Rating: 
Summary: A Rare Find
Review: (...)Queer Quotient: 5 of 5"Marry him?" Protagonist B.K. Troop scoffs at his Greek waitress in Allison Burnett's debut novel, Christopher, when she suggests he swallow a four-leaf clover in order to ensure he marry the object of his desire, his new neighbor and the title character of the book. "Good God! I only want to seduce him!" And that is precisely what B.K. sets out to do, despite the fact that Christopher is obviously heterosexual. B.K. is a middle-aged, unemployed, bipolar, unattractive gay man. When Christopher, an aspiring novelist, moves in next door, B.K. immediately sets his sights on the lovely young man. Fresh from a failed attempt at marriage, Christopher seems ripe for the picking, but B.K. has a challenge before him-Christopher isn't interested in being seduced. B.K. isn't the type to back down from a challenge, and he goes after Christopher with religious zeal. He tries everything in his power to worm his way into Christopher's life, and he succeeds to some degree, but his goal of seducing the younger man is thwarted at every turn-often with hilarious results. The book chronicles a year in the lives of B.K. and Christopher, a year in which they both learn much about themselves. As seen through B.K.'s eyes, and related to us through his sharp, witty, and sometimes bitchy observations, Christopher develops a crush on a married waitress, delves into presidential politics, becomes involves in a New Age cult, and struggles to deal with his domineering and malevolent mother. Meanwhile, much to his horror, B.K.'s lust develops into something deeper, something he thought he would never feel-true love. Christopher is a rare find-a clever, engaging book that can make you laugh out loud, but also pulls at your heart strings. Burnett, a screenwriter and film director living in Los Angeles, at times seems to be channeling the spirit of Oscar Wilde. His style is literary, but completely accessible. He has taken a character like B.K. Troop, who easily could have been extremely unlikable, and not only makes him sympathetic, but actually brings you to root for his happiness. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: the best part of the pool is the deeper end....
Review: .. I'm a girl who reads at least 52 books a year..more when I can multiply my time. When I read this book I thought of all the times that I loved someone I knew I'd never truly have. And love, is it something we have or is it something we only share in? The main character and also the narrator B.K. Troop is looking back and remembering his strange, obsessive and tender friendship with Christopher Ireland throughout this novel. It's almost like sitting with him and listening to him tell his tale. At several points throughout the book I can relate ... Love is something that has no color, age, preference. It's everlasting and we never forget where and when and how it strikes. If we are honest with ourselves we have no control over the timeline it maps out in our lives. B.K. Troop is me..myself and I at different points in my own life. How then does a writer write a book that is essentially not about an event or an exact moment, but rather an emotion and how we have no control over it. An emotion we cannot stop, start or re-direct. It couldn't have been easy. I think the reviewers listed here have probably read few books, or the few that they did read were the typical formula novel. Stephen King is a great writer...he's mastered his formula and keeps writing those same books over and over with a little twist here and a name change there. Allison Burnett isn't Stephen King...he's got a voice all his own, unique, new ...and perhaps you need to look deeper for the true meaning of it all. The real story isn't the one on the surface. It's somewhere deep within. I liked this book, ..I'm not as far removed as I thought. I too have been the narrator B.K. Troop feeling obsessive and tenderly unrealistic love...his name just wasn't Christopher but I still have not forgotten him.
Rating: 
Summary: Sloppy
Review: ... I was let down by the novel, particularly after what seemed like such a strong start. But within 60 pages I began to feel the slippage. Very sloppy construct, loose ends that never get addressed, some ... sketchy outlines of characters (and not just background characters, but like Christopher himself, mr. title character! There's no there, there!)... I could go on, but why? Don't misundertand me, Ms. Burnett has some potential, but I certainly can't recommend spending any money on this. ...
Rating: 
Summary: I Can't Recommend
Review: ... My trouble is not so much with the premise, although I find nothing particularly fresh about the notion of an aging [alternative lifestyle person] pining for a young and attractive straight man, as with the structure and execution of character development. BK is, without doubt, an engaging and often amusing character. He is unfortunately the only identity within the novel that has been fully flushed out. The title character, Christopher, is so painfully flat and artificial that whenever he comes onto the "scene" I found myself wishing he'd leave again. Remaining characters are overall two dimensional. The structure of the novel is uneven and lacking in dramatic arc. I was disappointed by this work, and cannot recommend it here or to my peers.
