The Long Blue Moan

Rating:
Summary: The circle of life
Review: Four men growing up in New York City learn about life, love, and loneliness in THE LONG BLUE MOAN, an insightful novel by author L.M. Ross. The story itself is told in a series of flashbacks and remembrances about the lives of these four men intertwined by, at times, friendship, and at other times, much more. The men, both as individuals and as a unit, represent the hard times and struggles of young black men in the 1980s and 1990s.

Browny is a thuggish young man with the voice of an angel. All he wants is to be able to showcase his talents and to be appreciated for them. He refuses to be punked by anyone. But Browny is quick to take people on their word, causing him more trouble than anything.

Face Depina relies on his looks to get ahead in life. A man with the face and body of a god, many people flock to him for all the wrong reasons. The hard countenance that Face shows the world is lined with that of a broken spirit, a scarred man, and an abandoned child.

Tyrone is the father figure of the group. He is a cautious, talented man who searches for more than just one night stands and fly-by-night relationships. He wants a man who is spiritually connected with him; his soul mate. But a series of events cause Tyrone to question the validity of his desire to love and be loved.

David, an expert dancer, looks for love in all the wrong places, including in Face Depina. His carefree attitude about shacking up and going on the prowl for fresh meat makes his best friend, Tyrone, uncomfortable. But David represents loyalty in its purest form, standing by his homies in good times and bad.

What we see from the collective of these men is a gritty tale of gay urban life. Ross constructs these characters with depth and strong voices, and they all want to be heard; they demand it. There are a lot of sexual situations in this book, but they aren't thrown in there for shock value. Each episode plays a significant role in the makeup of the characters.

This emotional rollercoaster disguised as a novel is one that I was glad I had the chance to ride. I was educated and intrigued. I was saddened and outraged. I was a passenger and I loved every minute of it.

Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Rating:
Summary: The circle of life
Review: Four men growing up in New York City learn about life, love, and loneliness in THE LONG BLUE MOAN, an insightful novel by author L.M. Ross. The story itself is told in a series of flashbacks and remembrances about the lives of these four men intertwined by, at times, friendship, and at other times, much more. The men, both as individuals and as a unit, represent the hard times and struggles of young black men in the 1980s and 1990s.

Browny is a thuggish young man with the voice of an angel. All he wants is to be able to showcase his talents and to be appreciated for them. He refuses to be punked by anyone. But Browny is quick to take people on their word, causing him more trouble than anything.

Face Depina relies on his looks to get ahead in life. A man with the face and body of a god, many people flock to him for all the wrong reasons. The hard countenance that Face shows the world is lined with that of a broken spirit, a scarred man, and an abandoned child.

Tyrone is the father figure of the group. He is a cautious, talented man who searches for more than just one night stands and fly-by-night relationships. He wants a man who is spiritually connected with him; his soul mate. But a series of events cause Tyrone to question the validity of his desire to love and be loved.

David, an expert dancer, looks for love in all the wrong places, including in Face Depina. His carefree attitude about shacking up and going on the prowl for fresh meat makes his best friend, Tyrone, uncomfortable. But David represents loyalty in its purest form, standing by his homies in good times and bad.

What we see from the collective of these men is a gritty tale of gay urban life. Ross constructs these characters with depth and strong voices, and they all want to be heard; they demand it. There are a lot of sexual situations in this book, but they aren't thrown in there for shock value. Each episode plays a significant role in the makeup of the characters.

This emotional rollercoaster disguised as a novel is one that I was glad I had the chance to ride. I was educated and intrigued. I was saddened and outraged. I was a passenger and I loved every minute of it.

Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Rating:
Summary: A Peek Inside
Review: I've been sitting here for awhile trying to figure out the words and phrases to describe the emotions the book "The Long Blue Moan" written by my cherished friend L.M. Ross evoked.

I've admitted in the past I am a simple man with simple ideas and views of the world and have never been blessed with the gift of expressing myself in writing so I ask Lin for his forgiveness at my ineptness.

I lost myself in the characters and their world spending hours reliving my own life experiences long since buried in unmarked emotional graves in my heart. The full spectrum was there; love, compassion, anger, loss, horniness. He managed to unearth them all with stark and raw slashes of his pen. The setting and fast paced world was different but he managed to tap into those universal trials many of us have faced crossing gender, racial and cultural lines.

His book has earned a place in my nightstand right there with the other books that have inspired growth and change in my heart. It will be one that I will pick up and thumb trough over the years to come continually discovering new facets and without doubt old emotions.

Thank you Lin for allowing a peek inside.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe too much going on
Review: It took two tries in order to really read the book but when I finally sat down and read it, I was amazed with the plot and the twist and turns. Even though it is fast paced and has a lot of sex scenes, it is a good reading. I was surpised with how the men were diverse SGL Men. I mean from the flaming Daivd to the homophobic homosexual Pascal to the mild Tyrone in th middle it was really good to see the developement of these characters. I enjoyed the fact that there was a straight guy out of the group and to see him turn from gay basser to gay friend though the book it was refreshing. Cannot for some more works from the author. I recommend this for anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Watch out E Lynn
Review: Ross captures the rhythm of real New York in this novel that entertains, stuns, and (sadly) mirrors the emotions and challenges of many gay men in NYC. How refreshing to read a gay0-themed novel that strikes a balance between the fabulous and forlorn. Indeed, the author proves that even those at the top of their game struggle with some of the same issues of acceptance as the rest of us. Ross' characters (many though they are) have depth and believability. The ways in which each of them deals with their passion--not just sexual passion, at that--makes them all too real. This book may not appeal to a lot of straight folks. Ross' acute attention to genital size and his graphic descriptions of intimate moments may prove too much for some. But what a fine book for anyone with a gay friend. It shows in heartbreaking reality the struggle that lives just below the surface.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: The Long Blue Moan is about 4 African-American men who meet at Performing Arts High. They are thrown together as part of an assignment; they form a musical group and the result of that group is a hit song. The group, successful as it is, does not stay together, but the 4 men within the group continue a relationship with each other that spans more than 20 years. The time period during which these men go from teenagers just starting to explore what they'll do with the future stretching before them through to adulthood and what that means for each of them is the late 1970's through the 1990's. It covers the time period when talented young men got sick and died from some nameless insidious disease. It is also an intensely close and personal look at what it's like from a Black urban perspective to pursue dreams, expectations, and careers, squander them, or simply watch them die.

