Customer Reviews

Almost Like Being in Love: A Novel

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

When I started this book, I was a bit leary of reading an entire story full of narratives and articles, as I'd never been presented a novel in that storytelling format.

Having read the book in one sitting, though, I can say with confidence that it worked extremely well. Mr. Kluger has a natural sense of comic timing and wit, without being excessively catty or bitchy in the process. While I would have liked a bit more at the end of the book (after so much buildup, it felt rushed) the journey with the characters was well worth the somewhat stilted ending.

If it's any help, after reading this, my first Kluger novel, I bought the rest of his catalog on Amazon. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Saying a book is a summer book usually means it's fun, but brainless. Nothing could be further from the truth when talking about Almost Like Being In Love. Mr. Kluger's book is certainly fun and easy to read, but what makes it a summer book is the heartwarming, breezy tale of a love that has to be despite the odds against it. Like Last Days of Summer (Mr. Kluger's previous book) Almost is cleverly told through an endlessly imaginative array of emails, letters, newspaper clippings, menus, and, my favorite, the boyfriend checklist.

The more I read of the book, the more I wanted to learn how everything turned out, especially since Mr. Kluger set himself the challenge of giving us a happy ending when someone had to be hurt at the end. Yet, he does it and you walk away from Almost Like Being in Love feeling that life can be great and love does sometimes win in the end. I hope that this book is as big a hit as Last Days of Summer despite it's gay content. Only a grinch (or conservative Republicans as I call them) could not read this book and feel good at the end.

This book is often unrealistic and less than subtle, not to mention overly optimistic and sometimes nauseatingly cute. On the other hand, would you expect otherwise from a romance novel?

The wildly romantic tale glides along on sheer charm. It's a playful, fun story filled out with endearing major and minor characters-- Travis's roommate Gordo's correspondences with his father comprise some of the funniest moments. Moreover, Kluger actually throws in some twists and turns, none of which are wholly original, but which do keep the story fresh and interesting through the end.

All in all: You aren't going to impress any lit crit majors at cocktail parties, and the novel does require some suspension of disbelief. But it is a fast, breezy read, ideal for the beach or airplane. I enjoyed it far more than I expected to.

Everyone remembers their first love. The one who woke their heart, the one that made their breath stop. The one that made your heart beat. The one that got away. What if you could have another chance at that love? Would you take it?

It is 1978. Travis and Craig attend the same finishing school, though they are in different crowds. Travis is the school nerd while Craig is the school jock. They go in completely different circles until fate brings them together. While working on the play Brigadoon together, they spark something inside each other. Soon, the two of them fall in love and begin to explore everything possible about the other person. They decide, that summer, to rent an apartment in the city so that they can be together.

What follows is the most wonderful summer of either of their lives, but all good things must come to an end. They are each going to different colleges: Travis to UCLA and Craig to Harvard. They know that at the end of the summer, it will be goodbye. Though they write to each other at first, the letters soon die out and they lose contact with each other.

Flash forward twenty years. It is now 1998. Craig is a lawyer with his own firm and Travis is teaching history at his alma mater. Craig is living with his boyfriend, Clayton and Travis is still searching for love. He begins to think back to a summer he has never quite forgotten; to the boy he first loved.

Doing something completely uncharacteristic, Travis decides to go on a cross country trip to find Craig and let him know that he is still the man of his dreams. He breaks into Craig's mother's office to find Craig's address and then he is on his way, with help from his best friend Gordo, a wise cracking waitress named A. J. and even Clayton.
When you're in love, it's impossible to stay apart for long...

This is one of the best books I have ever read, period. My run down of the plot doesn't even begin to describe "Almost Like Being In Love". Not even close. Much like his previous bestseller, "Last Days of Summer", "Almost Like Being In Love" is told in a series of narrative, checklists, journal entries, emails and letters that give the book a fast pace and a wonderful sense of charm.

