Edmund White Books

As a teacher of reading and writing, I've discovered a very popular lesson among students of all ages: write a known story from a different point of view. The protagonist of this children's book is The Traitor, Edmund, but it is a different Edmund than the one we're used to, a different one from the one portrayed in the recently-released film. Edmund has always been an easy target for castigation, but this literary rendition beautifully illustrates the teaching that we should not be so quick to judge. Perhaps this rendition prepares our path to forgiveness -- a path that C.S. Lewis tried to forge.

Absolutely a wonderful adaptation of the original for younger readers. I have younger kids, ages 5 & 7 and they love this book and the others like it. It is a good book for "Transitional" readers in the 1st and 2nd grade. I just love the fact I can share these wonderful stories with them!

You can also see my review of Aslan, another picture book in this series. The entire series is just wonderful. The text is pure Lewis - all excerpts from the original text. Maze is very true to his descriptions in her illustrations. My daughters love the original novels and they love these books as well! The only concern for this particular book is that some of the illustrations can be a little scary for a sensitive child. The witch is evil but beautiful. Her cohorts are evil and many are gruesome.

Do not read if you've read The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe! This is just Edmund's point of view of it (as the title proves).

I grew up reading the Narnia books, and I was thrilled to find this beautifully illustrated child's version! My 4 year old son loves for us to read this book to him as well as the other two Narnia books illustrated by Deborah Maze. Keep in mind that this book is only a small portion of the original book, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." With that in mind, sit down with a little one and enjoy the story and the incredible, detailed drawings from the world of Narnia!

Immensely readable, thoroughly enjoyable, and ultimately poignant. White puts it best in his bittersweet, fresh-wound of an afterword: "Despite the catty sound of this book, its name-dropping and archness, I hope at least a few readers will recognize that its subtext is love. Hubert loved me with unwavering devotion . . . I loved him, too, in my cold, stinting, confused way. I wanted to keep him alive as long as possible. This book gave us something to do while waiting for the end."

A delightful book about White and Sorin's life in Paris, with an inevitable undercurrent of sadness, because Sorin is dying. Yet his inability to practice his work as an architect led him to develop the "unique, exuberant drawing style" that illustrates this book.

Here you will meet all sorts of interesting people. The concierge, Madame Denise, and the coiffeuse who tries out all the latest hairstyles on her. Father Pierre Riches, the "kind and elegant" Catholic priest whose hair had been stroked by Cavafy and whose photograph had been taken by Mapplethorpe. Billy Boy, the jewelry designer with 16,000 Barbies (who, tiring of them, invents a doll called Mdvany, a trendy Parisienne who "will not have unlined skirts like certain dolls we could name . . .". PIerre Guyotat, who wrote in a "strange subvocal language of his own devising, one that omitted vowels among other unnecessary luxuries."

And the places in Paris! How nice to live above a bookstore, especially one that revels in the splendidly punny name, Mona Lisait. To write at the Café Beaubourg, where the waiters will be equally attentive to you and your dog, and where the "tabletops were all painted by celebrated French artists but not signed lest they be stolen." To wander the Marais with its delicatessens and seventeenth-century townhouses, its "Kiki Boys" and dogwalkers.

If you have visited Paris, this book will bring back memories. If you haven't, you may find yourself calling a travel agent!

I picked up this little book for a return flight from Paris to LA. It looked like perfect plane reading -- short, gossipy, topical. And although it lived up to each of those expectations, the devastation implicit in the book (and explicit at the end) hit hard. The book is not easily forgettable -- and probably no less memorable for the passengers and crew of American Airlines flight 45 who watched me become a sniffling, tear-stained disaster.

It's very intimate, shockingly un-French. White and Sorin invite you into their lives. You feel as if you're at a dinner party listening to them recount(even bicker a little about) their recent mundane adventures. But this intimacy also means that you feel very close to the heartbreaking loss that is the real subject of the book.

It's a beautiful, touching book. The illustrations complement the text (or the text complements the illustrations) perfectly. But if you want to avoid the mess entirely, try The Flaneur.

I love deceptive books.

Example: _Our Paris_, by Edmund White and Hubert Sorin, is ostensibly a series of short essays, written and illustrated in a fairly direct style, pertaining to life in the city. But in a stunning, disarming preface, White alerts us to the real subtext: his partner's slow death from AIDS. It's this subtext that transforms the book from a pleasant travelogue to a devastating account of loss.

