The Men from the Boys

Bright, attractive, and just shy of thirty, Jeff O'Brien finds himself torn between the Baby Boomer and Generation X generations. Jeff is thrown into a sort of existential rage after his partner, Lloyd, declares that there is no more passion between them after seven years of dating. Jeff finds both the sublime and the obscene in random encounters, haunting the dance floor and rest stops along the way. But since he is pursuing love, his bittersweet romance with Eduardo—a twenty-two-year-old vision of a beautiful, wide-eyed youth—in Provincetown is ultimately what lingers in his memory and appears to contain the answers he is looking for. This is a story of a man coming to terms with the accelerating ambiguity of his world, where men show more die young but old age is actively devalued. It is the story of gay life today, the life being led by thousands of men. show less

Told in the first person, present tense[1], this story is from the POV of Jeff O'Brien, our narrator.

The story is structured an interesting way with two years of the lives of his lover, Lloyd Griffin, and mentor, David Javitz, who has and is dying from complications of AIDS, interwoven with each other. 1994 then 1995 are interchanged throughout the course of the book, with the story following the characters in both Boston and Providence, where we are introduced into Jeff's life, his open relationship with Lloyd and his love for his mentor Javitz. It's a fascinating look into an unusual family structure that works for these three men, yet at the same time creates its own problems and complications.

Because of the open relationship, Jeff show more and Lloyd are both free to explore others in their lives. This, however, is starting to get harder for the pair of them and Lloyd is beginning to drift away from Jeff, until one day he announces that he wants a separation. For his part, Jeff is someone who doesn't take change, criticism or loss very well. He's self centered, too, which affects how his tricks and especially the young man he hooks up with, see and react to him.

Getting older doesn't help either, especially in the youth driven world in which Jeff wants to stay. He feels increasingly distant from this world, as if his getting age lines and crow's feet around the eyes is a detriment, rather than a sign of his getting better. This is a theme is carried into the next book
[b:Where the Boys Are|1085184|Where the Boys Are|William J. Mann|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180858613s/1085184.jpg|1071955].

Up next: [b:Men Who Love Men|257300|Men Who Love Men|William J. Mann|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173207053s/257300.jpg|249364]




[1]Which I hate with a passion, so why I keep reading stories written this way is a mystery to me! show less

Endlich einmal ein literarischer Schwulenroman, der gut geschrieben ist, interessante Menschen beschreibt und auch noch eine logische, glaubwürdige Handlung hat. Beim zweiten Lesen war ich leicht überrascht über die o so dominierende Altersprobleme. Sind Schwule über 30 wirklich abgeschrieben? Unsinn! Aber sonst sind die Gespräche und Gedanken von vor allem Javitz, Jeff und Eduardo wirklich lesenswert. Lloyd, der Freund von Jeff, bleibt allerdings immer vage....