Rating: 
Summary: Art Imitating Life?
Review: Armistead Maupin is a master story teller. I remember reading the first "Tales of the City" book and feeling that I was lost in a magical world. A feeling that no book has replicated for me, until the Harry Potter stories.Now Maupin returns with "The Night Listener", a book that seems closer to his own life story than anything he has previously written. In it his narrator, Gabriel Noone is a novelist struggling with writers block, and a breakup of his long term relationship with Jess, his former lover. After a publisher sends him the galley of a nonfiction book about a young boy, Pete Lomax, who was horribly abused sexually, he develops a friendship with the boy via the telephone. As their relationship grows, Gabriel and Pete develop a surrogate father son bond. This causes Gabriel to question his relationship with his own father, while at the same time resorting the scattered puzzle that was his life with Jess. Suddenly Maupin concocts a scenerio for a genuine page turning mystery as Gabriel attempts to discover the truth about Pete. The premise for the book is where the headtrip started for me, in part because Maupin so successfully blurs the lines between truth and fiction. The boys' story, which is loosely recounted in the novel, appears to be verbatim from a book called, 'A Rock and a Hard Place'. I had read the book years ago, and was deeply moved by it. At the time it was published it created a stir because many people wondered if the eloquent and brave boy actually existed. A similar scenario wields its's head here. Maupin also recently split from his longtime companion, Terry Anderson on whom the character Jess might be based. The fun of all this is never really knowing what's fact or fiction. Maupin seems to be deliberately bluring the reality line between his own life, and the lives he created in "Tales..." by inserting a character from the "Tales..." series to layer the book like an onion skin. Maupin's Gabriel Noone says he's a "fabulist by trade" who's "spent years looting his life for fiction." Again, that could be the character talking or the author. Regardless, we as the readers are richer for it.
Rating:
Summary: Listen To Maupin
Review: I'm writing this review while still in thralls of finishing Maupin's novel. I've spent my Saturday trying to read The Night Listener through a veil of tears. I'm not too ashamed to admit how much this book touched me. As a reader of Maupin since Tales of the City, I am in awe of Maupin's ability to use his life experiences to throw light into the dark corners of my own experience...the illuminations, the ruminations about life and love; relationships ending, but not really ending; musings about love and the intermittent times when that love also means war or worse yet, the horror of becoming irrelevant to the person you love the most; father-son dynamics; the pairing of insecurity and celebrity; hope for new, different, more emotionally healthy beginnings; the possibility of unconditional love.....analysis of how difficult that may be because our egos stand in the way. Can you tell I liked this book? Yes, the book has a dark tone, a sad edge, it could challenge anyone not used to blunt language or the reader who does not possess a curious, open mind; those readers however will never understand the power and resonance of Maupin's work. Please read.
Rating: 
Summary: Not believable, except in parts
Review: I found this book to be a fun read, but it's not a "masterpiece" or a "triumph." Even by Maupin's "Tale of the City" standards, this is a strangely unsatisfying novel. I thought the storyline itself was confusing and did not really lead much of anywhere. I was fascinated with this book more as a document of Maupin's self-indulgence than as an act of fictional creativity. I would have liked to see a novel that spent more time with Noone's breakup with his long-time lover, Jess. The dynamics of Noone's heartbreak in the context of seeing a lover move from almost certain death to a completely different plane are handled wonderfully, but it would have been preferable to see this story moved to the forefront and the hokey 13-year-old-as-counselor gimmick moved to the background. The novel that Maupin really should have written, unfortunately, is not what we get.
Rating:
Summary: How did I come across this book?
Review: It must have been fate. It must have called me from its place on the bookshelf. Maybe it was just destined to fall between the hands of somebody who needed to get inside the world of this unforgettable author.
Not only it is one of the finest pieces of modern literature I've read in recent memory, but The night listener also made me re-think about all those little aspects of life listed in the dustjacket.
Thank you for a wonderful experience, mister Maupin. The single tear rolling down my cheek after I read the last line doesn't lie. More!
Rating: 
Summary: Where did the story go?
Review: As a fan of the first couple of Tales of the City books, I approached The Night Listener with great anticipation--particularly because of the glowing reviews. And, once again, I find myself forced to wonder who writes all these glowing reviews and what their previous reading experience might have been. No doubt about it, the premise is a grabber. Broken-hearted, middle-aged gay man is losing/has lost his long-time, younger lover; when asked to write a cover quote for a promising work written by a thirteen-year-old horrifically abused boy, Gabriel Noone finds himself completely taken with both the boy and his book. There then ensues a series of telephone conversations that strain credulity. Okay, it's possible. Authors do sometimes find themselves far more involved with their readers than they ever wanted or expected to be. What really doesn't work is the nonstop whining Noone offers this dying child who, for the most part, just listens and then offers insights and wisdom that no child could possess, regardless of the extent of the abuse s/he'd suffered. Abuse may age one prematurely; it may even heighten one's innate perception, but it cannot inspire the kinds of insights young Pete offers. Only age and experience can hone one's comprehension of the behavior of others. To suggest that abuse has endowed young Pete with premature wisdom and compassion not only borders on the ludicrous it also minimizes the truly monumental damage that is the end-product for children who have suffered gross physical and emotional indignities. In the final few chapters the book falls to pieces so thoroughly that I spent several hours trying to figure out just what the author had intended to achieve. Certain things happen that would be impossible, given the author's construct. Unfortunately, to describe these things would give away plot details. But a discerning reader will undoubtedly puzzle over the how and why of these details, just as I did. There was endless potential here for a riveting exchange between an anguished older man and a terribly abused, terminally ill child. But instead the author's focus was primarily on the older man, leaving young Pete a shadow figure, scarcely believable and barely present. What we get, instead of enlightenment, is a kind of one-man parade: Gabriel Noone as the drum master, strutting down the road of pseudo self-discovery, leading his parade of naked grievances.