Because we are allowed to glimpse their world through their journal entries and emails, etc, the characters are vividly drawn and instantly human. Anyone can identify with the characters in these pages. Anyone who has ever loved will love this book. It's touching, wonderfully funny and actually made me cry in a few places when I remembered my first love.

This book is also laugh out loud funny. I'm serious. I've seen that tag line on books often enough and usually I'm disappointed. I don't even giggle. "Almost Like Being In Love" made me laugh so hard at one point I cried and snort so loud at one point, I think I gave my cat a heart attack. What did I find so funny? You're going to have to read the book to find out.

What else can I say? It's that good, you won't be disappointed. Read it, and remember the good times.

Jamieson Wolf


---Origionally Pulished at Linear Reflections www.linearreflections.com---

*In case you can't tell from the length, I really, really loved this novel, and if this review helps ONE person make the decision to buy and read this gem, I'll feel as if my day has been well-spent.*

The more I read, the more my sense of inner horror threatened to erupt. With each turned page, a heavy sense of despair and foreboding settled over my mind. "Was the book that bad?" you ask me. I reply with a resounding "No!" "Why, then, were you horrified? Why, then, were you despairing?" you question. "Because," I answer, "with each flip of a page, I was one page closer to the end."

Stereotypes are misunderstood. They're so often used because they're so often true. I'm about to use a valid one now, in fact: there are two types of gay novels, and surprisingly enough, they follow the ancient Greek theories on theater. There is the gay drama, which must include at least two gay-bashings (one of which often results in death), at least one failed suicide attempt, forty-seven deaths by AIDS, and the Romance to End All Romances nipped in the bud by prejudice, suicide, AIDS, or all of the above. Gay drama is almost always synonymous with 'gay tragedy,' is almost always political, and often has a Moral -- to awaken people to the terrors of gay prejudice and change the course of society. Almost Like Being In Love (which I will from now on refer to as ALBIL) is not of the gay drama variety (thank God). No, ALBIL is a gay comedy. These are, like Austen's Pride and Prejudice, "light & bright & sparkling," usually quite literally, since they often have flashy covers. Gay comedies, while they may touch on some serious issues, never confront them directly and approach them only through a lens tinted with laughter. While they would not mind changing the world for the better, that's not their goal. No, the gay comedy's goal is to entertain, entertain, entertain!, and none do it quite as well as ALBIL. My point, constant reader, is this: expect from ALBIL what it intends to give, and you will not be one of the reviewers who viciously lampoons the novel for being silly or unimportant or irrelevant. You would not go to Paris expecting everyone to speak Russian, so do not read gay comedy expecting to find earth-shattering drama.

Now, to return to the issue at hand: ALBIL. I think the best way to begin is to confront a few claims by the novel's detractors. They claim, constant reader, that ALBIL's storyline is "so frustratingly predictable, [sic] it's like playing connect-the-dots on a straight line" (Adam S. Barley, on amazon.com, August 28, 2005). ALBIL is, as I've already said, a gay romantic comedy; there is no such thing as a non-predictable gay romantic comedy. Yes, you know from the first few pages that the novel will end with Travis and Craig rekindling their high school passion. Yes, you know that there will be some sort of obstacle(s) in the way. But you do not read romantic comedies -- at least, you shouldn't read romantic comedies -- to be surprised. The pleasure derived from reading a novel like ALBIL, however, is not how often the author can throw you a curveball but how well the author can keep your eyes on the ball. And, quite frankly, once you begin reading, your eyes never leave the book's pages.