Rating:
Summary: Don't do the author the disservice...
Review: ...of pigeon-holing this great literary piece as simply another piece of "Gay Fiction".
Yes, the narrator of the tale, B.K. Troop, happens to be gay. Yes, he happens to be lusting after Christopher, his 25-Year-Old neighbour and protege. But to shunt this work to the "Gay" section alienates those heterosexuals among us who like to simply read great writing; sharp and poignant, stylish, and brilliantly-plotted. And those among us who have not grasped this book in one hand, with the other gripping our armchair so as to not fall over from laughter, will have indeed missed out on a good thing.
Allison Burnett (who is in fact male) reveals a great deal more about the relationships between men and women, and the friendship that evolves between men, in this book than he does of the gay world. And that's just fine, because this rollicking tale as told through the voice of B.K. Troop is like sitting down for a several-days-long meal with the most fascinating and endearing person you've ever met.
It's not a good book because it touched a nerve. It touched a nerve because it's a good book. The literary devices are crafty and poignant. As the book's cover intimates, the style of the author's writing really does wax of Oscar Wilde. It is funny. The references Burnett draws from philosophy, aged literature, and from everyday culture indicate a perceptiveness and learnedness that isn't bested by Pulitzer Prize-winning books I've read. Every page is unique, unpredictable, amusing, and thought-provoking; the characters well-developed and multi-dimensional.
This is a difficult book to put down and should be read by everyone who appreciates true literature.
Rating:
Summary: B.K. Troop is my new hero!
Review: A written review will not do my enthusiasm for this book justice! I LOVED IT!!! Allison Burnett can really turn a phrase. His B.K. Troop is a master of fantasy and verbal swordplay...I wish he would narrate my life story.
Rating: 
Summary: Comedy and Tragedy and Why They Relate
Review: Allison Burnett bows onto the First Novelist Stage with a novel that is hilarious, witty, intelligent, acerbic, and warm, tender, and loving all at once. Burnett very obviously possesses a keen wit and is well read: one of the perks of reading CHRISTOPHER: A TALE OF SEDUCTION is frequent literary references and puns that stimulate the brain as well as entertain the mind. The tale of seduction storybook is narrated by BK Troop, an endlessly provocative, caustic, overweight and unattractive bipolar gay man in his forties who has just fled his Manhattan apartment under threat of decapitation by his schizophrenic landlady and takes up residence in an apartment that just happens to be next door to 25 year old straight Christopher Ireland, a handsome but unlucky in love and marriage wannabe novelist on the skids. Convinced he can seduce this 'victim' BK begins a story that takes place during the entire year of 1984. Christopher has needs that date back to his comically/tragically crazy childhood, his problems with relating to women are colored by his relationship to a madcap banshee of a psychiatrist mother. During this significant year of 1984 BK Troop observes, connives, cajoles, fantasizes and otherwise attempts to lure the sad sack Christopher into his lair only to discover that something he never has found - love - topples his house of cards philosophy of life and sexuality. In the span of a year BK and Christopher grow to find a kinship that serves them both well and the multiplicity of events narrated by the brilliant BK become gradually less preposterous and more human. This change in BK's role as the seducer of record is explained: "In my madness, I felt that I was as ugly a human being as had ever lived. A monster really, whose life was a giant sham, a fey intellectual burlesque, designed to distract others and myself from the truth, which was that, although I dreaded loneliness more than anything else, I had come to earth to die of it." And his opinion of Christopher as the object of his game of seduction alters: "For is it not a fact of our modern age that the family we cherish most is the not one who shares our noses and tempers, but the one with whom we share the minutia of our daily lives." And from January through December 1984 we a taken on a commedia dell'arte ride, learning much about wild cap Manhattan, the vagaries of human relationships, all manner of bizarre adjustments and lack of adjustments to living in the world today, all with more insight into the differences between the gay vs. straight psyche than most novels deliver. Burnett Allison is a refreshingly fine writer and he leaves an indelible stamp on our minds. This book deserves a much wider audience!