Lurking beneath the book's shimmering surfaces, and within its numerous lacunae, is the emotional life of a couple threatened by the fast-approaching specter of death. An attentive reading of White's text and Hubert Sorin's illustrations reveals the mauvaise foi, the daily negotiations, the implicit contract of domestic denial that enables an endangered couple to keep death at bay for just a little longer.

_Our Paris_ looks slight, as if it were merely a pleasant evening's worth of travel anecdotes and gossip. But if you take yourself into this book's confidence, it will reveal unexpected secrets.

This is a sweet collection of short pieces, quirky and personal, about a tiny Parisian neighborhood, Paris itself, the French, lots of friends, and a great dog named Fred. Most of all: about Edmund White and his lover Hubert Sorin. Economical yet enjoyably gossipy, kind-hearted, opinionated, informative. Achingly sad, though, because Hubert is dying of AIDS, and in fact does die at the book's end. Definitely worth reading -- especially for fans of Edmund White. Engagingly illustrated by Sorin, who was trained in architecture and took up drawing when he became ill.

Edmund White: The Burning World, by Stephen Barber

Edmund White's iconic status within a gay ethos extends far beyond those defined boundaries to his acceptance by the literary world as one of the major writers of our times. White's elegantly stylised novels, each employing a language particular to a time and place, as well as his non-fiction preoccupations as biographer to Genet and Proust, have led to the creation of an integral body of work. White's writings are as individual as they are vital to our reading of mortality in the late 20th century.

Stephen Barber's exceptionally well-pitched critical biography of White is both a work of literary merit and the ideal companion to its subject's life and achievements. Barber has for several years been one of our best critical writers on the nature of the modern city. The Burning World is creative criticism at its best, and Barber's understanding of the city and its sensations as determining creative language is central to his thesis on White's fiction.

During his formative writing years in a 1960's New York, White wrote five unpublished novels before Forgetting Elena was accepted for publication in 1972. Barber interestingly points to Fire Island being the inspirational site to this work, and to White's obsession with islands in general as representing the precinct in which to set a novel. Two more of his books, Nocturnes For The King of Naples, and Caracole, were to be less specifically identified with place, but to occupy undisclosed insular settings.

Barber rightly sees White's first four novels, with their rich textured poetic prose, as 'a unique document of the imagination in its compulsive interaction with the human body.' It was the third of these books, A Boy's Own Story 1982, which won White not only critical acclaim but a confirmed gay readership.

Crucial to Barber in the development of White as a person and writer was his move to Paris in 1983, the city in which he continues to live and write for half of each year. White, who was diagnosed HIV-positive in 1985, for a while considered his death to be imminent. Yet he found Paris sufficiently psychologically regenerative to encourage him to form new relationships, and to write new books. One of these was the elegiac The Beautiful Room Is Empty, a novel in which White first employed the medium of stripped down communicative prose which he continues to use today.

Another legacy of White's Paris years, begun in 1986 and completed seven years later was his monumental 700 page study of the French writer and criminal Jean Genet. Barber is profoundly insightful on White's grand Genet biography, and provides an illuminating commentary on the interactive chemistry triggered by one great writer overhauling the other's complex and elusive life.

Barber sensitively highlights White's most enduring relationships, including the one with Hubert Sorin, whose death from AIDS in 1993 was to leave White devastated. White's ability to keep on endlessly recreating himself, and adapting to the survival measures necessary for a gay man to outlive an AIDS generation, proves the pivot on which Barber's study rests.

This is a book to be recommended, not only to Edmund White's many readers, but to those who care for the valency of a new critical language finding its rapport with a constantly exciting subject.

Jeremy Reed

My first impression, upon picking up this biography of Edmund White, was that the Stephen Barber's writing is terribly over-wrought -- the introduction of the book, in which Barber tries to explain White's importance to contemporary literature, is some of the purplest prose I've read in a long time.

But Barber's writing improves markedly when he begins telling the story of White's life. The most interesting aspect of the book, to me, is Barber's descriptions of White's early fictional efforts, and his writing habits; you'll read about the novel White wrote in high school; you'll learn that White was often drunk or stoned when he wrote his early novels, and that even to this day White generally limits himself to writing a few pages per day in the expensive blank books he purchases from a Paris stationer. You'll read about White's encounters with writers as diverse as Michel Foucault, Vladimir Nabokov (who named White as one of his favorite young novelists, much to White's surprise), and Michael Ondaatje (whose own writing habits are similar to White's). Your impression, gleaned from White's novels, that he is an extremely decent person who is quite fallible but gifted with an immense talent, will be confirmed by Barber's account. Also surprising is Barber's description of how sexually voracious White was from a very early age. Apparently White felt the need to tone down his self-depiction in "A Boy's Own Story," to make his character seem more representative of typical adolescents.

