Rating: 
Summary: "Sheer Pleasure to Read"
Review: After reading & enjoying Colm Toibin's latest book, "The Blackwater Lightship", I decided I must read his other books. Again, I wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed this beautifully written novel as much as "The Blackwater Lightship." Colm's sentences are very long and full of details, and once you get use to his masterful style of writing you just can't stop reading. I think that's what I like most about his writing, that everything is brought to the surface, and no details are left out.There are actually two main themes here, and they are combined beautifully. It's the story of Argentina during the Falkland Wars and its struggle for democracy & freedom, and the story of a gay man's coming of age who is also struggling to find himself, his place in life & real love. I think Richard Garay & Pablo's love for each other is beautifully developed in a very sensitive true-to life way. Although your heart may break by the end of this story you'll remember these characters long after you finish this book. If you like a book that can take you away, make you happy, bring tears to your eyes, and teach you a lot about other people & their cultures, this book is definitely worth a read. This book is written with intelligence and was a sheer pleasure to read!
Rating:
Summary: "Sheer Pleasure to Read"
Review: After reading & enjoying Colm Toibin's latest book, "The Blackwater Lightship", I decided I must read his other books. Again, I wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed this beautifully written novel as much as "The Blackwater Lightship." Colm's sentences are very long and full of details, and once you get use to his masterful style of writing you just can't stop reading. I think that's what I like most about his writing, that everything is brought to the surface, and no details are left out. There are actually two main themes here, and they are combined beautifully. It's the story of Argentina during the Falkland Wars and its struggle for democracy & freedom, and the story of a gay man's coming of age who is also struggling to find himself, his place in life & real love. I think Richard Garay & Pablo's love for each other is beautifully developed in a very sensitive true-to life way. Although your heart may break by the end of this story you'll remember these characters long after you finish this book. If you like a book that can take you away, make you happy, bring tears to your eyes, and teach you a lot about other people & their cultures, this book is definitely worth a read. This book is written with intelligence and was a sheer pleasure to read!
Rating: 
Summary: #84 of the 100 Best Gay & Lesbian Novels
Review: Argentina in the 1970s and 1980s was a time of change and growth. Richard Garay lives with his ailing mother in Buenos Aires, where he cruises for sex with other men and works at a loathsome job. After the Falkland War, he comes into contact with two American diplomats who become the catalysts for Richard's own changes and growth. He finds better work, becomes more connected with the world at large, and later finds a man to love. But even in Argentina, the far-reaching tendrils of AIDS touch everyone. The last third of the novel becomes an eloquent testament to the power of love and hope, against all odds. In TóibÃn's capable hands, what could have been a tedious story about politics becomes a wondrous journey of a man into the world at large through to the other side.
Rating:
Summary: A story of love and sadness
Review: Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the 1980s. Garay is a young Argentinean in his mid twenties of half English descent because of his mother. He teaches English at the Instituto San Martin, a job he profoundly dislikes because of its monotony. He distrusts people and prefers to spend time alone, surprised if anyone likes him or approves of him, often seeing the world as separate from himself. When his mother is at work, he enjoys pretending that he is a woman, putting on her underwear, her skirts and blouses. When his mother dies, Garay's solitude becomes really oppressive. Moreover, it is a period of unrest in Argentina: the Malvinas war, the end of the Allende regime and the political emergence of a cowboy called Carlos Menem.
Garay's life starts changing after he meets Susan and Donald Ford. They offer him a job as a consultant/interpreter/guide for a group of American officials visiting Buenos Aires on business. Being quite successful, Susan and Donald suggest some time later that Garay opens his own office as a consultant. He gladly accepts their proposition and happily leaves his career as a teacher behind him for ever.
Although Garay always believed that he was happier alone, he realises that he is desperate for someone. So meeting Pablo Canetto is a blessing despite the fact that their relationship has to be kept secret for quite some time.
A moving novel and a truly sensitive account of the way the gay community suffered from the outbreak of AIDS in the 1980s.
Rating:
Summary: Sublime
Review: I had the good fortune to hear Colm Toibin read from this book at the Harborfront Festival a few years ago in Toronto. His voice, like his writing, is rich yet unsentimental, and it stayed with me as I read the book myself -- my very own signed copy! We have all read books that we didn't ever want to finish because they are so good. This is one of those books. Toibin is a writer who can inhabit many cultures and many voices with genuine empathy.