Rating:
Summary: incredible
Review: This was just an excellent book, so different from what else is out there to read. I recommend this book to anyone (unless you have a real problem with homosexuality). If so, it wouldn't be your cup of tea. I enjoy reading about people's lives that are different than mine.
I intend to read everything he's written.
Rating: 
Summary: Fiction first but plenty of entwined autobiography
Review: "The Night Listener" is one of those really good books, which gets progressively better as the story develops. The primary plot is about the relationship between late night radio host, Gabriel Noone, and a 13-year-old boy, Pete Lomax. Pete is suffering from AIDS as the innocent victim of serious and prolonged sexual assault propagated by his father and others. Donna Lomax, a lady doctor who Pete first talks to on a child abuse hot line, has adopted him and tries to give him the love and security to which every child is entitled. Pete has committed his sad tale to writing and sends the "set of bound galleys" (manuscript) to Gabriel Noone in whom he has developed a trust from listening to his nocturnal banter on the radio. They communicate by phone and soon reach a level of intimacy in which Pete refers to Noone as Dad. The trust is almost absolute and it is only when a tiny suspicion is fed to Noone by Jess (see below) that the seeds of doubt form in Noone's mind. Noone and Pete's relationship is based entirely on their phone calls, as the two have never actually met. Noone has frequent phone conversations with Donna too, building up another bond of trust and friendship. The plot develops wonderfully and this fictional part of the book is excellently put together. In parallel with the main story line is the clearly autobiographical thread of Maupin's own life. There is the difficult relationship with his own father, an ageing homophobic man who won't acknowledge or discuss his feelings. There's his young stepmother and, as can often be the case, this is one tricky relationship. Then there is the recently ended long-term relationship with his partner Jess, a younger man who has turned to a more macho type of gayness. Whilst Jess has moved out of their shared home and taken new lovers, the two of them maintain a friendly but not intimate relationship for personal and business reasons. The book has a strong gay theme, which for me was quite an eye-opener, particularly one graphically described pick-up in a long distance truck driver's toilet block and the subsequent consummation. The writing style is descriptive and eloquent and one memorable passage describes the death of Noone's dog, written with exceptional clarity and passion. However, the main theme, revolving around the welfare of Pete, is told with building suspense which makes the book very hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: Gabriel Noone is a self described "fabulist by trade". He is an openly gay San Francisco radio show host. His whole life changes when he recieves a package with a book in it. He has been asked to write a blurb for the back. This is nothing new to him and he expected not to even open the book at first. But with his life falling apart around him, he decides to read it. It is the autobiography of a 13 year old boy by the name of Pete Lomax. From early childhood Pete had been sexually abused by both his parents and and a ring of pedophiles from the Midwestern states. He meets this boy and becomes close friends with him, communicating only over the telephone. After questions arise to the authenticity of Pete, Gabriel begins his journey to prove that Pete is real once and for all. This story is made up of many multi-dimensional characters that allow you to be completely engrossed in the story. Armistaud Maupin makes this book both disturbing and enlightening, light-hearted and dark, and both good clean fun and deeply sexual. The book is a relatively quick-read despite it's many pages of small type, the pages will fly by as you try to solve the mysteries of Pete's existence and that of Gabriel Noone's struggle to find himself. I do not recommend this book to those who are not incredibly mature. Both because of the sexual references and because of the disturbing mystery of the book. I myself found my head spinning and had several sleepless nights before finishing the book. To those who are able I highly suggest this book.
Rating:
Summary: the worst Maupin is still the best
Review: Honestly, as a huge Maupin fan and a worshipper of his Tales of the City series and Maybe the Moon, this one is not my favorite of his. Its alittle creepy. Pedophelia, leather, anonymous sex with a trucker, and a mysterious plot twist at the end kind of chip away at Maupin's invincibility as a writer in my opinion. HOWEVER, notice I still HAD to give it 5 stars because even though it may not be the best Maupin it is STILL written by him and he is by far one of the best authors ever! Despite the total wierdness that is involved in the book its still unmistakably Maupin's handiwork and is therefore a worthy, worthwhile, and fabulous read! Just read Tales and Maybe the Moon first!
Rating:
Summary: just perfect
Review: I cannot come close to describing how much I loved this book. Having thoroughly enjoyed the series "Tales of the City," I was very eager to read more of Maupin. Let me assure you I wasn't let down for a minute. This book tells the story of Gabriel Noone and his search for meaning in the midst of a break up with his partner and reaching his mid fifties. Without giving to much away, the story takes us on a journey into what Gabriel needs and wants in his life, whether real or a dream. The longing, pain and love that is felt in each word had me openly weeping at times, laughing out loud and cursing the characters. Like all good things the story comes to its only conclusion, but like a diner of Chinese food, when your done your totally satisfied; fifteen minutes later your wanting more. I am still wanting and missing Gabriel and his life and dreams.
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