The Men's Club

Women take a beating in this 1970s novel about a group of bay area professional men who get together for an evening to tell their life stories, mostly about their sex lives and feelings about women. Girl friends and wives are all pretty much the bad guys here. THE MEN'S CLUB, published in 1978, is full of the touchy-feely Esalen kinda stuff that was so very much in vogue in that era. The men of the book are 'reacting' to the feminist movement of the times, but they don't come across looking very good. The slim novel reads like a story you might have read in Playboy thirty years ago. It has not aged well. Truth is I grew bored with it quickly, skimmed the middle, read the bloody ending (BAD wife clobbers drunken husband with a skillet). show more Felt mostly disgust - with the book and with myself for wasting my time on it. Fortunately I'd found it at a sidewalk sale for only a quarter. I usually hate to throw away books, but this one - into the trash with nary a twinge of conscience. show less

I don't know why I've rated this book so low. A couple books by Michaels are being reprinted soon by FSG (Collected Stories and Sylvia) and I thought I'd give this one a shot to see what he was like. The book is about a group of domesticated 1980's men in the Berkeley, CA area who gather one night to form a "men's club." They don't know what the club will be, but as the meeting starts they begin to share with each other personal stories about lust and power. The men bond during the course of the meeting, and seem to shake loose from the bounds of their everyday lives. They throw knives, drink too much and generally revel in embarassment (?). The book reads very much like a play- it takes place all in one setting and is incredibly show more dialogue driven. There were plenty of points that tickled me, but overall I was left thinking "so what?" No harm in giving it a read though, it's short and fairly entertaining. show less

Some funny anecdotes, but loosely hung as a novel; great eating and knife scenes

The men's club by Leonard Michaels
Enjoyed this short story of what happens at a mens club meeting.
When they first arrive nobody has any idea as to what to talk about but they are able to move right along.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

Not as compelling as the bizarre film adaptation starring Harvey Keitel. Watch it, its so bad

Zeven mannen komen bij elkaar in een huis in de universiteitsstad Berkeley, California om een mannenklub op te richten, dit naar analogie met. Er volgen diepgaande gesprekken en onverwachte evoluties.