Rating: 
Summary: Thumbs Up!
Review: "The fourth volume in Mordden's acclaimed and beloved "Buddies" cycle follows the exploits of his best loved characters - Dennis Savage, Little Kiwi, Carlo, Cosgrove, and Bud -- as he lays bare the emotional landscape of the city within a city that is Gay Manhattan." - from Stonewall Inn
Rating:
Summary: THIS ONE'S A MUST-READ
Review: "Some Men Are Lookers", more than any other recent work of gay fiction, manages to define the complicated tapestry of friends, lovers, boyfriends and extended family that gay men everywhere have created for ourselves in re-inventing our lives the way we want to live them. Funny, sexy, infuriating, and poignant, it also succeeds in illustrating that being gay is not WHAT we are, but WHO we are. (Among the many other things it has going for it, it also features Cosgrove, the singularly most unique and lovable character in contemporary gay literature.) Do yourself a favor-don't miss this one.
Rating:
Summary: Thumbs Up!
Review: "The fourth volume in Mordden's acclaimed and beloved "Buddies" cycle follows the exploits of his best loved characters - Dennis Savage, Little Kiwi, Carlo, Cosgrove, and Bud -- as he lays bare the emotional landscape of the city within a city that is Gay Manhattan." - from Stonewall Inn
Rating:
Summary: Thunderstorms in the family
Review: Change, difficult change is happening in the characters. Dennis Savage growing bitter, almost unrecognizable to Bud. Cosgrove growing, both in himself, but also in the author's understanding of Cosgrove the character--it feels to me like the author reveals more as he figures out more. Cosgrove as holy fool archetype, but also more a real young man, and the same happening, at a much more accelerated rate, to Little Kiwi/Virgil/J. (And we have the reference to Aeneas so the choice of the name Virgil seems to be no accident). The line that broke me, and I had to put the novel down and cry for awhile before I could pick it up again, was when Virgil has just returned, and Cosgrove says in one of his free-floating divinations, "I want a little faithful dog with a cute nose that he pushes against you because he doesn't know what will become of him." This novel (yes, it is stories, but it's really a novel, isn't it) is a thunderstorm of characters growing, changing, resisting loss, resisting change, angry, and leaving, and trying to come back--from Cash, perhaps to Dennis--but everything is changed now and he doesn't know what will become of him. Yes, the novel is funny. But more often than not it's difficult, and frightening. And love, and desire for a family, and fear of loss of that family, and rage at the ORIGINAL families--parents who were capricious, and vicious, and unwilling to accomodate the changes and the signs of life in their children, reverberate beneath the surface of the characters.
Rating: 
Summary: I laughed out loud -- a lot
Review: Even though this is the fourth of Mordden's series on gay Manhattan, this is the first one I've read. I immediately went out and purchased the third, which attests to the fact that I found lots of fun and solace in reading this book. Between the laughs, I felt swell because I could recognize the musical comedy quotes and the references to gay life in the 70s and 80s on the east coast. I think it's interesting that the Kirkus review mentions Ivy Compton-Burnett because the relationships in this book have the same elusive quality as the ones in her books, often characterized only by quirky dialogue. However, I disagree with the Kirkus review: I found this book and especially the repartee to be funny, and several of the episodes are quite moving. It's amazing to see that a good writer is recording the paths our lives have taken within gay culture: I was reminded of myself and my early friends, many of whom are now gone. And, as sappy as this sounds, I felt that our friendships and caprices had all meant something after all
Rating:
Summary: BRUSH UP YOUR SONDHEIM START QUOTING HIM NOW
Review: Even though this is the fourth of Mordden's series on gay Manhattan, this is the first one I've read. I immediately went out and purchased the third, which attests to the fact that I found lots of fun and solace in reading this book. Between the laughs, I felt swell because I could recognize the musical comedy quotes and the references to gay life in the 70s and 80s on the east coast. I think it's interesting that the Kirkus review mentions Ivy Compton-Burnett because the relationships in this book have the same elusive quality as the ones in her books, often characterized only by quirky dialogue. However, I disagree with the Kirkus review: I found this book and especially the repartee to be funny, and several of the episodes are quite moving. It's amazing to see that a good writer is recording the paths our lives have taken within gay culture: I was reminded of myself and my early friends, many of whom are now gone. And, as sappy as this sounds, I felt that our friendships and caprices had all meant something after all