In summary, this is a worthy biography of White, once you get past the somewhat amateurish writing style (which is why I'm giving it only four stars). But you shouldn't order it unless you're very interested in White -- otherwise, you will learn enough about White from his own novels.

This is a great literary biography. It combines solid research into the life and work of Edmund White, one of the most imaginative and passionate gay writers of the last half century, with the kind of human touches that bring biography alive. Stephen Barber moves effortlessly from White's life to his work and back again, painting a fascinating portrait not only of White's own adventures and career, but providing the reader with profound insights into the bigger picture of gay life and culture in America and Paris, from Stonewall to AIDS and beyond. The discussion of White's writing stays fresh and relevant to his literary ideals and the context of his life - it makes you want to go back and read his books all over again. The book is also fairly balanced - it avoids taking sides in the bitter debates that have raged over what gay male culture and identity should be, and instead tries to present a range of different perspectives and possibilities. Readable, entertaining, informative and thought-provoking - I highly recommend this book.

I have read the White "Trilogy" of the nameless narrator navigating us through the second half of the American 20th century (A Boy's Own Story, Beautiful Room, and Farewell). White's books peeked my curiosity and kept me riveted with their metaphors, honesty, and detailed attention to those peculiar specifics that either comply with our self image (bringing us to tomorrow) or shatter our ego (enflaming our insecurity). We wonder just how close White's actual life is to the narrator's as we are jealously appalled by his freedom, and tragically hopeful about what will happen to him next. This biography, if not as beautifully weaved and metaphoric as White's own writing, does reconcile the life of the "I" in his novels, the complexity of the language and the author (speaking in a Barthesian sense), and White's own experiences as we finally align the tragic hero and his real life companions. This book is not a way to be introduced to White, but if you know him and his writings then it is illuminating and resourceful and a pleasure to read with the sheer quanitity of it's detail and thoroughness.

First, this new anthology of gay writing, FRESH MEN, has a clever title with at least two meanings. Secondly, the writers are all for the most part unknown. Edmund White, who selected them says that not one writer has had a book published yet. Third, they come from all areas of the United States as well as the British Isles. And they are not all Caucasian. The stories are set in a variety of locales and are not all about gay men picking up other gay men in bars. We can finally read about gay men who interact with other people besides other gay men and live outside a gay ghetto in a large city, usually New York. As you would expect from most any collection of stories, some are better than others. Some of the stories are excellent. I would put "ONJ.com," "Acqua Calda," "TV Dinner" and "Teamwork" in that category. "ONJ.com" by Vestal McIntyre, the first story in the book, is about a young woman in the world of advertising who wishes to "make a gay friend," a silly wish on its face, and gets more than she bargains for. In Keith McDermott's "Acqua Calda" a young American wrestles with how and when or if he should tell an Italian whom he is attracted to that he is HIV positive. "TV Dinner" by Reed Hearne is a funny account of a minor TV personality's filming of a day in the life of a waiter in the California Bay Area. Kevin Reardon's "Teamwork," which according to the biographical data about the authors won the 2003 Richard Hall Memorial Short Story Contest, is a great little story about proofreaders at Healthco, "a pharmaceutical advertising agency. The narrator has a crush on Todd, a perfectly drawn character, who when he gets fired over an ampersand by Gregory, a gay art director who "played for the team," responds: "'You're a bastard, man. . . I am so out of here.'" He is just so "kwel."

This is a very good collection and introduces the reader to writers he wants to read more of. Several of the selections are from novels in progress and should be available soon if not already.

These twenty stories seemed to me excellent, also okay, few deficient. I found a quarter of them to be good art.

(1) Five stories seem artistically meritorious. Plus the gay-specific content seems to universalize to general human themes.

"TV Dinner" is a romp. Set in a high-end status-snob restaurant, it serves up the real "menu" of human discomfort-food. Several "courses." The waiter's rage at being a "candy-ass bootlick," and his terrors too. The chef's self-deluded egotism. The society matron's gorging unhealthily on Status Cake. The smarmy politico mayor exposed as being a gross feeder. The cast of workers in the out-caste system, pretty petty frustrated in the all-too-subhuman jealousies and other deadly-sin ingredients. But the author is a master-wordchef who concocts up these raw materials gourmet-style with his buttercup-swirl of tall-food diction, aesthetically-nourishing word-candy, a just-desserts confection whose sauce-iness is perfectly balanced with sweet-sour imagery plus insight. This many-course tasting menu moves right along madcap but on point!

