Rating: 
Summary: What a STORY!
Review: I couldn't disagree more with the criticism about the ending to this book. Although I somewhat understand people wanting a more "tidy" and spelled-out conclusion . . . to me, this was the perfect book, from start to finish. As a writer myself, I admired the way Maupin brought the book full-circle. The story is, in fact, cyclical, and never really ends at all.But regardless of whether or not you like the ending, you will no doubt come away from this book having enjoyed the ride, and wishing there was more of it. It's worth the read for the storyline alone. There were several moments in the book where I got a chill through my whole body, because the plot was that good, and I literally could not stop turning pages. The other thing about this book is, the characters are so well-conceived that, I swear, somewhere on this planet, they exist. I've read the stuff people have written about it being a bit autobiographical, but, hey, there's a school of thought among writers that says, "There really is no fiction--it's ALL, in one way or another, autobiographical." As writers, we pull from ourselves, and that's what makes a genuinely good read in the first place. Just my opinion. Maupin's mastery of dialogue is truly a thing to behold, and makes everything he writes a worthwhile read. The scenes with Jess, and the very idea of Jess, were just sensational. Who cannot relate to unrequited love? And knowing the state of mind Gabriel was in over their break-up made it easy to understand how he could get sucked into this rather unusual and somewhat addictive relationship with this child. The one place that I had a problem was with the early conversations with Pete. Although they were some of the most riveting stuff in the book, I found it hard to believe that a man Gabriel's age would share such personal and sexual information with a thirteen-year-old child, no matter how lonely and broken-hearted he was. But then, if you've read the book . . . perhaps Gabriel already sensed in his heart what we come to understand later on. Basically, almost from the start, I felt that I knew Gabriel Noone inside and out, loving him all the more for his flaws and insecurities. As I went through this rather bizarre journey with him, I understood where he was coming from, and how things made him feel even before he told us. I cried when he cried, laughed out loud on more than several occasions, and in the end, walked away a thoroughly entertained and enlightened reader. Really . . . what more could you ask from a book?
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing
Review: I anxiously awaited this novel since I was hooked on the Tales books. I felt as though I waited for years (I think at least one!) for this book to come out. All the waiting had me expecting the best written novel ever from him. However, I cannot narrow down just one above his others, I still was not disappointed at all with this story. I liked the air of suspense, the novel ending without a "real ending", which others seem to be looking for. It was obvious that this was modeled about himself which I liked. It made me wonder if something like this really happened to him? Hmmmm... I recommened reading all of his novels, starting with the tales, then going onto Maybe the Moon, then this latest. You will appreciate his works if you read them in the order he has written them.
Rating:
Summary: Stop Looking for a Concrete Resolution
Review: I finished The Night Listener yesterday and believe it to be a very good read. I am perplexed by some reviewers' desire for things to be neatly wrapped up and to have the mystery solved. PLEASE! This novel is about a journey and how some things simply do not end, but change and evolve. Relax and let yourself change and evolve as well. Pick up the book and share Maupin's journey. Hopefully this won't sound too cliche, but you will laugh and cry.
Rating: 
Summary: A talented novelist, a bizarre story.
Review: An intriguing, frustrating, and exhausting novel from one of the premier gay authors of our time. This is a heavy, brooding story that exacts a huge emotional tax on the reader. The surprise ending, however, left me wondering if I had invested all that emotional energy for a cheap literary device.
Rating:
Summary: a great summer read
Review: I've never...NEVER...read a book in one sitting, until now. Is The Night Listener great literature? No. Is it even well-written? Maybe. But it is the most entertaining and clever short-ish novel I have read in many years...What a joy to HAVE to read the last three pages a couple of times just to make sure I was "getting" it.Grand fun from a gentle and imaginative voice in modern writing.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing narrative, even better dialog
Review: From the start of "The Night Listener", Armistead Maupin warns us he's going to be taking more than a few liberties with reality, a bit of "jewelling the elephant" as he, and his protagonist Gabriel Noone, like to say. Noone, a writer and NPR staple (think of a gay Garrison Keilor) finds a kindred bruised spirit in Pete Lomax, a teen boy stricken with the AIDS virus and recovering mentally and physically from a ghastly childhood of rape and abuse at the hands of his parents. As the connection between this makeshift father and son grows stronger, a pseudoreality quite like the one that exists in Noone's radio show (and personal life) begins to evolve, which makes it all the more difficult to shake once the links between reality and logic become ever more brittle. Going way beyond the scope of a label as narrow as "gay fiction", Maupin crafts a story so utterly original that it's impossible to connect it's power to one source or subculture. His characters live and breathe in the harsh realities of turn-of-the-millennia cynicism yet have enough heart to clearly examine their own selves and, at times, their less than selfless motives. Everything about this book crackles with life and love.