A few reviews have mentioned that the novel is too forceful with its issues, that it takes them and beats you over the head with them. To this, I ask, "What issues?" Yes, both Craig and Travis become a sort of unintentional activist, but the issues never take center stage. That is, after all, partly why ALBIL is a gay comedy and not a gay drama. Yes, there is a bit of gay-bashing in the novel (an older high schooler calls a younger one a bad f-word), but the aforementioned older high schooler gets his come-uppance, and the novel moves on. Yes, AIDS makes a brief appearance, but it is only a brief one, not to mention one of necessity in any story about gay men living in the 80s. Kluger never lets his characters or his novel become a soap-box from which to campaign or an altar from which to preach. In fact, I was quite surprised that so many people claim he does, since Kluger merely uses the issues, it seems, to add depth and likability to his characters, not to address the issues for their own sake.

Despite these two attacks on the novel, almost all of the previous reviews have been positive, and rightly so. As I said in the blurb, the novel has a rather unconventional format, told mostly through excerpts of unexpected items like restaurant menus and newspaper clippings, and so I feared that I would not be able to connect with the characters as much as I would if the novel chose a more conventional narrative vehicle. Interestingly -- and I won't admit this too often -- I was completely, entirely wrong. In fact, quite the opposite happened: I found myself appreciating the characters more and falling in love with them faster because of the unconventional way in which they unwrapped. A large part of the novel is first-person narrative, of course, so we do not lose entirely the age-old art of paragraphs, but the sporadically interspersed e-mails and student assignments and other crazy excerpts create a certain amount of depth to the novel itself, providing a different angle with which to view the characters. Interestingly, none of the characters except Travis and Craig have explicitly narrative sections, and yet the supporting cast is developed as well as the two stars, all through Kluger's insertions of personal webpages and email correspondence and phone conversations. Quite a feat.

The novel is not, of course, flawless; nothing is, after all. The novel's end approaches faster than a speeding bullet; this may have been intentional, since the beginning of the novel, when Travis and Craig are in high school, also happens relatively quickly, and it may be aesthetically an excellent choice, but for someone who does not want to see the novel end, realizing you only have another few pages and feel like there ought to be a few hundred more is never a good feeling. Every character in the novel -- even Travis's roommate's father and Craig's mother, who play relatively marginal parts in the novel -- are developed so well that you feel as if each one could have his own spin-off novel if he tried. Yet -- and this is inevitable -- certain characters are developed more fully than others. Travis, the high school nerd who goes cross-country to find Craig, takes on flesh and bones much faster than Craig and retains a bit of an edge over him throughout most of the novel. I do not want to belittle Craig, because he is expertly crafted as well, but Travis seemed to be a more fully-realized individual than his lover. The one other problem between these two characters is that their narrative often sounded the same; since they are such entirely different characters, I expected different writing styles, slightly different senses of humor, etc., but I did not find that in their individual narratives; they both sounded like Travis.

These gripes of mine -- fast ending, slightly less-developed (but not under-developed) characters, etc. -- are extremely insignificant, considering my praise. As I said before, as I finished the novel, I really was horrified. I really did close the novel and feel more depressed than I had when I started, simply because the story was over. I had to leave Travis and Craig, Brian and Clayton, Kevin and Charleen and Jody, AJ and Gordo, Noah. The way that I judge a truly great work of literature -- whether it's Shakespearian high art or Nora Roberts-esque popular fiction -- is the way I feel when I turn the last page. When the piece in question is truly great, there is a feeling that settles over you, a feeling like you've just -- to use a cliché, which are as misunderstood as stereotypes -- lost your best friend. Because you did just lose your best friend, after all. An entire entourage of them, really. And that feeling, that sense of "What now?," that is truly great... and part of the reason I really hate reading truly great literature. Nobody likes losing his best friend, after all, especially if there isn't a sequel.

I read this book after it gained praises from a discerning friend, and I can say now that it was the best thing I have possibly done in years.

This book has everything anyone could be looking for in a book: fairy tale romance gone awry, biting wit, engaging characters. I plowed through it in less than 6 hours, unwilling to let anything but blurring eyes impeed my rampage, and even then only via short breaks.

