Customer Reviews

The Boys on the Rock (Stonewall Inn Editions)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

"The Boys on the Rock" was my second novel of the very new literary genre of "modern gay fiction." And I have to say that it moved me beyond words. Having been at a point in my life where I have become true to myself after a long time of hiding in the closet, John Fox's book was a god-send. Books such as these make it seem like love between men (of any age) is actually possible, even with the bigotry and intolerance of society today. This book tells the story of Billy, a "popular guy" who narrates his entire experience of dealing with his sexuality, and, in the same breath, falling into true love for the first time with a young man named Al. The sex scenes were vivid and realistic (a nice thing to see when I had been raised to believe that it just could not happen), but not central to the plot. The story is more about Billy's coming of age, and his realization that being who he is is more important that being who he is told to be. The thing I liked the most about this book is that the characters are normal people, not idealized images of perfection. There are flaws, beauties, and strange quirks about every character, which makes the entire tale ring all the more true. Even the narration style is that of a true voice, not an embellished, edited version of humanity. I would recommend this book to anyone who has (or is having) a powerful journey into accepting themselves as who they are. It helped me, and I hope it could help others. Though the ending could have been better for the romantically minded, it was even more realistic in that it also showed that life is not always perfect, no matter how much we'd like it to be.

I don't claim to be an expert on gay literature, but I am very widely read, and having especially read a lot of fiction on the gay male experience (since coming out myself six years ago at age 30), I would attest that this is one of the most luminous, beautiful, heartbreaking, and honest coming-of-age novels (gay or otherwise) ever written. It also has some potent nostalgia value, set in the Bronx in the spring and summer of 1968 when the Vietnam War was raging and Gene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy were running for president. For any of you other gay guys who might need an incentive to read it, let it be said that this tale of first love between high school swimmer Billy and college-student political volunteer Al has some stunningly (and graphically) erotic passages. But the sex is just a natural (and inevitable) outgrowth of a ruthlessly honest (and often laugh-out-loud hilarious) look at a teenage boy's life. The book is so intensely sexy for the same reasons that it's so intensely funny, and so intensely sad in places that you want to cry. Written in Billy's head-long first-person stream of consciousness prose (with some artful leaps back and forth in time), it is one of those rare novels that make this sort of style work. And it does so very economically at only 146pp, though it seems to cover more range than books three times that length. You really HEAR Billy's Bronx accent and FEEL every rollercoaster turn of his emotions. It accomplishes that supremely difficult feat that separates out the truly gifted novelist: to tell life simply as it is, and make you feel you are LIVING the storyteller's life, and thus capture life's comedy, sadness, and aching beauty. Comparisons to "The Catcher in the Rye" are inevitable, and it exceeds the best one could expect of a "gay version" of Salinger's novel. It belongs on a short shelf with such gay coming-of-age classics as E.M. Forster's "Maurice" or (sub rosa) Henry James's short novel "The Pupil." I don't mean to diss Edmund White (a brilliant writer whom I admire) but it is puzzling that White's "A Boy's Own Story" is so much more famous and widely read (even by hetero presidential candidates like Bill Bradley to show their sensitivity to gay culture), when Fox's novel is demonstrably SO MUCH better, more powerful, and more lyrically written. I understand that Fox died of AIDS without ever completing another novel; yet another reason to weep at what that epidemic has cost.

