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Summary: Maupin's Novel Entertains While Exploring Deeper Issues
Review: Armistead Maupin has always had the ability to introduce a sudden mystery into his developing storyline. By doing so, he completely captivates the reader, rendering him helpless to stop the page-turning process as the plot takes a 120-degree turn. His sometimes fast-moving, plot-driven novels, as a result, are usually quick reads, but "The Night Listener" goes beyond being merely "light fare" or "a guilty pleasure." Here Maupin takes a stab at some deeper issues involving reality vs. fantasy, expectation vs. desire, complacency vs. discovery."The Night Listener", like most of Maupin's other novels, chronicle a series of events which unfold through the eyes of at least one homosexual character (in the case of "The Night Listener" it is a character probably not unlike Maupin himself.) However, the issues presented and discoveries made along the way in "The Night Listener" are by no means limited to the homosexual experience. Just tryputting this book down after reading about 120 pages!!!
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Summary: Confused, cliched and wishy-washy
Review: A short story's worth of material stretched laboriously into novel length, Maupin's The Night Listener failed to involve me on anything but the most basic level. Protagonist Gabriel Noone, an obvious stand-in for Maupin himself, comes across as rather pathetic as he clings to his jerk of an ex-lover Jess and fights with his stereotypically cantankerous and ignorant father. A little light comes into his life in the form of 13-year-old Pete Lomax, an obvious stand-in for "A Rock and a Hard Place" author Anthony Godby Johnson, whose harrowing tale of sexual abuse and AIDS touches Gabriel deeply. Considering that he is supposed to be the heart and soul of the book, Pete is given surprisingly little to do other than Suffer Grandly. The question of whether or not he actually exists is introduced much too early in the story, abandoning the promising idea of teen-aged Pete imparting wisdom onto fiftysomething Gabriel in favor of a good old Maupin-style mystery. Now few authors can touch Maupin in inspiring an "OK, just one more chapter" response (this book is a FAST read), but that response seems somewhat inappropriate considering the weight of the material here. It feels as if Maupin is falling back on what he knows he can do instead of allowing the story to unfold naturally. What we are left with is a book that tries too hard to be both wise and readable, leaving us with insights that just aren't very insightful and a story that is oddly lightweight. In real life, by the way, Anthony Godby Johnson's identity was eventually confirmed, which opens up several interesting sociological and psychological questions about why it was ever doubted. Answering those questions may have made for a much more interesting book.
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Summary: Thanks A. Maupin
Review: Beautiful and moving. You seem to write them as I need them. I cannot get this story out of my head.
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Summary: No One at Night
Review: After reading 100 pages or so of "The Night Listener," I heard author Armistead Maupin speak and read from his book here in New York City. I then spent three hours finishing a book that I could not put down. I won't dwell on the plot of this book, which is already detailed elsewhere on this site. I will say that this is one of the most intensely personal books I've ever read by anyone with the reputation and stature of Maupin. Oh, sure, you get those searingly open and honest stories by unknown authors with nothing to lose. And you get those insipid tell-all biographies by Hollywood has-beens that always seem to become best sellers. But in "The Night Listener," Maupin reaches into his very soul and lays himself wide open in the process. As I heard Maupin read from his book, it's obvious that he has woven intimacies from his own life into almost every facet of "The Night Listener." One device that he created was the metaphorical Pete Lomax, which is used to advance the real agenda of the story. Should we care that there are a few loose ends in the book, especially concerning the real identity of Pete Lomax? Maupin turned his story into a mystery regarding Pete's identity, but then failed to solve what was really a fairly easy case. That, I suppose, was because the Gabriel Noone character didn't want to know the truth. Many of us don't. Noone was content with a charade and was afraid of reality. In effect, it wasn't "Noone at Night" as much as it was "No One at Night." Sadly, Pete Lomax turned out to be No One. Which was Maupin's design. He used Pete as a mechanism, and the fact that it was a canard didn't really matter in the end. Don't we all create inventions to gently deceive ourselves? Maupin used the time-honored method of a journey (as in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness") to allow Noone to discover himself. Gabriel's journeys in "The Night Listener" are to Wisconsin to find Pete (or really, to find himself) and back home to Charleston to reconcile with his dying father (and again, to find himself). Fellow southern author Thomas Wolfe is referenced in Maupin's book as if to confirm that You Can't Go Home Again. How much is fiction and how much is really from Maupin's life is not always clear, but what does that matter? What IS clear is that "The Night Listener" is a masterpiece that lays out a middle-aged homosexual man struggling with change and mortality. I have one suggestion for the author. Why doesn't he take a slightly higher road with his language and imagery? For example, that whole episode at the truck stop was unnecessary. Yes, I appreciate realism as much as the next person, but not when it appears gratuitous. Maupin should leave a little more to our imagination. He should also realize that his works will be read by generations to come. He doesn't have to compete with those gritty dime store realists who are always trying to outdo one another and who end up nowhere. Armistead Maupin's place in literature is secure. He is among America's greatest story tellers.
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Summary: Just Not Sure
Review: I don't know. I love Maupins books, Tales etc and Maybe the Moon, but I can't decide about this one. I found the beginning slow, the last two thirds so fantastic I was late for work and constantly tired, and then the last couple of pages...odd. Bizare. (His PA being Anna from the Tales made me giggle though!!) If you're a Maupin fan - give it a go. If you're not and your expectations weren't as stupidly high as mine - go for it cos on its own its an excellent book - I think because I waited so long for it I was under welmed.