Not so shabby either is "Teamwork," about a proofreader at an advertising agency. Poignant specifically about the "beautiful young man named Todd D'Onofrio," fetching but unobtainable, the protagonist's Harlow or shepherd boy... But pointed generally about the universal human tangle of miscommunications, pettiness about font-styles, power and status issues, insecurities, insensitivities. The miscast of characters in the office seem to carry these warts and blemishes like a virus re-infecting those whose Psychological Immune Systems are not mature enough. Solid and sprightly, madcap and satirical.

Adult men with younger or teenage males is the subject of both "Some Speculations on the Bob Uncertainty" and also "Chicken." But the former, pondering why a young hunk continues to revisit an older man, seems to do so with much enjoyable grace, verve, bemused and appreciative non-needy distance aesthetic not emotional.

"American Widow" portrays a woman inundated by giant waves of major depression. It energetically risks sentimentality in the depicting of her almost-melodramatic multiple missteps, but it does powerfully paint her pathos.

(2) A second set of stories seems (to me) more simply to simply narrate events, almost diary style. In "Aqua Calda," an American on a film shoot in Italy, scores with an Italian. Okay... In "Taking Pictures," a highschooler sees that a teacher of his takes videotapes of the guys working out. Okay...

(3) Minority perspective is represented by "Wave," His Five-Year Sentence," and "Rondo." New here is local color and representativeness I guess.

(4) Psychological insight however Politically Non-Correct I saw in three stories. "ONJ.com" shows gay man and straight woman but can candidly ask whether this man at least is as he describes gay men generally, as being "damaged, dangerous people. They feel wronged and are looking for vengeance." Refreshing anyhow to investigate. In "Advanced Soaring," why why why does moonstruck Mark keep on seeking after louche lax Luke at all? And in "The Inadvertant Headshot," the protagonist fears becoming a soiled type: "the humorless, thin-skinned gay man, the art fag, the prissy prude who trafficked in disdain" contemptuously to "rue, resent and scorn again" because feeling out of control. Something gay here; something human also. We are well past the Dark Age when a hoity (and hetero) reviewer would allude to the above dirty laundry as indicating something like "the pathology of homosexuality," blah blah. (Of course, it is still verboten now, to even reference in the same sentence, "homosexual males," and the issue of "attachment disorder" or problems-with-intimacy...)

Finally in its own category, "Ground Control" sends us home with a take-out treat. The 16-year-old gay highschooler has his problems, with self-image, self-acceptance. But his, and our, hero is his 14-year-old brother Frankie. This kid comes out to his dysfunctional family simply by drawing Star War cartoons of himself and Luke Skywalker. At the kitchen table. Just going about his business. Utterly unbugged by his sister's or anyone's reaction to his being his own true if socially-despised self so early. A universal model for us all, gay, straight, bi, or plaid...

Then six more stories I haven't mentioned. But all told, the anthology is quite valid for those interested in some quality and much variety in current gay male short fiction.

I recommend this book to anyone, gay or straight. The writing is top-notch, often hilarious, and always compelling. From beginning to end it will hold your interest and impress you. We'll be hearing from these authors in the future, I'm certain, and this is a wonderful opportunity to get in the "ground floor" of their careers. You won't be disappointed!

"Fresh Men" is a collection of twenty short stories selected by distinguished author Edmund White. All are interesting. There are stories with African-American, Hispanic, Filipino, and Asian characters, as well as the usual types. There are stories set at school, in the family, at work, at cruising, and around relationships. The variety is good, at least as it has been understood.

The last two sentences of Edmund White's introduction read: "If this anthology is thought of as a house, it's a big rooming house inhabited by every kind of client, of every age and color and background, some on their way up and some in quick descent; some of the roomers are shacking up and others are breaking up. It's a very full house."

When I look at the "About the Authors" section, the twenty stories' authors now live in or near the following places: New York City 7, Yale University 2, 1 each at Boston, San Francisco, Long Beach, Montreal, London, Austin, and 5 unknown. When I read the stories, the locations are New York City 6, coastal California 6, with additional locations in Montreal, Dublin, London, Sicily, Honolulu, New Orleans, Tucson, Florida (near the Space Center), rural Maine, and over the Atlantic {Some stories have multiple locations). There is a feel of gay cosmopolitans writing for other gay cosmopolitans. This has been a successful approach for previous anthologies.

