The Mechanics of Homosexual Literature

I find literature and film much more interesting if the storyline is somewhat homosexual in nature. In London I found this book of short stories (which I typically don't love for various reasons) and bought it based on the title alone. Bonus points to the cover photo of a young boy with a bloody nose. Unfortunately it didn't even remotely live up to its hype. The bar is set so high for short stories that I feel you really have to hit a home run or don't bother. For depressing homo stories (which I LOVE) I'll stick with Adam Haslett's You Are Not A Stranger Here.

Dead Europe

I loved Christos Tsiolkas' The Slap. Found it so well written and engaging that I made an effort to find something else by the author. In London I found Dead Europe. The blurbs didn't excite me but his writing was pretty strong in The Slap so I gave it a shot. Wow. The book is long and crazy. I think I actually like the metaphor and what he was trying to accomplish but I think the sloppy porn quality of the story kind of sucked the life from it turning it into something bizarre and car-wreck instead of the powerful gut punch for which he was obviously aiming. I finished the book and would give it a hesitant thumbs up but not so much.

Ragnarok

I've been on a bit of a mythology kick and picked up Byatt's Ragnarok with hope for a great tale retold through the imagination of a child trying to escape reality. I have a strange relationship with Byatt. Our first time together was Possession and I loved it. Unfortunately everything since then has been less than satisfying. I liked Children's Book but found it over-written and un-necessarily long. Ragnarok is certainly not long but dense. Trying to parse the language and the names and places seemed to suck the life out of the story for me. Ultimately I left the book around the halfway mark. Sorry...

Angels In America: A Gay Fantasia

Book club is reading Millenium Approaches and I re-read both plays and was blown away (again) at how lovely the language and pacing is in these books. The theme of journey really resonated with me this time around. My group spends a lot of time exploring our archetypal experiences as gays/lesbians and I think Kushner really hit that in this story. The openly gay man, the closeted man just understanding his experience, the closeted self-loather, etc. I love the idea that even though America is a settled melting pot we continue to emigrate and evolve, bringing the old ways with us as we build new lives. I can only speak for the gay experience and confirm how true I found that. So glad to have re-discovered this piece of writing.

The Song of Achilles

Madeline Miller's gay romance re-telling of the Achilles-Patroclus marriage was fascinating. I loved the story of the Trojan war seen through a totally different lens. I really bought this book because I occasionally like a bit of fluff but she actually succeeded on this one. I was a bit sad at the end that this was her first novel and there was nothing else to follow up with. I guess I'll have to go back to the original myths.

Lonely Christopher

Christopher's collection of stories titled The Mechanics of Homosexual Intercourse sounded interesting enough to get me to shell out cash money for a book. Short stories have to be pretty special for me and this collection just didn't do it. I liked the style somewhat but found it a little forced--it was noticeable enough to keep me from being completely engaged in the story. I love the depresso-stories and must say that Adam Haslett does it way better. Not sorry I read the book but it didn't satisfy much...

Tobias Hill's The Cryptographer

"A supremely elegant and ambiguous thriller" says the cover blurb. The back cover containing more of the same. And yet the 263 pages between was anything but. Wow. 175 pages of exposition just to lay the groundwork of the story. 75 pages of business and then 23 pages of actual story. Disappointing to say the least.