Rating: 
Summary: For us "PARTNERED" folks, it's a MUST READ!
Review: If you have been or currently in a LTR, you can find yourself in one of the main characters of this wonderful novel.They take you through an honest journey through the ups and downs of a relationship as well as a lot of soul searching. It's not about monogomy vs. infadelity, it is more about learning who we are as human beings and what it takes to get us to the point of entering into a monogomous relationship and making it work. A great read for those who are at that point in their lives where they are ready to take that plunge. If you are a P-Town lover, like I am, this book brings you home!
Rating: 
Summary: Abysmal
Review: It's not profound enough to be a serious book, and it's not funny or sexy enough to be a fun book. Here are the specific problems: 1. The narrator/main character is detestable. He's a self-absorbed, insufferable bore who is never fun to be with. 2. The "wise" character's wisdome consists of tired, self-help slogans. 3. Hardly anything happens! 4. Instead of following the maxim of "Show, don't tell," the author tells, then shows, then explains what he's shown. 30% of this book could have been cut with no problem. 5. There's no sense of place or setting. A good novel leaves me with a lot of visual imagery. This book felt like disembodied voices speaking in a gray mist. 6. Except for the narrator, the other character are lifeless or cliched.
Rating: 
Summary: Half a good novel isn't quite good enough
Review: Never mind that we're asked to sympathize with the dreaded plight of being all of 33-years old in a youth-obsessed gay society. Never mind that the narrator is shallow and self-absorbed. All that could be have bearable until the halway point where the characters start spouting fourth-rate cliche dialog that brings to mind bad Joan Crawford movies. At first I thought this novel was truly speaking to me; then I realized it didn't really have anything to say -- but it just kept talking anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring, boring and ... did I mention boring?
Review: One of the flattest, most self-indulgent, non-literary books I have ever read in this genre. Perfect airport book for the neutered, non-threatening gay market. This is what years of writing complimentary book reviews for others will get you: a book deal where you can drag out your own self-satisfied white upper class Boston P-Town life. "Ho-hum, the dogs need feeding, I have an open relationship. What a quandary?" This is one of those books filled with people you'd hate to be stuck with at a dinner party.
Rating:
Summary: This book gets popped to the top shelf
Review: The only gay novel I have yet read that even compares to "Men From the Boys" is Forman Brown's "A Better Angel" (written & published originally in 1933). Nothing compares to Wm. Mann's searching novel. I have rarely read anything better, and I have never read anything sadder. Yes, the character is self-absorbed, but his own blindness makes him that much more interesting to watch as he develops in maturity and even wisdom. In "Creed for the Third Millenium", when Colleen McCullough's character is told to 'write a book', I almost threw down the novel in disgust. Writing a book will NEVER save the world. When Wm. Mann's character struggles to write his book, it's his attempt to save his soul, the perfect forum for this kind of venture. The book is full of moments like this one, as each character in turn struggles to find his way through his life and its challenges. Structurally, this novel was phenomenal. The way the back-and-forth of time and space spins around left me SPINNING. Masterfully done, a great story with lively characters, this is one book I'm glad I had passed on to me, and I recommend this to anyone interested in man's struggle to find his own soul.
Rating:
Summary: Semi-Literate Gay Soap Opera
Review: The title of my review says almost all that can be said. In this novel, Mann tries to be a respectable literary writer, but comes a bit short. I have to give him credit, however, for not falling into all of the traps of commercial fiction. The narrator is not a particularly sentimental character, which is a risky move--especially when you consider the majority of Mann's audience is not likely to have been challenged in such a way before. It is this narrator's less-than-loveable characteristics that make this novel, at times, a biting commentary on the values of many modern gay men--that is to say, sex and selfishness.
Rating:
Summary: Unbearable...a complete waste of money
Review: This book was a complete waste of time and money for me; I threw it away after reading the first 25 pages.
Rating:
Summary: A refreshing piece of gay literature.
Review: This is a terrific book. It's honest, real and unafraid. Willima Mann has written a modern gay story with characters who are believable and likeable. He has avoided the cliched and presented a way of living, that certainly I and many of my peers, can relate to. The non-linear structure is great - and he has used this technique skillfully and effectively. Similarly he has shown great restraint in the final chapter, leaving you with a true sense of having spent time with characters who are real. Buy it. Read it. You'll love it.
Rating:
Summary: The Way We Live Now
Review: This is certainly a "gay" novel in every sense of the word since the three main characters, Jeff, Lloyd and Javitz, inhabit a totally gay world with pretty much only other gays and lesbians for friends. The story is set in 1994 and '95 in both Boston and Provincetown. These chracters make their own rules and refuse to base their lives on heterosexual patterns. For instance, Javitz and Jeff were once lovers; now Jeff and Lloyd are but the three function as a loosely knit family. Jeff and Lloyd have an "open" relationship in that both of them "trick" with others. What Mann does best in this very accessible novel is to take characters and situations that a lesser writer would have made trite and to make them alive and interesting. There are lots of scenes that hit home. Jeff's description of visiting his parents-- the men sit in the living room watching sports on TV while the women sit in the kitchen talking. Jeff is sort of in a no man's land somewhere in between. In a discussion about the future, Ernie, who is HIV positive, tells Jeff who is not: "Jeff, you can still plan for tomorrow even while you're moping around over your boyfriend. You can daydream. That's the difference. I no longer have the luxury of indulging in daydreams." (I have heard similar discussions many times over the last twenty years or so.) Finally, Mann describes accurately a lot of gay people in the 90's: "Back in the days when we marched through the streets, it was easier. It was a way to pilot our grief, our rage, our fear. In a strange and twisted way, it allowed us to be hopeful--and this in the days when Reagan and Bush sat in the Oval Office. It's different now: the government still has blood on its hands, but we no longer march in the streets. It's more than simple complacency lulled by the honeyed words of a deceitful president. It's a sense of holding on. . .and hoping to God to still be there when it's all over." There are many passages like these in this thoughtful, unpretentious and altogether pleasing novel.
Rating:
Summary: Lyrically Profound ; a Triumph!
Review: This is one of the finest books I have read in at least 2 years. Jeff, the protangoist and a modern Everyman, captures the essence of being a gay man in the 90's. Each of the major characters becons to the reader to learn more about them and their journey in the gay world. They are palpable, their passions and fears are honest, and their individual growth as people make them all the more real for the reader. I ENTHUSISATICALLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. It speaks to the Gay Everyman with a clairty that will haunt the reader! THIS BOOK IS A MUST! I can't wait to begin Mr. Mann's new novel.
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