Still, after the November elections, I have heard endless commentary on the divide between 'blue' and 'red' states, on the need to counter 'religious' criticisms, on the fear of being transferred from a state with domestic partnerships and state permission to raise children to one without. These stories do not feature material anti-gay characters or people considering marital status-related issues. The stories are personal and relationship-oriented, not political.

I do worry that writers from or directed at socially conservative areas are not part of the "new voices in gay fiction" that "Fresh Men" proclaims. One of the reasons for the setbacks in the recent elections was the inability of a large part of the Midwestern and Southern electorate to imagine a different, improved world. Having local voices is a large part of moving ahead.

This is a fine collection. I can relate to the stories. I do recommend the book highly.

This review is primarily an endorsement of Anna Otto's December 5, 2000 review of this book. I don't think her review could be improved upon except perhaps for one quote from Christopher Isherwood's 'Mr. Lancaster' which holds forth the promise of universality: "What I am has refashioned itself throughout the days and years, and until now almost all that remains constant is the mere awareness of being conscious. And that consciousness belongs to everybody; it isn't a particular person." Mr. Lancaster's statement is surely a promise to gay people of all ages, and to the friends and parents of gays.

...I don't think her review could be improved upon except perhaps for one quote from Christopher Isherwood's 'Mr. Lancaster' which holds forth the promise of universality: "What I am has refashioned itself throughout the days and years, and until now almost all that remains constant is the mere awareness of being conscious. And that consciousness belongs to everybody; it isn't a particular person." Mr. Lancaster's statement is surely a promise to gay people of all ages, and to the friends and parents of gays.

A versatile and engaging anthology of stories about gay relationships. Some author names included here will surprise you (Henry James? but his "Pupil" is one of the most amusing and engaging stories), others will delight you (W. Burroughs' "Wild Boys."). Edmund White, a prominent gay writer, thankfully included his own short story, "Skinner Alive," into this collection, and I fell in love with his lyrical style. He displays great taste in editing this collection, and provides an insightful foreword. Every story here brings an interesting nuance to the genre, and each one holds surprises for the reader. This isn't just a book for the collection of short gay and lesbian fiction... this is a book of great short fiction - no more definition needed.

Generally the portrait images were too small to really study his painting style. That is my only complaint. Interesting stories in the section describing all his sitters, famous or not. What a productive maniac he has been. 41 portraits of his dogs!!!

David Hockney is an artist whose works are familiar to everyone, whether from exposure to his many museum shows, his paintings and drawings included in every major survey of contemporary art, to his magical sets for operas such as The Magic Flute, Die Frau Ohne Schatten, The Rake's Progress, Tristan und Isolde, etc.

This current book DAVID HOCKNEY PORTRAITS is, for this reader, the most sensitive presentation of Hockney not only as an artist but also as a tender, feeling, caring human being. The book accompanies an exhibition soon to travel and includes over 250 examples of Hockney's view of his family, himself, his friends - famous and not so famous-, lovers, and pets. The result is a survey of Hockney's people-oriented works over the past fifty years.

Included are early pen and ink drawings from the 1950s, gentle and simple line portraits of his mother and father and himself, and progresses to the development of his large-scale paintings of life size portraits of family, lovers, and self-portraits. Many of the people depicted in these works are no longer alive and there is a sense of memory in some of the works that barely hides Hockney's sadness at their parting.

The book also opens the door to Hockney's experimentation with photography as an art medium, with several of his multiple view Polaroid collages of a single 'sitting' telling more stories than a movie. And after Hockney's excursion into that medium the portraits turn to painting his subjects from life.

Most of the works in this book have been published in other volumes or have become familiar to the public by other means, but it is the curatorial hand that makes his survey so fine and so immediate, a success not easily accomplished with an artist as private as Hockney: the collection is under the encouraging guidance of the artist. This is an excellent overview of a very special artist whose works continue to capture the imagination of viewers and fellow artists alike. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, April 06

Oscar Wilde's classic gothic tale of a man who is granted his wish to remain forever young is still a fine and compelling read. Dorian Gray is captured at the height of his physical charms in a painting and soon discovers that the corruption of his body and soul is reflected in the painting while he retains his youthful attractiveness. His life becomes one of increasing debauchery and narcissism.
The most quotable of authors, Wilde uses a friend of the young man to deliver an endless collection of axioms and witty observations that add another dimension to the plot.
As Gray becomes more convinced of his invincibility he grows more callous toward others and his actions become less human and more monstrous as the story progresses.

