, he finds that his feelings are reciprocated and finds himself falling in love back. But how will he come out to his family, and what will this mean for his scholarships to college from his activity on the basketball team? And how will his classmates react if they find out?

I found that Rainbow Boys actually dealt really well with all of these issues. There is a strong message in it that I agree with whole-heartedly, yet the characters are very realistic and likable, despite their flaws and their silliness at times. It was a little thick on the drama, but it may have been necessary to hold the book together, as you can only talk about crushes for so long.

The Young Desire It by Kenneth “Seaforth” Mackenzie

ISBN: 0207162840
330 pages
published in 1937.

(I apologize for the cover used to represent this book – it was really difficult to find anything at all. Scanning my copy would have just produced the same image.)

I picked this book up as part of the research I’ve been doing lately into LGBT Australian literature. This is one of those cornerstone books in the field. It’s intriguing for the time it was published, the author and the popular and critical response to it. It actually wound up winning an Australian award when it was published, although that is more likely due to the fact that the protagonist wound up choosing a heterosexual relationship rather than the homosexual one that he was presented with throughout the novel.

The story takes place on a boarding school (quintessential setting for a gay story involving youth taking place in Australia) where young Charles Fox has just enrolled. He winds up getting the interest of a teacher there, Penworth, who finds himself developing something of an unethical attraction to him and begins, without really realizing entirely what he’s doing, pressuring him into returning some sort of affection to him as well. Charles doesn’t realize what is going on initially, although, after he meets a young girl during a vacation at home and begins a relationship with her, he eventually rejects Penworth when he realizes the sort of interest the teacher has taken in him.

Penworth, though blatantly homosexual, is not portrayed by Mackenzie as being a devilish or unlikeable character as one would probably expect for the time period in which it was written. Yes, he is eventually rejected, but the insight we gain into Penworth’s thoughts and history makes him a character that, although we become frustrated with him often due to his foolishness and poor choices, we sympathize with. His faults are simply human faults, and though it’s unacceptable for many understandable and valid reasons for a teacher to take the sort of interest in his student as Penworth does – especially during this time and especially considering it is a homosexual attraction – we are able to recognize him as a human and thus he is not turned into some immoral entity, formed only to warn readers away from the inhuman, homosexual monster. It’s just a really fascinating book and I think perhaps it doesn’t reach as far of an audience as it should.

The Night Listener by Armistead Maupin

ISBN: 006093090X
368 pages
published in 2000.

So, I have seen the movie “The Night Listener” before, and didn’t realize until later on that it was based on a book. My friend Arpad invited me to watch the film once, and it thoroughly creeped me out, so once I found out there was a book, I wanted to read it straight away. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like spending the cash on a new book, so I waited for a used copy to turn up. A professor friend of mine just gave me a copy, though, and I read it straight through in a couple of days. It WAS as good as I expected it to be.

Anyway, the story is really eerie. A radio and fiction writer, Gabriel Noone, has just had his long-term partner move out and as a result, he’s having some trouble writing. He’s depressed, confused, having problems with his father. One day, however, he gets a manuscript of a book written by a young boy about the experiences he suffered growing up being sold as a sex toy by his parents and eventually becoming infected with HIV. Gabriel finds himself caring deeply for the boy and speaks with him on the phone frequently, as well as his adoptive mother. After a while though, Gabriel realizes that no one has ever actually MET this boy, and his voice and the voice of his mother sound strangely similar…

Dorian by Will Self

ISBN: 0802140475
288 pages
published in 2002.
September 30th – December 18th.
You can buy this book at this link.

I had very high expectations going into this book. I am an enormous fan of Oscar Wilde and Will Self’s novel, Dorian is a modern retelling of Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, taking place amidst modern homosexuality, drug use and the AIDS epidemic. I thought the premise was brilliant and I wondered how someone would be confident enough to take on a project like this.

I have to say, for the most part, I was impressed. His writing style is very readable and really very beautiful in many parts. I think the biggest grip I have about his writing is the feeling I got from time to time that he was hovering over his work with a thesaurus in the other hand, but the feeling passes and to some extent the very self-conscious feeling that you take away from his style works for this story. His voice is very loud and prominent throughout the entire thing. He does not fade away into the background of the story being told like most authors. This was both interesting and, at times, annoying.

The story itself was spot on. I can’t say, as many other reviewers have, that Wilde himself would be proud of Self’s work, but I don’t think he would object. As far as evoking the spirit of Wilde within the story, Self does this very deliberately throughout the novel. At times it’s a bit much (I think at one point when being told that he would no longer be allowed in the hospital he was being discharged from should he get ill again, Henry Wotton remarks that he would have to go to another, more expensive hospital where he would ‘have to die beyond his means’ – a very famous quote of Wilde’s in reference to when he was told the cost of a surgery or something like that). But I understand what he was trying to do and as it is, as Self claims, an imitation, I believe it’s effective and forgivable.

All in all, this was a better-than-average book by far. Fans of Wilde should read it simply because I think it feels like it’s a good idea to be savvy on others interpretations of his work and what seems to be going on with it lately. I loved it, and though the story was dark (much, much darker than Wilde’s original tale) the lesson is the same. Disturbing, yes, but deliciously so.

PS: I don’t think the cover I chose to represent this book in this post is one of the more common covers, but it was the cover of the book that I read and I look upon it now and find it perfect in its simplicity. Almost in an eerie way. You can just imagine Dorian’s youthful image frolicking in the crackling lines of the TV monitor.

Closer by Dennis Cooper

ISBN: 080213212X
144 pages
published in 1989.
October 11th – October 19th.
You can buy this book at this link.

Jesus christ, this novel. Thanks a lot, Brent. Nightmares forever.

The only other book in existence that I can compare this to is Poppy Z. Brite’s Exquisite Corpse. The subject matter is similar, but the story line is completely different. What aligns these two in my mind is the otherworldly, ghost-like feeling you have while navigating through the book. I would give you guys the background and a synopsis of this novel, but it would be impossible. There simply doesn’t seem to be one.

What you do get, however, is a ethereal, mesmerizing journey through the lives of a handful of young, gay men. They are all lost, confused, wanting something – but unable to grasp it. The language is graphic and intense, but strangely beautiful. The effect is sometimes darkly humorous, always haunting and overall captivating. I hate the ‘you can’t put it down’ cliche, but it works here. This isn’t for the weak-stomached or people (like me!) who have a tendency to lay awake at night and think – about anything. If you let it, this book will draw you in and keep you safe in a dark, quiet and cold room. The past and the future have no bearing in this world. Soon you will feel as alone and emotionless as the protagonists of the novel. Have fun with this one.

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