I first encountered "The Boys on the Rock" during the Summer of 1991, at a time when I was just coming to grips with my own sexuality. Dealing with the turbulent feelings that accompany your own sexual and emotional awakening as a gay person can be an often overwhelming experience ... and you find yourself desperately searching for little pieces of this world that can somehow help validate your feelings, educate you, inform you, shape your beliefs. "The Boys on the Rock" is a book that I needed to read, a message I needed to hear. Having come at a crucial time in my own life, this book is not one I can easily review, because I have a tremendously personal connection to it that perhaps renders me bias. But, as I consider this, I think, what is the power of a book if not the power to profoundly affect a person's life? Any form of entertainment--book, movie, play, song--that can positively alter the evolution of a man, woman, or child's humanity is something to rejoice in. With "The Boys on the Rock" the late John Fox tapped into the very core of what fuels our humanity: the fear, the pain, the joy, the love, all the tangled emotions that propel us forward through the complexities of this life. Billy Connors is John Fox's gift to the world--a young man whom, by the end of this groundbreaking novel, you will have come to understand almost as well as you understand yourself. Through his eyes and with John Fox's eloquent, immediate prose, you will be afforded a view of the world that, hopefully, will change your own outlook. Billy's path to self-acceptance and self-discovery is one of the boldest and most beautiful journeys we should ever be so fortunate to witness, and the honesty of his story will bring a tear to your eye. Not just about coming out, "The Boys on the Rock" is about the universal struggle for identity we all share ... about feeling truly alive for the first time. This is a novel for all people to cherish. Do yourself a favor and read this book. It will touch you.

Billy is a gay Holden Caulfield for our age, in his narration style as well as personality. Though I am a straight woman, I read this book during a decision-making time of my life, and Billy's struggle with figuring out, exploring, and enjoying his own homosexuality turn out to be surprisingly applicable and encouraging to anyone coming to terms with a novel facet of their own character. The book is a good, fast read, and tells a believable story, peopled with characters one can identify with easily--or recognize!

Personal comment: This is one of the books that could change your life and save you a therapy. When I read it I was not yet sure about myself and far from being honest to others about my feelings. Then I read this book and the key sentence of the first person narrator Billy: "I won't lie to you any more!" (meaning all the world and us readers) hit me right where I needed it at the time. From that day I made this sentence my motto and my life changed completely - and for the better. General comments: Yes - it is a novel about a gay teenager and yes - it contains some hot sex but unlike in other gay fiction those scenes are not the reason for the plot but they develop naturally from it. Billy is just the "normal" guy next door except that he happens to like boys. The writing style is exceptional and the ending simply poetic. Read it - wether you're gay or straight - it will move you. If you're straight you might lose some prejudices and if you're gay it'll help you to feel even better about it though you'll probably cry at the end.

My review? This book was great! Although it was somewhat short, I still loved it! This is my first Gay literature book and it has given me the taste to read more. The main character, Billy is pretty much your average teenage boy, but with a liking for guys. This book tells us mainly of what goes on in his mind and life. His parents seem like such the stereotype of the parents from the 60s. His views of the pressures (and prejudice) from other people his age are so true (especially in these situations). This was a great novel. It made me laugh, made me angry and made me cry. I suggest this book to everyone who is willing to read it. I personally was very glad I purchased this book and had a hard time to put it down.

On the surface this seems to be a simple story, but once you get into the book you realize this is a case where it is the journey itself that matters most. The main character, Billy, narrates the book in his own voice. At first the conversational style might throw you off a bit -- there are some run-on sentences and odd punctuation, and Billy often addresses you, the reader, directly. Once you settle in for a few pages, though, Billy's words are easier to follow and the occasional odd rhythms only add to his charm. There is plenty of humor and drama, and some the best-written dialog I've encountered. There are some sexy scenes, too, and Billy's enthusiasm for these (well, at least in the ones with the boys!) comes across quite vividly as well.

What also impresses me is how John Fox uses the literary device of the unreliable narrator as a way of depicting Billy's transformation over the course of the book. Billy at first tells a few tall tales about his sexual exploits with girls. We don't know he's misleading us at the time, of course, since like all teenaged boys he is quite skilled at boasting. It is only as he proceeds further into his story -- presumably starting to trust that you, the reader, are going to stay with him despite all the very personal details that he's revealed so far -- that Billy finally starts to own up to what is untrue. One by one he sheepishly admits his lies, until eventually he reaches a point where he promises that he will stop lying completely. On the part of the reader it results in a strange sensation, as if a character in a book is somehow interacting with you, even benefitting from the fact that you have proven so loyal and unjudgmental. Since the matter at hand is that of sexual orientation, it is a technique that carries deep resonance. Essentially, the reader becomes much like a friend who is helping Billy to accept who he is. I can't recall any other book that manages to accomplish this in the same way. I imagine also that a confused youth who is struggling with the same issues as Billy would experience this stylistic device with an added degree of intensity.