Rating:
Summary: Comedy and Tragedy and Why They Relate
Review: Allison Burnett bows onto the First Novelist Stage with a novel that is hilarious, witty, intelligent, acerbic, and warm, tender, and loving all at once. Burnett very obviously possesses a keen wit and is well read: one of the perks of reading CHRISTOPHER: A TALE OF SEDUCTION is frequent literary references and puns that stimulate the brain as well as entertain the mind. The tale of seduction storybook is narrated by BK Troop, an endlessly provocative, caustic, overweight and unattractive bipolar gay man in his forties who has just fled his Manhattan apartment under threat of decapitation by his schizophrenic landlady and takes up residence in an apartment that just happens to be next door to 25 year old straight Christopher Ireland, a handsome but unlucky in love and marriage wannabe novelist on the skids. Convinced he can seduce this 'victim' BK begins a story that takes place during the entire year of 1984. Christopher has needs that date back to his comically/tragically crazy childhood, his problems with relating to women are colored by his relationship to a madcap banshee of a psychiatrist mother. During this significant year of 1984 BK Troop observes, connives, cajoles, fantasizes and otherwise attempts to lure the sad sack Christopher into his lair only to discover that something he never has found - love - topples his house of cards philosophy of life and sexuality. In the span of a year BK and Christopher grow to find a kinship that serves them both well and the multiplicity of events narrated by the brilliant BK become gradually less preposterous and more human. This change in BK's role as the seducer of record is explained: "In my madness, I felt that I was as ugly a human being as had ever lived. A monster really, whose life was a giant sham, a fey intellectual burlesque, designed to distract others and myself from the truth, which was that, although I dreaded loneliness more than anything else, I had come to earth to die of it." And his opinion of Christopher as the object of his game of seduction alters: "For is it not a fact of our modern age that the family we cherish most is the not one who shares our noses and tempers, but the one with whom we share the minutia of our daily lives." And from January through December 1984 we a taken on a commedia dell'arte ride, learning much about wild cap Manhattan, the vagaries of human relationships, all manner of bizarre adjustments and lack of adjustments to living in the world today, all with more insight into the differences between the gay vs. straight psyche than most novels deliver. Burnett Allison is a refreshingly fine writer and he leaves an indelible stamp on our minds. This book deserves a much wider audience!
Rating:
Summary: Sharp, Funny and Heartbreaking
Review: Allison Burnett is channeling Lautremont... he's written a brilliant, sad, deeply truthful, angry, beautiful, extremely funny and literary book about love, ambition, art, friendship and ultimately lonliness... it had the story sense you'd expect from a screenwriter (thank god - story seems lost on many fiction writers these days) with the soul of a real literary gem... BK is a great hero... a sad hero...a very clever device... and Allison isn't afraid to create sad and ugly characters... it's worth a read and a consideration... frankly all these negative reviews are surprising and makes me wonder about all the bitter and jealous wanna-bes who hate anyone who actually write and not starve...
Rating:
Summary: "Christopher" well worth the read
Review: Allison Burnett's first novel is a satisfying read. He has captured the neurotic thought and behavior that unites us as humans, with humor and a depth of emotion that is honest. He has created rich and real characters that are as flawed as can be. I found each of them loveable. I can't wait to revisit them. This book took me from roaring laughter to nostalgia to melancholy, moving me greatly. Christopher and B.K. make some interesting desperate behavior choices at times. The characters are less than perfect people, some learn life lessons and in the end some have a lot to learn. The other reason i have been recommending this book is the use of language and imagery. I am a lover of words and phrases and Allison Burnett displays mastery of this skill. "for a dashed hope dies quickly as one fulfilled." He has captured the fantasies we create while falling in love eloquently or with humor. B.K. Troupe is an eccentric and entertaining idea of an emotional roller coaster as the narrator, and Christopher is the ride. Burnett reminds us that relationships are complicated and everything is temporary. Run out and get this book.
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