Other reviewers have already covered the plot of Dorian Gray as well as the numerous reasons why you should read the book. I've contented myself with providing you a list of epigrams contained in the book I found especially wisdom-filled or humorous:

"The moments were lost in vulgar details. It was with a renewed feeling of disappointment that she waved the tattered lace handkerchief from the window, as her son drove away."

"...to be highly organised is, I should fancy, the object of man's existence."

"'To be good is to be in harmony with one's self. Discord is to be forced to be in harmony with others.'"

"'There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating -- people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.'"

"There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love."

"'...there is a fatality about good resolutions -- that they are always made too late.'"

"Sometimes, however, a tragedy that possesses artistic elements of beauty crosses our lives."

"But he never fell into the error of arresting his intellectual development by any formal acceptance of creed or system, or of mistaking, for a house in which to live, an inn that is but suitable for the sojourn of a night, or for a few hours of a night in which there are no stars and the moon is in travail."

"When a woman marries again it is because she detested her first husband. When a man marries again, it is because he adored his first wife. Women try their luck; men risk theirs."

"I like men who have a future and women who have a past."

"She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness."

"It is said passion makes one think in a circle."

"'All ways end at the same point, my dear Gladys.' 'What is that?' 'Disillusion.'"

While this is Oscar Wilde's only foray into novel-writing, I must say it is justifiably called a classic. The use of descriptive language and mood is exquisite.

The only downsides that I can mention would be how slowly it moves in some spots. Once in a while, the story takes sort of a vacation, and you are given a lot of details that don't really apply to the overall plot. Some of the things that are discussed are good at shedding light on some of the things that Mr. Gray was doing throughout the years that this book took place, but they can get a little boring. Truth be told, I skipped most of one chapter because it went on, and on, and on about the things that piqued Dorian Gray's interest. It doesn't stop there, but it explains why it did, what he did about it, and some other people that he associated with while he was pursuing a certain subject, like gemology. In this edition, many of the names that are given through these pages are given an endnote in the back, but to the average person these don't hold much interest. Even to some hardcore fans of classic literature and Gothic Horror could find certain chapters (one at least) very tedious.

That being said, there is certainly more good in this book than needed to balance out the less interesting parts. In the beginning, we get to see where the corruption of young Mr. Gray comes from. As the book progresses, you can see the corruption finally consume him, culminating in a surprising finale. I read at work, and my jaw dropped more than once, which I only realized after a co-worker brought attention to it. Even though most people have heard of the themes in the book, this is a fine example of taking an existing theme, and making it into a brilliant new idea.

The ideas contained in this book can be a little disturbing to some with a weak stomach. Some of the language can be a little stiff and hard to read, but remember it was written in the 1890's.

This book is highly recommended for anybody who has an interest in the Classics or Gothic Horror. Not for the faint of heart, but if it's ever crossed your mind to read The Picture of Dorian Gray, pick this book up! If you want to start reading Gothic Horror, I would suggest something a little lighter to start with -- Edgar Allan Poe, The Phantom of the Opera, or something like that. Those are a little easier, and give you a good idea of what the genre is all about.

Happy Reading!

Am I no less agreeable? I remain in good humor and fine favor. Yet I am changed. My approbation of this miracle is boundless. This work intoxicates and leaves one wanting more. In my esteem nothing is more beautiful or useless than this masterpiece

Is your soul a good bargaining chip for perpetual youth and beauty? Young Dorian Gray was led to believe so and impulsively struck that bargain. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is the story of his decline into depravity following that ill-advised trade-off. The story is well-known in popular culture. An artist becomes obsessed with his young model's attractiveness. He and his jaded friend compete for influence over the young man. The friend corrupts young Dorian, encourages him to embrace a life of sensual pleasure and to prize his own beauty. Dorian exclaims that he resents the portrait because IT will keep the freshness of youth -- then the fateful words, that he would give his soul if the picture could decay instead of his own face and body.

Be careful what you wish for! Over the next twenty years Dorian sinks into the depths of moral slime and watches the hidden portrait show all the signs of that immorality, while his own face and figure keep the blush of youth.

Along with the adulation of youth and beauty, Oscar Wilde delves into the theme of art as morally neutral, a principle of the aesthetic school of thought. Can art be moral or immoral? Should it teach us, improve us? That was the common 19th century view but the school of aestheticism believed that the arts had no role in moral enlightenment. The preface of the book lays out this theme in a series of proclamations.

The entire book, like all of Wilde's work, is packed with "sound bites." The corrupting friend, Lord Henry Wotton, is particularly prone to Polonius-like declamations, and Dorian tells him, "You cut life to pieces with your epigrams!" In fact Wilde does that, ripping into polite society and the opium dens of London alike.