There is Ty who has a gift for writing and a strong sense of doing the right thing. David is a dancer with a flair and style all his own. Browny has an amazing ability to sing and wants to perform opera. Pascal made the fourth member of the group, and he wanted to be an actor; but what role was the real him?

There are gay relationships in The Long Blue Moan, and there are explicit descriptions of the sex involved in those relationships. But to say that this book is about gay sex or just sex at all is like saying Mutiny On The Bounty is about an ocean voyage, and it is to miss the whole point of the book.

L. M. Ross doesn't create characters; he creates people that you feel from the inside out. These people are not merely words on a page; they are living, breathing human beings, and their stories are about love, loss, deep loneliness, anger and hard edged rage. It's about the choices people make in this life and the result or consequences of those choices. It's about loyalty and the lack of it. It's about decency, and it's also about twisted people and those who do their best to love those souls anyway.

And binding all of this together, there is some of the finest writing I have ever read. It is lyrical, and it is compelling reading. It touched me in places nothing I've read before has reached, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read an adult story about people you will remember long after you read the last page and have some idea just what a Long Blue Moan is.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: The Long Blue Moan is about 4 African-American men who meet at Performing Arts High. They are thrown together as part of an assignment; they form a musical group and the result of that group is a hit song. The group, successful as it is, does not stay together, but the 4 men within the group continue a relationship with each other that spans more than 20 years. The time period during which these men go from teenagers just starting to explore what they'll do with the future stretching before them through to adulthood and what that means for each of them is the late 1970's through the 1990's. It covers the time period when talented young men got sick and died from some nameless insidious disease. It is also an intensely close and personal look at what it's like from a Black urban perspective to pursue dreams, expectations, and careers, squander them, or simply watch them die.

There is Ty who has a gift for writing and a strong sense of doing the right thing. David is a dancer with a flair and style all his own. Browny has an amazing ability to sing and wants to perform opera. Pascal made the fourth member of the group, and he wanted to be an actor; but what role was the real him?

There are gay relationships in The Long Blue Moan, and there are explicit descriptions of the sex involved in those relationships. But to say that this book is about gay sex or just sex at all is like saying Mutiny On The Bounty is about an ocean voyage, and it is to miss the whole point of the book.

L. M. Ross doesn't create characters; he creates people that you feel from the inside out. These people are not merely words on a page; they are living, breathing human beings, and their stories are about love, loss, deep loneliness, anger and hard edged rage. It's about the choices people make in this life and the result or consequences of those choices. It's about loyalty and the lack of it. It's about decency, and it's also about twisted people and those who do their best to love those souls anyway.

And binding all of this together, there is some of the finest writing I have ever read. It is lyrical, and it is compelling reading. It touched me in places nothing I've read before has reached, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read an adult story about people you will remember long after you read the last page and have some idea just what a Long Blue Moan is.

Rating:
Summary: Solid novel full of vivid description and drama
Review: Tyrone, David, Face, and Browny: four seemingly different boys of the 70s, all students at Performing Arts High, are brought together when they are assigned the task of forming a musical group. Despite the success of their first song, the group falls apart, and what "The Long Blue Moan" shows the reader is the 20-year history and aftermath of these men's lives, lives that are full of drama, dreams, passion, sex, violence, and so much more.

There are several positive qualities to Ross' "The Long Blue Moan," such as the frankness of his writing and of his characters. These four main characters represent a myriad of personalities, all unique in their pains and wishes, as well as their desires. Another kudo to Ross must go out for his detailing of New York City and his rhythmic, poetic writing style which flows well with the NYC setting and the entangled personalities of his main characters. Ross keeps it real with his male characters, who love men and yet, a few of them, must
deal with the conflicts within themselves that arises because of this love. Ross places the drama right in the readers' faces and forces us to look at every crevice of these characters' lives.

Though the novel's 'realness' is a positive for me, it also presented a negative reaction as well. There was way too much drama and problems for these characters, and for me, a little drama goes a long way. Another minor concern for me was the character of Browny. His character does not grow too much in the story and, typically, this isn't a problem; the problem came when I read various phrases of Browny's that he used as an adult that he used as a kid and it just did not ring true to me. It was the continuous usage of those phrases throughout the novel that rankled me a bit.

Overall, this is a novel that I would definitely recommend to others. E. Lynn Harris and James Earl Hardy have been two of the most popular black authors to introduce readers to the loves and lives of gay Black men, and I would encourage everyone to add L. M. Ross to that list. I don't think you would be disappointed.

Shon Bacon