Rating:
Summary: An awakening in Argentina
Review: I picked up this book quite by accident assuming it to be a historical novel set in an Argentine backdrop. It had some of that but was much more. Using the years after the dictatorship of 1976-1983, the author begins the story focusing on a quiet unassuming young man who lives with his mother and just happens to be gay. For those who are anxious to learn more about the awakening of democracy, there is some of that. The dominant theme covers the US role in Argentina's changing political climate. However, as the book develops the reader finds the focus of the novel shifting gradually to the main character's sexual coming of age. The story moves quickly from political cocktail parties with the Argentine elite to furtive homosexual encounters in a Buenos Aires steam bath. As the reader follows the progression of events, the main character becomes a success both emotionally and economically. I found myself encouraging him on. It is easy to like this guy and hope that he can overcome the constraints of living with his aging mother in a culture that does not celebrate his sexuality. The sex scenes, both homosexual and heterosexual, hold the reader focused on the struggle that the main character is feeling. Ultimately the book shifts to the topic of AIDS. This was a disappointment as it introduced a theme written about so many times before and not necessary to the story's conclusion. Notwithstanding that, this book is very well written and held my interest from beginning to end. I would recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: surprised
Review: i will confess to be surprised by how good this book was. i did not know much of colm toiban and less of what this book might be about. i found myself affected much more than i thought i would be, partly because i expected so little, but mostly because unlike much of present 'gay' literature, this was not a 'gay' book. it reminded me again, as had the 'the folding star' by allan hollinghurst, how much more meaningful, pertinent, and poignant a book with gay characters is if it is not explicitly so aimed. that the protaganist is gay is no more important than his peculiar emotional solitude, his nebulous avocation, his glancing relationships. once his orientation does come to the fore, it is with the approximate force of a muslin curtain, delicate, restrained and lightly suffocating. i read it lounging around a city park, waiting for a friend, expecting to put it aside at any moment to do some shopping. i finished it with the slight tingly sensation (partly having to do with sitting for three hour) i get when truly affected by a book, some sense of having learned something more about myself or about the world.
Rating:
Summary: Stirring, Passionate and eventually Heartbreaking
Review: If you like a classic romantic novel which is based on character development caused by repressive surroundings, then you should read this story. Richard, the protagonist with a West-European background but living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a highly skilled young gay man. Therefore he is clearly aware of the differences between what he wants in life and what is possible in his country. Especially the impossibility for gays to build up their own gay lifestyle, as he knows if from his education and his North-American friends, worries him constantly. Richard takes care of his ageing mother just like Lark does in Andrew Holleran's 'The Beauty of Men'. It did not take me by surprise. I've seen it in real life too. What can I say about gay sons caring for their helpless mothers? Anyway, the strong tie seems to keep mother alive by isolating her son from his sexual needs. No wonder de death of Richard's mother is the beginning of his sexual exploration. When Richard falls in love with the son of an important conservative politician he discovers the impact of leading a double life. The lovers have to spend weekends abroad to get recognition for their loveaffair. Richard's boyfriend is sure he had to spend his college years in the USA because he was caught in the act with a male classmate at home just before his graduation. His parents's unconscious decision in this matter found on the suspicion their son being gay prevented them from even thinking about homosexuality. Besides the love element Richard also gets involved with politics. He supports the possibilities to establish a democratic government. Working life offers him the opportunity to become a grown up man. For me this aspect functioned quite well as a rolemodeling-thing. 'The Story of the Night' is very detailled and Richard's actions are at the centre. I was so close to him while reading, I felt I was there with him all the way. I love to read reflections on life but I did not miss them here. Richard just experiences things for the first time. Too many things I guess for the sweet guy.
Rating: 
Summary: A tale of the Falkland War
Review: Richard Garay, half-English and half-Argentinian, lives with his mother in Bueons Aires in the 1980s. He's stuck in a teaching job he doesn't like and roams the streets at night, afraid of letting anyone close to him know about his homosexuality. But Argentina is changing, and Richard soon must change with it. He befriends one of his students, Jorge Caneto, and travels with him to Barcelona. His mother passes away. The Falklands War begins and ends. Once the war is over, Jorge's father, a powerful man in Argentina, gets Richard a job as an interpretor for the foreigners coming over to assist with the privatization of Argentina's oil industry. And, he also hopes that Richard will help sway the visitors in the political arena. At one of the fundraiser parties, Richard spies Pablo, a beautiful young man and also Jorge's brother. Richard slowly begins a romance with Pablo. But, Pablo's past comes back to haunt the relationship. Soon, Richard is having to deal not only with that past but also his future and the threat of HIV and AIDS. I felt that the author couldn't make up his mind what story to tell: the political intrigue of the privatization of Argentina or the romance of Pablo and Richard. Either one would have been sufficient, but the stories didn't combine well and made it seem as though I were reading two novels at once.
Rating:
Summary: A tale of the Falkland War
Review: Richard Garay, half-English and half-Argentinian, lives with his mother in Bueons Aires in the 1980s. He's stuck in a teaching job he doesn't like and roams the streets at night, afraid of letting anyone close to him know about his homosexuality. But Argentina is changing, and Richard soon must change with it. He befriends one of his students, Jorge Caneto, and travels with him to Barcelona. His mother passes away. The Falklands War begins and ends. Once the war is over, Jorge's father, a powerful man in Argentina, gets Richard a job as an interpretor for the foreigners coming over to assist with the privatization of Argentina's oil industry. And, he also hopes that Richard will help sway the visitors in the political arena. At one of the fundraiser parties, Richard spies Pablo, a beautiful young man and also Jorge's brother. Richard slowly begins a romance with Pablo. But, Pablo's past comes back to haunt the relationship. Soon, Richard is having to deal not only with that past but also his future and the threat of HIV and AIDS. I felt that the author couldn't make up his mind what story to tell: the political intrigue of the privatization of Argentina or the romance of Pablo and Richard. Either one would have been sufficient, but the stories didn't combine well and made it seem as though I were reading two novels at once.
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