Customer Reviews

Boys of Life (Plume)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have no qualms about saying that this is one of the most moving and convincing narratives I have ever read. I've read it about a dozen times in the past eight years, and every time I am further astonished at how believable the narrator's voice is. This novel is the story of an extraordinary life -- the narrator, a teenage boy, is seduced by an older man, and ends up leaving his sheltered existence in Kentucky to live in a bizarre combination of fame and squalor in New York City -- but the characters (outrageous and eccentric as most of them are)are portrayed with such love and humanity that it is next to impossible to believe that they are works of fiction. Not that it's exactly a happy book -- in fact it's pretty terrifying -- but I defy any reader to come away from it unmoved. I can't recommend it strongly enough!

When most authors make an artist the hero of a story, they write a self-indulgent parable about how "art" is so noble that the people who make it should not be held to the same moral standard as the rest of us, and damn the consequences. Russell, in a refreshing contrast, exposes the wretchedness that artists can create in thier own lives and those of other people when they value art over morality. I have never encountered a better depiction of nihilism among the avant--garde than this astounding novel. Many readers would find the voilence and explicit gay sex too strong, but those who delight in ugly beauty will love Boys of Life.

Yesterday I finished reading this book and it leaves me with mixed feelings about it. On the one hand the book seems to be structured a bit clumsy. Sometimes it is a little too chaotic, while at other times it is too predictable. The author tried to much to write a complicated thought-through structure, while he misses the kind of genius some authors have when doing this. The book has a certain soap-level instead of being some kind of high-level classic. And the author tries too hard to make it a too well composed book, resulting in a too complicated and chaotic structure. He did the same in The Coming Storm, but to a slightly better effect.

However, I loved reading the book. So it's not impressive on the side of composition, but it is on the side of how he describes those peoples feelings and thoughts. How the story of those four intermingling lives gradually gets clear. The backcover is fully right when it uses words like 'preciousness and unpredictability, power and illogic'. The book gives me a melancholic feeling - the kind of feeling I like and the reason I read this kind of books. It is not just like a soap - the way the author describes relationships and the accompanying feelings are, in my opinion, close to brilliant. (Or, would it be that the way he describes human relationships is just close to how I think of it - in the sense that the book is not brilliant, but the author's ideas coincidentely close to mine - well, that you of course have to judge for yourself.)

So. Not a classic, but not a soap either. Not a must to read, but neither a 'one-in-a-dozen' kind of book.

I'm impressed, at least.

Wow! This book was really good though it was really graphic, sexually. But besides that, Paul Russell's "Boys of Life" is exteremly packed with character development, suspense, symbolism, and irony. This book is about the minipulaton between two gay men and it's consequences. I reccomend this powerhouse novel to anyone but I caution you on the amount of sexual content that this book upholds.

There's a great, seminal novel in here somewhere, but it's smothered by the self-consciously (and unconvincingly) naive narrative voice and the uninspired characterization and suspenseless structure of the book. Boys of Life is a teenager's fantasia on the far-off world of arty decadence personified by Warhol, Pasolini and Fassbinder and, as such, holds enormous interest. But it fails as a novel: when it tries to be debauched, it's gross; when it tries to be mystical, it's contrived. Boys of Life is a nice effort, and held my attention, but in the final analysis it's simply a painful and too-common thing: a trivial work that could have been great.

Boys of Life is both preposterous and perverted. After a lot of thought I think those two words really capture it. The brilliant writing of Paul Russel (as seen in A Coming Storm) is there in part but it is overwhelmed by the bizarre story. There is a role for the artist to turn over the rock and expose the seamy, real side of life. But this isn't the underside of the rock, it is a collection of weird fantasies that are so off the scale it is hard to call them even fringe. 16 year olds fisting, eating feces, genital mutilation, voluntarily fisting to the extent of mortal injuries. And then having a completely graphic film of this showing in arts theatres. This stuff is ridiculous. But big deal, there are lots of bad books in the world. What is reprehensible here is the Booklist quote on the cover claiming this is the great novel of gay experience --- that is a bizarre claim and Russel should have had the sense to not use it on the cover. Maybe some wacky hate group would claim it reflects the gay experience but to gay people this is a disservice.

Tony Blair, an uncomplicated sixteen year old lad living with his brother Owen and his mother in a trailer in Kentucky, is seduced by Andy Warhol like filmmaker Carlos Reichart, who is filming locally. Carlos then takes Tony to New York as his lover and star to be, ultimately featuring him homoerotic and sadistic films. Eventually Tony meets Monica, they move away to Memphis together and Tony tries to build a new life, however things go wrong when he encounters a Carlos Reichart film showing locally which has a shocking revelation for him. The story is related by Tony from prison..
This is a riveting, complex and imaginative story, beautifully and movingly told, and the sex, sometimes shocking is never gratuitous, never beyond what is essential to the narrative. A very moving account told with great boldness, openness and insight.

Paul Russell is an absolutly amazing story teller. "Boys of Life" is primary example of that. The character development in this book is really something that has been missing in many other books over the years. Once you read this masterpeice you'll be more and more intriged with Paul Russell's other great novels. And that's a good thing. All of his novels are deep, dark, and haunting, just the way I like it. If you want to read a book that won't be disappointing to you, then dont miss reading Paul Russell's "Boys of Life".

As an avid reader of both gay and non-gay literature, I can say that Boys of Life is a truly outstanding book in any genre. The subject matter is difficult and not for the faint hearted. As the story is revealed chapter-by-chapter, the reader senses an ominous, but somehow inevitable conclusion, yet even at the very end, Russell has a twist you never see coming.

I have read several of the author's other books,enjoyed them as well, and would recommend them, but they are not quite as compelling as Boys of Life. Once the protagonist begins his story, you won't want to put the book down.

if your gay or interested in the lifestyle this is the book for you....blunt and real, great book