Rating:
Summary: I laughed out loud -- a lot
Review: I didn't grow up anywhere near the book's New York City setting and I'm a bit younger than the primary characters, but I recognized enough of their lives to joyfully follow along. And their younger significant others -- "the kids" -- can be hilarious and infuriating at the same time. This is the first of Morden's books I've read, but I'll be getting others. I was touched at times by the relationships (the differences in how characters act in groups vs. when they are alone with their partners.) While the book deals with some serious topics, such as AIDS and cheating partners, it's certainly not all serious. At one point, I was laughing so hard my eyes squinted so I couldn't see to read. Yeah, there are gay stereotypes all over the place. But who cares? I still really enjoyed it.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Read Again
Review: I love this book! I love this series and it absolutely pains me to think that this may be the last (I say maybe because originally Buddies was supposed to be the last). It is such a difficult book to pick up and read because every emotion invested in the previous three books is tested. My love for Dennis Savage's irony becomes sorrow at the hope that he will lose face and stay with Little Kiwi. My love for Little Kiwi's innocence becomes concern for his actions. It's like watching your child make questionable decisions and knowing that no matter what the result, the choices that they make are theirs, and there's nothing you can do about it, but let them be chosen. It's hard letting Little Kiwi grow up and become Virgil Brown. I imagine it's the same way with a child, but at least then you get to see what happens! Mind you, the book like the other three is a comic genius with subtle, feeling humor that has you laughing one minute and crying the next. But just like "Just Above My Head" by James Baldwin (which I highly recommend), I have been unable to pick up this book and read it again. It simply leaves me realing with so many feelings, yet I would not trade the experience reading it with anything. How does one mix merriment with malaise so well? Read the book and find out.
Rating:
Summary: Can't Read Again
Review: I love this book! I love this series and it absolutely pains me to think that this may be the last (I say maybe because originally Buddies was supposed to be the last). It is such a difficult book to pick up and read because every emotion invested in the previous three books is tested. My love for Dennis Savage's irony becomes sorrow at the hope that he will lose face and stay with Little Kiwi. My love for Little Kiwi's innocence becomes concern for his actions. It's like watching your child make questionable decisions and knowing that no matter what the result, the choices that they make are theirs, and there's nothing you can do about it, but let them be chosen. It's hard letting Little Kiwi grow up and become Virgil Brown. I imagine it's the same way with a child, but at least then you get to see what happens! Mind you, the book like the other three is a comic genius with subtle, feeling humor that has you laughing one minute and crying the next. But just like "Just Above My Head" by James Baldwin (which I highly recommend), I have been unable to pick up this book and read it again. It simply leaves me realing with so many feelings, yet I would not trade the experience reading it with anything. How does one mix merriment with malaise so well? Read the book and find out.
Rating:
Summary: A laughing out loud novel to cry over
Review: Mordden is poking fun at our ridiculous gay sub-culture. The novel definitely pulls and tears at the tidy package most contemporary gays try to pawn off as normal. Gay relationships are not normal in our society! Mordden is over it and has embraced the fact that that is what makes them so attractive and beautiful and interesting to us gay men. This novel is for anyone who thought they knew what "gay relationships" were all about or for anyone who can define a day in the life of a homo. This is not a novel of praises for gay relationships and Gay America. Oh no. This is a witty, refined slapstick rendition of a generation of gays who take themselves too damn seriously. I laughed at myself throughout the entire novel. Read it if you have the guts.
|