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Summary: The Seduction by a Bejeweled Elephant
Review: Refreshingly, now and then a book is released that reminds us what the art of telling stories is all about. Maupin's newest success in the field of novel birthing does just that ...and so very much more. The Night Listener is a FINE mystery/love story/reminiscence and as such it is diffficult to stop turning the pages, so involved is the unwinding of the tale. But to my eyes and mind this book is so much more than just a well-told tale complete with allegory and metaphor. This book studies the achingly long, ever-present clash of father/son relationships. Whether concocted as an adoptive father in search of a needy youth as in this book, or just examining the way all men are challenged by this complicated love/hate, approach/avoid, mimic/revolt interaction we live through as sons and subsequently as fathers, Maupin serves us a study of one of the core dilemmas we face. And as for the structure of this immensley rewarding novel, Maupin has given us the choices to determine our own resolutions about his beautifully drawn characters. In the early pages of the book he admits that his way of relating stories is always altered by flights of fancy, or "bejeweling an elephant"; that his tale takes us on such a kaleidoscopic ride is enhanced by his starting out with this sort of honesty. And in truth, isn't this the way we all electively distort history as we relate it.... to fulfill our hope and fantansies of how we actually exist? Thank you, Armistead Maupin, for another jewel of a tale!
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Summary: Highly recommended.
Review: One of the best books I have ever read. It portrays emotions which are very real; very perceptive; I can relate to lot of feelings expressed. Very touching; at times painful; at the same time very funny. I would recommend reading the biography of Armistead Maupin written by Patrick Gale. Without a doubt, some instances of the Night Listener are autobiographical; fictionalized in a very interesting way.
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Summary: A haunting listen--try it as an audio book
Review: I decided to buy this one in the audio book format rather than on paper for two reasons--first, because from the jacket copy it sounded like listening to it would be oddly suitable, and second, because I wanted to listen to it during my long commutes to and from work. It was a good choice on both counts, but I ended up giving up on rationing the story out when the plot got thick and spending the better part of my Sunday hooked up to headphones, swapping out tape after tape. I'll admit that the ending left me frustrated to the point of wanting to *howl* in reaction, but as soon as I got over that, I realized that it was perfect and utterly appropirate to the story. I've always had a weakness for novels that contemplate the narrator's motivation behind telling the story. This fulfilled that both in Gabriel's case and Pete's. Fabulous.
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Summary: Surprisingly lightweight
Review: Those familiar with the later books in the _Tales of the City_ series know that Armistead Maupin, San Francisco's jovial chronicler, has a somber, meditative side as well. In his latest novel, Maupin gives that side of his authorial personality fuller play than in any of his previous novels. So why does the result seem so lightweight? The novel certainly begins with enough promise. The opening chapters, which depict the onset of old age, the breakup of a long-term relationship, and the development of a new, unexpected emotional bond, are the best writing Maupin has ever done. But then the novel's protagonist leaves San Francisco, while Maupin's brilliant insight stays behind. The second half of the novel travels light, then coasts downhill. By the novel's end, there's very little of that opening promise left to savor. A particularly misguided series of epilogues (actually, more like anticlimaxes) serve to nullify all the potentially tragic events that occur throughout the rest of the novel. To some, this may seem like an upbeat ending, but to this reader it felt like a colossal act of bad faith. Which raises one fundamental question: As an author, can Maupin truly embrace a sense of tragedy? I think he can, as I would argue he did in the two final books of the _Tales_ cycle. And that's why I found _The Night Listener_ one of the most infuriating, disappointing novels I've read in a long while. Yet Maupin's style and technique are as adroit as ever. When all else is exhausted, his rendering of character and conversation sparkles, and his sense of plotting is still sure-footed. There's nothing in this novel to challenge Maupin's status as a proficient writer of realistic middlebrow fiction. Maybe that's the problem.
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Summary: AB FAB-THE RETURN OF A MASTER STORYTELLER
Review: MANY YEARS AGO I READ TALES OF THE CITY (IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THESE BOOKS GO AND DO SO NOW!)AND FELL IN LOVE WITH ARMISTEAD MAUPINS GENTLE STORYTELLING IT EVEN MADE ME GO TO SAN FRANSICO AGAIN WHICH I DID NOT REGRET AND FOLLOWED THE TV SERIES WHEN IT WAS SCREENED HERE IN THE UK,NOW I THINK WITH THE NIGHT LISTENER HE HAS COME UP WITH SOMETHING ALMOST AS GOOD AS WELL AS BLURRING THE LINES BETWEEN FACT AND FICTION,THE BOOKS MAIN CHARACTER GABRIEL NOONE A GAY AUTHOR LIVING IN SAN FRANSICO FAMOUS FOR HIS RADIO BROADCASTS AND NOVELS BUT WHO IS SUFFERING SEVERE WRITERS BLOCK AND HAS JUST SPLIT UP WITH HIS LONG TERM LOVER,WHEN HIS PUBLISHER SENDS HIM THE PROOFS FOR A BOOK THAT WILL CHANGE HIS LIFE,THE BOOKS WRITER IS A YOUNG BOY WHO HAS BEEN SEVERLY SEXUALLY ABUSED AND WHO IS LIVING WITH A FOSTER MOTHER ,GABRIEL CONTACTS THE BOY AND BEGINS TO HAVE A PHONE RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM AND FINDS OUT THE THE BOY IS SERIOUSLY ILL ,WHAT FOLLOWS (I WONT SPOIL YOUR ENJOYMENT BY GIVING OUT THE ENTIRE PLOT GO AND BUY THE BOOK)BUT IT IS A ROLLERCOASTER OF EMOTIONS AND SHOCK WHICH I READ IN ONE THREE HOUR SITTING AND WAS EMOTIONALLY DRAINED BY THE END OF I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK HIGHLY ENOUGH .
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