Rating:
Summary: I've Read All Of Armistead Maupin's Books
Review: I highly recommend this journey to anyone who can imagine beyond the surface of "realities," as they are presented as a series of connected truths!Every time I thought I'd focused on a significant detail, at the next turn I'd see that it really wasn't what it'd seemed. I'd drive as I listened (audio version) to Mr. Maupin's intended inflection. I didn't always believe the characters, but I believed that voice! Yet... the one constant character that I saw with no cause to mistrust or doubt turned out to be the eventual clue of the even greater twist! Wow!
Rating:
Summary: lots of unanswered questions
Review: Armistead Maupin is among my favorite writers, and if you enjoy his style and his wry take on the world, tis book is worth reading. But I have to say, I couldn't accept the mystery at the core of the story. I MUST have missed something -- and I hope someone will tel me if I did -- but as soon as Gabe met Pete and the questions began about Pete's identity, I thought: This story could hardly have gone unnoticed by the newspapers. Even if Pete testified in camera, *somebody* would have seen him. How could this possibly be a mystery? With that nagging at me, I couldn't enjoy the book fully. The writing, yes. The plot, no.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I heard Mr. Maupin being interviewed on NPR about The Night Listener, and later the book was reviewed, quite favorably, by The Economist. After this PR barrage from institutions I tremendously respect, I had to read the book. Alas, even the armory of NPR and Economist goodwill couldn't protect me from The Night Listener let down. The book is full of grand promise but ultimately fails to deliver. The two subplots - losing a lover and winning a son - and their paradoxical intersection in AIDS and dying, are indeed very powerful material. All characters carry a certain tragic aura - a teenage boy who has suffered horrible sexual abuse, a writer grappling with the imminent loss of the love of his life, and a man living with HIV for ten years.... So far so good. The trouble is that Mr. Maupin's mundane and unexciting prose manages to deflate this powder keg of material with a loud hissing sound. All too often he resorts to clichés worthy of a third-grade essays - the true signs of love bereavement are the empty Chinese take-out boxes all over the kitchen and the dirty dishes in the sink. Some of the scenes come across so contrived that it feels embarrassing to read them: only a few phone conversation in their friendship, the AIDS-stricken boy requests permission to call Gabriel "Dad" and cuddle up to him. So much in the book remains unexplored and unexploited. We are informed, telegraphic style, of the young boy's horrendous sexual abuse. Although the boy has written an entire book about it, Mr. Maupin doesn't even try to make us understand how it feels to be a victim of such unspeakable violence. Or where do you find the strength to remain a decent human being after being betrayed and tortured by your own parents? Apparently the boy must have staged a swift and complete psychological recovery because there doesn't seem to be the slightest shadow remaining of his dark past. At the end, the boy's sexual abuse seemed to me like a cheap attention-grabbing trick that had nothing to do with the character. But once he has got our attention, Mr. Maupin doesn't seem to know what to do with it. The book sways between a psychological drama and a suspense thriller. And it fails as both. Gabriel Noone's love bereavement never rises above a casual wail. The intrigue he gets embroiled in is preposterously resolved at the end that I felt cheated. Whenever faced with the opportunity for originality, the book invariably chooses the cheap, well trodden road of clichés: Gabriel's authoritarian father is in denial about his son's sexual proclivities (of course), his stepmother is a gold-digger airhead (of course), and Gabriel has a one night stand with a truck driver (every gay man's dream). Apparently, Mr. Maupin must have had the gnawing suspicion that his writing is trifling the grand topics his book broaches and his way of apologizing for it is to make Gabriel Noone talk about his self-doubt as a writer. Unfortunately, admitting a problem neither solves it nor makes it go away. The one redeeming quality of the book is its directness and frankness.
Rating:
Summary: A Flawed Mystery Posing as a Novel
Review: At the heart of this novel is a dark mystery that eats at the reader's peace of mind as much as it does narrator Gabriel Noone's. And the mystery is so powerful that it detracts from the non-mysterious parts of the plot. As suspense builds and Gabriel ventures off to solve the mystery, I no longer have as intense an interest in Gabriel's problems with his father and his lover-- except in so far as they might aid him in the mystery. Then, Gabriel actually rejects technical help from his bookkeeper, Anna, who could have taken him a long way toward some answers. But worse, far worse, Maupin ends the novel WITHOUT SOLVING THE MYSTERY. Gabriel Noone just sort of walks away from it. This is a supreme crime! Maupin tacks on an Afterword that plays games with the reader: Who is alive and who is dead? Who is real and who is not? But I'll forgive Maupin anything if he'll just wrap things up! Maupin could forge another career as a wonderful mystery writer. Why not take up the mantel of Joseph Hansen whose gay detective Dave Brandstetter solved so many crimes?
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