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" is Oscar Wilde's only published novel. It first appeared in a magazine in 1890 as a shorter work, and was later expanded and edited to remove some of the more blatant homosexual references. His writing is exquisite, his themes repugnant but (dare I say it?) edifying. "What does it profit a man ..."

Highly recommended as a true classic of modern literature. I read this book when I was young and thought I understood it. Now that I'm not so young, I'm sure that I don't.

NOTE: I listened to this book on CD, not tape, but I chose this product link because it's the same production. The Brilliance Audio Library Edition, read by Michael Page, was incomparably presented and added a great deal to my enjoyment of this absorbing book.

Linda Bulger, 2008

We have been partners/lovers for 14 years, and we found this book to be so important for young gay men everywhere. It was our story. White's new autobiography is also seminal reading. Thank you, Edmund!

This novel has been read by millions and is worth your time if you are young and gay. I read it many years ago, and remember little, other than it was an enjoyable and enlightening experience, that helped me realize I was not alone.

As to whether Baldwin's book, "Giovanni's Room," is better, I don't know. I tried Baldwin, but it seems he never got over being black. It was difficult for me to relate to him--not saying others can't. I am not going to apologize, like a dumba**, for prefering a white writer, at least when it comes to issues of sexuality. If that strikes some people the wrong way, then they will just have to be struck.

Edmund White is one of the elder statesmen of white gay writers, and deservedly so. He was open (maybe too open) in times when open wasn't rewarded, an early pioneer, and thereby gained a cult status, the reward of early pioneers.

I don't like everything about his writing, and can agree with some of the criticisms posted here, but in general I can relate with his world and his feelings, and I think he is all right. His heart is in the right place. I am not so sure about some of the neg reviewers, though.

Yeah, I'm aware of all of the comparisons to J. D. Salinger and Oscar Wilde but this book doesn't get me to put author Edmund White in those leagues. Sure, the writing is high-falutin' - "ectoplasmic", "extravagant mendicancy", "colloidal" - but that doesn't necessarily make for a better story. One creative approach is that the narrator is never named. Whoever he is is a deeply disturbed individual who, at fifteen, seems to have more baggage than a fully-loaded 747. The scenes with the shrink he finally turns to are among the most unsatisfying in the 218 pages. Here's the central issue: instead of moving along the story, White meanders into long, long, confusing, boring soloquies citing obscure literary references (see above). For someone so talented, perhaps he could write a less esoterical and more interesting book.

What exquisite and marvelous prose! White has mastered the English language in an artful, florid, and elegant manner exceeding the great Nabokov himself. This novel, my first, but by no means last, to read, is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story about an upper-crust, well-educated, youth in the years of his gay discovery. Common to many a gay youth, a distant, unapproving father, a surrogate, unengaged step-mother, and a self-absorbed, fickle mother are found emotionally wanting. Coming of age with hormones raging, sexual exploration searches for an outlet of its expression. Attracted to his own gender, he finds satisfaction, but remains conflicted. White soughs the seeds and watches the growth of almost every gay man's deepest yearnings. It's a soft, yet vibrant tale. Poetic, yet visceral. Masterful writing. Highly recommended.

When i stumbled upon this book in the library, i decided that it looked interesting enough to read. As soon as i got home, i read it all the way through, and was not impressed in the least. As i look at everyone elses reviews, i am confounded as to how this book has garnered so much praise. i have no idea why this is considered a classic, or why it is published by Modern Library. It doesn't deserve it. If you want a good book about homosexuality, read Giovanni's room by James Baldwin. Don't waste your time, as I did, on a book that fails even to elevate itself above bad soft-core porn.

I found this book in a bookshop near my university, waited till other customers had moved on and took it from the shelf, reading it furtively, hoping noone would notice, but aroused by the illustrations. Later I had the same experience elsewhere with Gordon Merrick's 'Perfect Freedom', but then my book opened automatically to the juicy bits where other readers had been there before me,.......I suppose these are the well-thumbed copies booksellers could never move in the days when embarrassment made buying such books a heart-stopping experience, like buying condoms in a small town dispensary......the internet age has changed a lot.....the book is now just one of many, when once it was the one and only......so the memories make it more interesting than the content

In the magnificant illustrations I "found myself" from memories of myself as an adolescent to acceptance of my adult self. The book is pre-AIDS and therefore its information is not up-to-date but the artistically erotic illustrations's communicate a "lovingness". Reading this book for the first time in the mid- 80's raised my homosexual energy from phallic to romantic. This book is for any gay who wants to feel eternally free.

