Customer Reviews

The City Kid (Gay Men's Fiction)

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

 

 

I first discovered Paul Reidinger's work many years ago with his novel The Best Man. I was astonished by that book. Reidinger took as his subject a near universal experience of gay life which, paradoxically, had been largely ignored by the official gay litterati. Show me a gay man who hasn't experienced at least an infatuation (if not a full on romance) with a closeted guy determined to marry, father children, and pass for straight, and I'll show you a gay man who's only been out of the closet himself for about fifteen minutes. Reidinger's handling of that subject matter is scrupulously honest and at the same time beautifully told. In The City Kid, he once again treads ground multitudes of mature gay men have tread before him. The story of a middle aged gay man entangled in a bizarre relationship with a monumentally confused adolescent can't help but be messy and discomforting, but it's a realistic one. Reidinger doesn't so much create his characters as report the experiences of living, breathing human beings, flawed as they are and boring as they can occasionally be. He tells us the truth about people and relationships. He deals with issues and situations few authors will attempt to write about. They're not glamorous or particularly sexy, and they demand a degree of integrity in their portrayal which many writers simply won't bother to muster. This novel may not be the most entertaining one you'll ever read, but it will be one of the most thought provoking ones. And for fans of The Best Man, there's the additional treat of revisiting the main characters of that novel twenty some years later. If you don't like books that make you think, you probably won't like this one. But if fiction is more than brain candy for you, then you're making a mistake not reading this book.

This fourth novel of Paul Reidinger is a return to the style of writing that he used in his first novel, THE BEST MAN, back in 1986. Even Ross Whitmore & David Rice make a welcome return in this story. Beautifully written, this novel is sexy, intelligent and told from the heart. Its the story of a gay man in his forties named Guy, and a sixteen- year- old boy, Doug, and the relationship that they develop when they meet one day at a beach in San Francisco unexpectedly. Both of there lives are changed for better or worse by this event. This is not a story of sex between a younger man and an older man. Its not a book of pornographic fantasy, but a coming of age story about a young man who is angry, confused, and just discovering sex. He is desperately seeking & reaching out for help from a father figure that he can trust, love and talk to about his feelings. It becomes a wise story of mentoring. And Guy is the perfect person for Doug to look up to. He is as decent & kind as one could ever wish & hope for. This is an intelligent and wise handling of the interaction between a man and boy, that can be a little erotic at times. Theres a lot of twists in this story that will keep you turning the pages as fast as you can. Dougs father, Ross, and the bad situation he creates for himself, and the effect it has on Doug and his mother, is a complete surprise. At the time Doug needs his real father the most hes not there for him.

I really enjoyed this new novel by Reidinger. Reidingers reflections on life, sex, and love, are much more advanced than other novelists, even, the ending was very unexpected, and could only come from a clever novelist like him. Its touching, wise, sexy, and heartbreaking at the same time. I hope there is a continuation of the story in the future. Highly recommended! If you enjoy this book be sure to check out another wonderful book about mentoring by Jay Quinn called THE MENTOR. This is a great memoir about friendship and gay identity.

"The City Kid" is a mostly well-written novel about Guy, a middle-aged gay man cut adrift by a break-up, and a 16-year old named Doug, who seeks Guy's company for uncertain reasons during a tumultuous time in his family's life. Reidinger has an intelligent prose style that can deftly evoke a place or a mood. Here is a wonderfully tight paragraph: "They drifted out of the park, up an adjoining street. Televisions flashed dimly in the bay windows of refurbished Victorian homes, doing the important work of holding the republic together. Guy had no idea where they were going, but Doug plainly did." Unfortunately, this conciseness is often lost amidst passages of overwriting (there are far too many clauses that begin "as if...") and precious language (one paragraph contains the following words: beckoning, perusing, trills, casement, and bestir). The same goes for the plot: on the one hand there is a genuinely compelling narrative about two men, one young, one older, who are wary about intimacy. Yet their story gets lost amidst endless narrative side-trips, flashbacks, and character sketches that do nothing to advance the story. In the end the main characters lack depth, and the final pages fizzle out. Still, Reidinger captures many aspects of contemporary life in San Francisco, and I was compelled enough by his affecting, sometimes sexy story to read on to the end.

Now, I know that bad reviews usually say more than the good ones (I recently purchased a book because it had such bad reviews, and was trashing so badly the things I love in that kind of book!!! And I'm not dissappointed!!), BUT I do would like to recommend this book for all those who are willing to handle a « non-Disney-happy » type of ending.

If you are looking for a book full of sex (like I usually am ^_^), I won't recommend you this one. However it's so absolutely well written, and the characters so well portrayed, that you can't resist enjoying the book. The story, the feelings, the psychology, the realism to it... And the maturity to it is marvelous. I would say it's the contrasting part of "The Married Man", which is also a wonderful book!

Is there a way for me to give this book ten stars? Five are just not enough...

As I have pointed out before to Amazon, "The City Kid" is not my "debut" effort, as the absurdly insulting "review" from Publishers Weekly claims and as even a cursory review of this site would show. Naturally I have a view as to the worthiness, or lack thereof, of Publishers Weekly. If you'd like to have it spelled out in more detail, including citations to chapter and verse, write to me at paul.reidinger@facebook.com. E-versions of this novel are available elsewhere, incidentally, and aren't hard to find. I pulled the e-book from this site because Amazon insisted on including the PW comment, in all its wrongheaded glory, with it. If I were in charge of such things, I would regard it as a matter of honor to pull such a plainly flawed, inaccurate and wrong item.

--Paul Reidinger, Aug. 2011

Guy Griffith, forty years old and gay, has recently come out of a ten year relationship, his partner having found a younger man. Disillusioned he moves to San Francisco to share the apartment of his one time school girl friend Caroline, and enjoy life unattached.
Relaxing from a cycle ride above the nude gay beach by the Golden Gate Bridge he encounters Doug, a good looking sixteen year old boy out exercising his dog. From that encounter an odd relationship develops fuelled by Doug's persistence. Doug, though he protests he is straight, is a troubled youth whose parents are yet about to encounter troubles of their own. Will the relationship between Guy and Doug lead to the disaster Guy's friends predict?
City Kid is a lovely story, the relationship between Guy and Doug is very touching, Guy's restraint admirable, and the erratic behaviour of the sixteen year old well conveyed. I felt however the story suffered a little in the telling, tending to get bogged down in the narrative with every point made in any number of ways, endless similes, and perhaps too many side tracks. Overall it is a positive tale that builds to an unexpected conclusion.

This is just another mediocre book intended to perpetuate the tired myth that young gay boys need wrinkly old men in order to "find themselves". While I am sure that this sentiment greatly tantalizes the lecherous old geezers of this world, I am not at all certain it has much basis in today's reality.

Why exactly would a 16 year old boy take up with a bitter old queen? What EXACTLY would they talk about or have in common? This fundamental question is never explored in the book.

Different type of book and I am sure it is not for everyone but it does put into perspective how a relationship between an older man and a teenager could possibly come to be. Interesting but recommended only to those who can handle the topic.