It takes courage today to write a novel with a first person narrator who is bisexual. In this politically correct age, there is bound to be a pitfall, a mistake, an offense made–perhaps unintentionally. It is remarkable that John Irving
John Irving’s In One Person is Brave and Brilliant. Read More »
Alison Bechdel’s new graphic novel Are You My Mother? is very different from her first, Fun Home. Are You My Mother? isn’t as much an examination of her mother’s life as it is an exploration of the nature of
Alison Bechdel’s Are You My Mother is Intellectual and Entertaining. Read More »
Tonight the Publishing Triangle Awards will be announced in New York City. Let me say in advance: congratulations to the winners. And also to all the nominees. This year there was a bit of controversy as Band of Thebes’ Stephen
Colm Toibin’s The Empty Family is Great. Read More »
Let’s get this out of the way first: Christopher Bram’s, Eminent Outlaws is an important book. His well-written, intelligent history of gay (male) authors in America since World War Two is meticulously researched and will probably be referred to for
Christopher Bram’s Eminent Outlaws is Intelligent and Insightful. Read More »
Classic is not a word that generally should be used about contemporary fiction. It’s probably best not to use the word until at least fifty years after publication–when the critical reception has at last been settled. Nevertheless, Alan Bennett’s new
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Edmund White’s new novel, Jack Holmes and his Friend tells the stories of two men–one straight and one gay–in the nineteen sixties and seventies. It isn’t surprising that Mr. White brilliantly describes the story of Jack Holmes–the gay character. (He
Jack Holmes and His Friend: Edmund White’s Wisest and Funniest Read More »
Edmund White’s latest book, Sacred Monsters, is a collection of short profiles of artistic figures. In many ways Sacred Monsters is reminiscent of Lytton Strachey’s Eminent Victorians, but unlike Mr. Strachey, Mr. White has no hidden or unhidden agendas
Edmund White’s Sacred Monsters is Richly Rewarding. Read More »
Proving Tolstoy’s statement that “every family is unhappy in its own way,” Alison Bechdel presents us with a uniquely unhappy family. The fact that this family is her own makes this book all the more powerful. Reading it for the
Read Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home. Read More »
What is it about time travel that is so attractive to us? Is it nostalgia? Or is it the existential desire to free ourselves from time–the one element that defines our life experience as finite? For Bob Smith, author of
Bob Smith’s Remembrance of Things I Forgot is Superb. Read More »
I knew Vito Russo. And I suppose that’s part of the reason I shed a a few tears at the end of reading Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo. I’m not going to say that I was
Celluloid Activist: Finally a Biography Worthy of Vito Russo Read More »