I loved it, it opened a world of new things. Great!

Recently my girlfriend Cookie and I needed some new sexual positions. Well low and behold, there was "The Joy Of Gay Sex" it opened a new world to us, such as oral and anal sex. It was designed with heterosexual readers in mind, and I guess homosexuals would enjoy it as well, though I wouldn't know. Anyways, fellas pick this up for a good time with you're ladies, hey even the gals could enjoy a good romp with the fellas if they gave it a shot.
-Steve

Readers who hope to find in this book a how-to manual of gay sex will be very sadly disappointed. Rather it tries (unsuccessfully in my opinion) to be an "encyclopedic" reference from A to Z (with the emphasis on zzzzzz) on the "joyful" life of gay sex, and even then, the book turns out to be only alphabetized, not encyclopedic. Even on those terms it fails. E.g., how can a section about wills be part of the "joys". If anything, wills are a problem about being gay, and irrelevant to gay sex, joys or not. I would say that this book is not at all directed towards gays, who I'm sure will know much , much, much more about the subject than has been written here, but towards those who have a prurient interest, are mere gawkers, or who are timidly venturing towards it. If that is the case, none of these groups would be well-served by this book.The text is antiseptic, pedestrian, and boring, and the illustrations are grotesque, not to mention degrading.

I was going to buy this book as an anniversary present, but caught myself reading bits and pieces, until I had finished the whole thing. This is a well-written book that is very engaging. You laugh, cry, and wince as Fleming tells his story, and you close the book absolutely exhausted thinking about everything that happened within a relatively short time span. I recommend it for years to come.

Keith Fleming is a pretty good storyteller. He really makes you picture the times, places and characters in his life. Especially strong is the evil Doctor at the hospital and his wonderful uncle in New York City. (Edmund White) These characters and moments really stand out.

However most of this book just rambles about and then ends with no purpose whatsoever. At the end I wondered "why did he write it" and "why did I read it?". I would not recommend this book because it just meanders and ends with no explanation. I need more of a story arc even from a biography.

The other thing that puzzled me was why he would paint such a wonderful loving tribute to his uncle and then ruin it by mentioning an offhand sexual advance by his uncle. It seemed out of place never explored his feelings behind it or why it was even mentioned. It was kind of unsavory without a reason for it.

Keith needed a good editor on this book and some guidance.

I found this memoir of Mr. Fleming's youth fascinating. It was extremely well written, vividly descriptive of his family and experiences with mother, father, psychiatrist, fellow patients, and finally, his loving uncle who rescued him from an ununderstanding world. I do not regard it as a "gay" book, but a moving description of a young man's journey through his youth, schooling, family, hospitalizations, love relationships. Anyone interested in young people especially, should find this as interesting as I did. I do recommend it.

"Just who is Keith Fleming and why is he tryng to slay me" might be a good subtitle for this short memoir. Frankly I bought the book because of my great admiration for Edmund White (the Uncle Ed of Keith's minor autobiography) and in the end all reasons for liking the book reflect back to that initial response. Yes, this is the life of an unfortunate, acneiform teenage product of yet another dysfunctional family unit whose saving grace is his finding solace with his brilliant writer uncle in New York. Keith Fleming writes well, has some pages when his prose actually begins to sing, but aside from his "growing up" experience with Edmund White, his story - full of despair and cruel circumstances -hardly registers as a precis for a book. But all criticism aside, Fleming does give us more insights into the person of Edmund White and it is refreshing to read passages that demonstrate White's warmth and humanity and caring that often his books fail to suggest. Far from being just a flamboyant social surface person, White, as drawn by his nephew, has more than a modicum of compassion for family, for adolescence, for the sticks and stones that make us falter as we mature. So, I think this young writer bears watching. Maybe next time his misery will not be too much with us.......

This is one of the many memoirs / autobiographies, relating to the ubiquitous stories of 'troubled youth'. Flemmings emotional maturity and consistently strong writing has aloud him to tell the story of a turbulent adolescence akin to "Girl Interrupted", "Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius", etc. I was not drawn to this novel for Ed White, but rather found it in the bookstore Biography section by chance. I have seen criticisms of Flemming's dupe on the public as advertising this to be a memoir of Ed White, but it this really the case? At face value, this is a remarkable memoir of a troubled journey through adolescence devoid of all "poor me" sentiments that the other above-mentioned memoirs seem to convey. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone - it is a gem!