Kluger has created in this book a way for us to remember some things that we may have lost along the journey. Travis and Craig become emblematic of all our searches for love, and you become so engrossed in all of the other characters, that when so many happy endings begin to present themselves, you don't even know who gets your vote anymore

This book's unique style makes it a light read, but one with deep resonation. It truly is a page turner,; and not for its gripping suspense, but for your desire to remain in the heads of these extraordinary men and women. Read up!

I almost let the few negative reviews this book got keep me from buying it, but I liked the format (told in letters, journals, memos, faxes), and I decided to give it a whirl.

Fie on the nay-sayers, say I.

How do I love this book? Let me count the ways?

I loved the flashback to Travis and Craig's summer together after graduating from high school. It was so hot and sweet. (and you know if this was het, *she* -- whichever one of them would have been the girl -- would have wound up pregnant.)

I loved how Travis inspired his students.

I loved how Craig was willing to fight the good fight and was ready to sue the Republican Party. (ok. I would love anyone willing to sue the Republican Party.)

I loved that all the characters -- even the ones who might normally not have been -- were likeable.

I loved... well, you get the picture. Separately and together, they're sweethearts, and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Mostly I've smiled while reading it. Occasionally I went 'Ahhhh.' But then I came across the part that contains the title of this review. AJ (don't get excited, she's a woman) and Travis enter a hardware store in search of the skinny on Craig's SO, Clayton. ('Who names a baby Clayton?! Uncles are named Clayton!') She's dressed in a 'blue cocktail getup with a matching 1920s hat that she'd seen in a thrift shop window...' It has a *veil*. *Travis* is wearing a pink Versace shirt with three buttons opened and the most modest of his 501s, which make his balls stand out only to Stamford. *cough* They look, according to Travis, like Madame Godiva and her male strumpet.

Okay, so this is me, rolling on the floor. I mean, seriously, tears running down my face, irritating squeaks of laugher coming out of my mouth (*my* mouth?), and gasping desperately for breath.

I haven't laughed this hard since I misread tilted for titled, as in his land was...

This is a fun book, and I strongly recommend giving it a chance. I don't think you'll regret it.

I first read this book when it came out in the spring, primarily because I was such a huge fan of the author's previous novel, "Last Days of Summer". This one took me completely by surprise, however. As an inveterate Red Sox fan and your average straight guy, I had no idea that a four-way romantic comedy would hold much appeal for me--especially since the primary love story is boy-boy (the other three are more traditionally boy-girl). So naturally I was shocked to discover that this was, hands-down, my favorite book of the year--and one that I've given out to a number of people for birthdays and Christmas. Kluger once again creates a network of unforgettable characters that you feel you've come to know personally before you're even halfway done. Possibly that's because of the unique epistolary style he generally uses, or else it's simply because he knows how to write real people. Either way, you don't have to be gay to love this book. All it takes is having been in love at least once. This novel is a real achievement.

What a charming and witty story. Kluger has managed to add depth and soul into that old cliche of first loves never really die. A great set of characters, each with a clear personality. You root for every single one of them, even for the ones that are just mentioned in passing. Will read every single work of this author. But this book has my heart.

This is one of the most charming, entertaining and unabashedly romantic "novels" (and it is very novel, both in style and approach to its topic) you will ever read. To paraphrase the old ad line, you don't have to be gay to love "Almost Like Being in..."; it really is that good. And you will not be surprised to learn that the author recently won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Romance. Hard to imagine any tale could be more romantic. The many musical theatre and baseball allusions aside, anyone could read this book and be immediately engaged. The two protagonists are both winningly flawed, and tears and laughs are the order of the day here. When you hear the term "gay romance," don't think Harlequin-style codpiece-ripper; this is a clever, funny, touching book written in an unusual style, and is second only to Mr. Kluger's other novel, LAST DAYS OF SUMMER, in its compulsive readability. Kudos to Steve Kluger and his publisher; Tom Seaver and the Merm would have been proud.