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Rating: 
Summary: Bruiser Is A Pleaser
Review: "Bruiser" is the sort of book I usually hate but it was so well done I liked it in spite of myself. It is a love story, but very low key, told in that sort of flatfooted tone that some critics call "K-Mart realism." It concerns a British importer living in Chicago who meets a young amateur boxer, who winds up living with him.The two men struggle through the necessary adaptations of living together such as conflicting schedules and HIV status. They plan (although "plan" is perhaps too firm a verb) a motor trip to South America but don't make it past Texas. The setting for the second half of the book is depressing but what redeems it is the obvious love the men feel for each other even though we never hear "I love you." In other words, this book is so well told that we readers feel the two men's affection for each other and how it motivates their actions without string-pulling. As a Chicago resident, I can certainly say that the Chicago locales were well rendered. Overall "Bruiser" is a good job, and I look for further works from this author.
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Summary: Hoping for a good book, got a lot less than expected.
Review: After reading this book and then going back to the reviews posted here, I have to suspect that the reviewers are either relatives, good friends or publishing associates of the author. This book is one of the worst books I have read, and I am an avid reader! The story is simplistic, pointless and old. If you're interested in this type of story, I strongly suggest reading "The Night Listener" instead, if only to see what a master does with a similar storyline. I finished this book while on a New York subway, and the only reason I didn't deposit the book in the trash when I left the station was that I was afraid someone would pick it up and waste their time on it like I did. Sorry, Mr. House, but I really, really did not like your book!
Rating: 
Summary: Affecting and engrossing
Review: House performs at least a couple of feats of magic with this novel. First of all he has written a love story in which neither character says, "I love you" to the other. Such declaration is unnecessary. The reader knows, through their actions, how Paul and Adrian feel about each other. Such is the true novelist's craft, to show rather than merely tell. Secondly, House has made effective use of present tense narration. I usually abhor this point of view for its pretensiousness, but this time it doesn't detract from the flow or interest of the story. House has taken what could easily become maudlin and made it moving and believable.
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Summary: Surprisingly Good!
Review: I am tired beyond belief of the pederast story: older guy, young boy/man. It's been done, it's been done, it's been done. But I stumbled on this novel totally by accident, was desperate for something to read, and was surprised. Remarkably surprised. It starts with a stray dog being killed and no one wanting to deal with the carcass and ends with the two main characters adopting another stray puppy. In between, House really sets up an interesting story of unwanted people (strays?) more desperate for love than they realize. He touches on AIDS, but doesn't dwell on it which was perfect for this story. The title hints at the subtle (Harris) and horrendous (Adrian) ways men abuse each other when all they really want is affection. Neither character is stock and House offers no easy answers or happy endings. Instead the end of the story has Harris and Adrian still en route with their new puppy, taking a breather on a shining, white salt flat. Good stuff!
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Summary: How Did I Miss This One!
Review: I fell in love with this book and don't know how I missed it when it was first published...I found it an intriguing story, realistically told, about coming to terms with possible HIV+ status, as well as the coming together of two completely different types whose backgrounds could not be more dissimilar. There was no sugary endings, the writing was lean and I enjoyed it immensely...
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Summary: Hoping for a good book, got a lot less than expected.
Review: I was expecting a novel that had something to tell. I was hoping Adrian and Paul would find a happy medium somewhere but they just seem to settle for what is in front of them.
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Summary: A compelling read from a promising first-time novelist
Review: Practically everything about this slim novel is fresh. Taking now fairly stale themes in gay fiction (older man/younger man, AIDS anxiety, the Englishman abroad, adventures on the road), House transforms them into something altogether mesmerizing with chiseled prose and twists of plot so convincing and immediate that one sometimes feels like he's reading a private journal. (The writing often reminded me of Denton Welch's journals and short stories.) The book manages to be erotic while avoiding the breathless ecstasies of much romantic writing--the characters are not angelically handsome, not every moment teeters on sexual sublimity, and House rarely relies on abstractions, preferring viscerally concrete details instead. The book is worldly wise, also, without lapsing into preachiness. The world House paints here is grim--full of brutality, abusive stupidity, fear, even criminality--and while doing nothing to contradict this bleak view of things, he also offers glimmers of grace--not divine grace, to be sure, but the musty, sometimes messy grace of human connectedness.
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Summary: Complexities of gay relationships
Review: This is an excellent exploration of the complexities and subtle tensions of a relationship between Paul, a middle-aged somewhat disillusioned expatriate and Adrian, a young vulnerable hustler and waiter. The story is set against a bleak landscape of middle America with its anonymous and drab motels and diners. If you want a neat and happy ending you will not find it here. But the tone is fundamentally optimistic, showing that two very different and unsettled people can find real comfort in each other. I look forward to reading the author's second book, Uninvited.
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Summary: why I love to read........
Review: This novel, describing the unlikely affair between a 42-year-old expatriate Englishman and an 18-year-old waiter/amateur boxer/occasional rent boy, came as a surprise. The pair meet in Chicago, where the older man, the narrator, is living in a seedy hotel while avoiding his obligation to his family business. One of the great rewards of this novel lies in the narrator's outsider view of American culture, surreal warts and all. (Especially good is the murderer-as-celebrity subplot later in the book.) Another reward is the complete credibility of their relationship: both men--any suggestion of pedophilia is just plain inaccurate--are outsiders for very different reasons; but as their friendship evolves, they begin to understand and care for each other. Though this book is ostensibly a road novel, and the destination is Brazil, most of the action takes place in Chicago and San Antonio; Texas, despite its mythically American significance to the narrator, appears as rainy, dark, muddy, bleak. It is here, though, that both men must reconcile their outsider identity with their need for each other. Their separate journeys and mutual arrival bring the novel's greatest reward: a happy (!) ending. In fact, the book ends with a brilliant, shimmering sunset. Recommended.
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Summary: Enjoyable, about a mm relationship between young/old
Review: Well, I'm pretty terrible at writing anything let alone reviews but I enjoyed this book quite a bit and definitely recommend it.
I wasn't sure what to expect after seeing a favourable recommendation from Dennis Cooper on the back cover! It turned out to be a nice story about the relationship between an older English guy visiting the States who was sick of his job and wanted to travel around and a 17yo guy who'd been kicked out of home after having a hard time with his family (I'll let you discover the hilarious situation that unfolds here). They meet at a restaurant and things go from there. What I liked was how the story twisted and turned in all sorts of directions but still flowed really well. It portrayed their respective personality differences and life experiences realistically and held my interest all the way though - I ended up staying up into the early hours to finish it. Blah.
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