This novel was originally published about 20 years ago. Even at that time the setting of the story was in the past, during the Kennedy-McCarthy Presidential Primary campaign, so it is no less pertinent a book today than it was when it first appeared. Quibbles about its setting being out of date are therefore entirely beside the point. (Part of me does wonder, though, if the author chose that particular era to avoid having to deal with the spectre of AIDS, which at the time of the book's first publication had become so much a part of gay literature.) This book is primarily about transformation and self-acceptance -- timeless literary themes -- and succeeds tremendously on that count.

The ending of the story is somewhat jarring but does serve as a reminder that gay youth hesitate to come out for many reasons, amongst them family pressures, career aspirations, and fear of bodily harm. It takes courage to step forward and proclaim who you are, whether you live in today's world or Billy's. Still, despite the air of sadness that permeates the final pages, there is also a sense of hope for Billy and the friend who is with him at the end. The continued journey may not be as easy but you feel that they will have one another.

I'm worried that with all the coming out themed fiction now on the market, this sexy, smart, tragic, affirming 1984 novel is being ignored. If not ignored, then maybe just seen as part of the trend. It's a shame because if there was any novel that leads the pack, it's "The Boys on the Rock." This is so much more than a run of the mill coming out story. The late author John Fox wrote a sensitive, thoughtful story about a young men falling in love in 1968, the year before the Stonewall Riots. The 1968 setting is perfect in light of the events of that year: the King and Kennedy assassinations, the Democratic Convention in Chicago, the Student Uprising in Paris, Mexico City, Prague Spring. The world is changing, as is the life of Billy Connors.

Reading this book again after 18 years , I'm now struck by the subtleties in the writing, at how adept Fox is with the little details of life. Billy is a very believable character, and the narrative from his point of view never seems false. The book also has no easy answers or resolutions. Billy does not magically solve all his problems; he's only starting on the journey. John Fox died only six years after this book was published, and he never got to see his book endure. I hope that it, in his memory, it endures for a lot longer.

I'm not sure how I missed this short novel (146 pages in the hardback edition) when it was published in 1984. I've never read a better story about a gay teenager. The narrator is Billy Connors, a sophomore in high school in the Bronx. He volunteers to work in the Eugene McCarthy presidential campaign because (1) he does not want to go to Vietnam and McCarthy was the peace candidate and (2) he has a crush on Al, the college student in charge of the local volunteer office. The novel is set in 1968 around the time when Robert Kennedy was killed, a horrible time in our nation's history. Though small in size, this novel-- novella, long short story, whatever-- will knock you off your feet. (I read it straight through.) Billy is a fantastic character, grappling with all the craziness associated with being a teenager as well as dealing-- very well-- with his emerging feelings for other boys. THE BOYS ON THE ROCK ought to be required reading in high school for all students, both straight and gay.

No lesser writers than Edmund White, Richard Price and Russell Banks praised this book. Mr. Banks' prophecy has come true when he predicted that this novel "may well turn out to be a classic."

Sadly, this novel will have to be Mr. Fox's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD since he is deceased, having been stricken down in the first wave of AIDS cases.

I hadn't read reviews before I read the book, so I had to check out if I was the only one who thought this was the gay "Catcher In The Rye"...I wasn't! This Holden Caulfield, Billy, is a wonderful character with all of the same charm, faults, and insecurities as his predecessor. I've always loved the "voice" Salinger used for Catcher and John Fox has totally captured that same style in "The Boys on the Rock". And Fox does some of the same "flashback" narrative that Salinger used. I actually headed to Amazon to check out other books by John Fox, but it doesn't look like he has any others! Bummer! This was an excellent book and I recommend it highly! (And it is a quick read...under 150 pages and fairly large print.)