Gossip

Rating:
Summary: Great Holiday Read
Review: Christopher Bram is a consistant author and does not let the reader down with this novel. A good taut thriller well written and very plausable - Gossip makes a great holday read. People who read his books will not be disappointed and those who enjoy a good thriller will also not be let own. All I can say is I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: A political thrilling murder mystery of gay life in the 90s
Review: GOSSIP, by Christoper Bram, was the most exciting book I have ever read. It always kept me at the edge of my seat and in the end it blew me away. The book is about a gay man named Ralph Eckhart, who gets caught up in political life and in trouble with the law when he has an affair with Bill O'Connor, a closeted republican and journalist. Even though I don't pay much attention to politics or homosexual men, GOSSIP was a book that kept me wanting more and no other book has ever done that for me. Although I'm not much of a reader, the way Christopher Bram told the story made me love his book. It seemed as if everything in the book somehow had a connection to the other and it all falls together in the end. I loved the book and I'm sure you will too, so if you see the book GOSSIP in the bookstores pick it up and give it a try.

Rating:
Summary: A Good, Light Mystery.
Review: I bought this book because the back cover synopsis made it sound like a good comedy; a political satire. Although the book was not quite what I expected, it was very good. I was unfamiliar with Bram, and did not know that this book was considered gay fiction. It was a very good read and the story definitely sucked me in with a few twists and turns that I never expected. The main character, Ralph Eckart, is very likeable and I found myself amazed at his unfortunate luck and stood behind him all the way. I plan on picking up Father of Frankenstein by Bram next time I am looking for something to read. He is a great storyteller and Gossip is a good, quick read.

Rating:
Summary: Sex and Politics and Very Strange Bedfellows
Review: In Christopher Bram's Gossip, Ralph Eckhart pays the price of sleeping with the enemy (a closeted spokesman for the Chritian Coalition). He becomes deeply involved in scandal and murder resulting from his horny decision. The murder myster element is not strong but it is used more as catalyst for the narrator to explore all of his issues about sex, politics, and where and how one takes a personal stand in both arenas. It is not the author's best work but there is enough of interest to sustain the reader and small moments of insight and beauty. The quiet, unsettling ending was the set at the perfect pitch. An enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoy this book for what it is..... a very good read!
Review: OK, it's not a great classic or anything, but taken on its own terms, it's highly enjoyable. The premise (gay liberal male gets involved with gay conservative male) is just a variation of the Carville/Matlin phenomenon, but Bram gives it the humor and odd twists which are required to keep your interest.

As for the second half, the so-called "mystery", readers would be well-advised to take that on Bram's terms, too; he's not really trying to make a big socially significant point, but he's not just settling for a frothy Robert Rodi-type novel, either. (No offense to Rodi, whose novels I always enjoy).

In some respects, Bram's style reminds me of Peter Cameron or Nick Hornby. These authors clearly care about their characters, but in a somewhat detached way which may not appeal to everyone.

Don't mistake this detachment for disinterest or lack of conviction; it's all there, it's just that Bram is evoking the era a bit more effectively than we may be comfortable acknowledging. No, the loose ends are not all neatly wrapped up at the end, but when does that ever happen in real life anyway?

Rating:
Summary: A political thrilling murder mystery of gay life in the 90s
Review: Sset in 1993-94, this is a page-turner for political junkies, especially those interested in the politics of character assasination (left and right) and in the range of lesbigay political actors.

The sexually jaded but otherwise quite innocent narrator has an engagingly unpretentious voice. The characters are vivid, including the narcissistic misogynist gay neo-con, an apparent combination of David Brock and Andrew Sullivan with whom the narrator has an affair that involves no meeting of minds. (I'd have to grant that the smirking Ralph Reed character is cardboard.) The somewhat-Kafkaesque second half of the novel is more plot-driven, but is still heavily character-driven in ways very reminiscent of Michael Nava (though Attorny Diaz is mostly a cipher to the narrator, he seems not unlike Henry Rios).

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: Thoroughly enjoyed Father of Frankenstein, but found this book difficult and unpleasant. Protagonist's voice was grating and clubby, assumming I was sympathetic and knowing of all his stereotypical positions. Treatment of politics was heavy handed and unsubtle. Didn't feel like an attempt to reach anyone other than people who already "think like him."