The Coming of the Night [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

John Rechy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1999

On its debut, John Rechy's City of Night was a huge sensation and an international bestseller. In The Coming of the Night Rechy returns to some of the themes and scenes of his now-classic first novel. A stunning evocation of gay desire in the moment just before AIDS, this book confirms the author's position as America's preeminent gay novelist. It is 1981, a summer night, and an unscripted ritual is about to take place. Jesse, "the kid," is celebrating one year on the dazzling gay scene, and plans to lose himself completely in the transient pleasures it affords. Clint has fled New York with a sense of unease in the wake of a vicious gay-bashing and a night in the sexual underground. Buzz and his gang are cruising the city looking for danger. So is Dave, a "leatherman" devoted to S&M and testing limits. And in the streets a priest is searching for a young hustler named Angel, determined to bring him to Jesus. As the Santa Ana winds, renowned for stirring up desires and violence, breathe fire down the hills of Los Angeles, these and a cast of other characters circle ever closer to the night - and to a confrontation as astonishing as it is inevitable. "Fresh, beautiful, totally courageous - and totally cool, passionate.... His uncompromising honesty as a gay writer has provoked as much fear as admiration.... John Rechy doesn't fit into categories. He transcends them. His individual vision is unique, perfect, loving, and strong." - Carolyn See, presenting the PEN-USA West's Lifetime Achievement Award

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a return to some of the themes of his first novel, the gay classic City of Night (1963), Rechy follows an ensemble cast of mainly gay characters over the course of one day in 1981 Los Angeles, just before the AIDS crisis hits. As the Santa Ana winds, said to provoke violence and desire, blow fire toward the city, the characters are introduced in short, interlaced sections. Beautiful Jesse, celebrating a year on the gay scene, plans to abandon himself to unlimited desire; Clint has fled troubling experiences in New York, where the first rumors of AIDS are surfacing; Dave, into leather and s&m, is looking for new and dangerous pleasures; Father Norris, a troubled priest, searches gay haunts for a young hustler named Angel, who supposedly has a tattoo of a naked Jesus on his back. Meanwhile, a trio of armed thugs is intent on gay bashing, and everyone moves inevitably toward a West Hollywood park, and tragedy. The gay characters are obsessed with sex, hustling, body building and cruising; sex scenes are plentiful, graphic in the extreme and certainly not for the squeamish. At the same time, Rechy doesn't skimp on plot, character or action, and the ingenious ending takes an unanticipated but thoroughly logical turn. In its gritty evocation of time and place, the novel goes beyond its narrow subject matter, reaching for a broader and deeper understanding of an era. (Aug.) FYI: Rechy recently received the William Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 10th annual Publishing Triangle Awards for gay literature.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Rechy's landmark 1963 novel, City of Night, broke new ground through its open portrayal of a sexually active homosexual underworld. His newest novel continues to document that life. Set in Los Angeles in 1981, The Coming of the Night follows a cast of colorful characters as they confront the dangers of being gay and passionate. Police harassment, gay-bashing, and public scorn and humiliation are ever-present dangers. And AIDS looms on the horizon, blowing into the lives of Rechy's characters like the Santa Ana winds that also figure into the narrative. Throughout, Rechy creates a stark, stinging, and anxious atmosphere in which desire makes people do awful things and lust commingles with promiscuity, obsession, self-hatred, depression, and narcissism. It's pretty raw stuff but a good read. Recommended for public and academic libraries.
-ARoger Durbin, Univ. of Akron
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Grove Pr; 1st edition (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802116507
• ASIN: B000VYLUTU
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,049,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unforgettable journey, October 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Coming of the Night (Hardcover)

I'm surprised, and really delighted, that a novel about gay characters and gay subjects can still make it to the top of the bestseller lists--it's been a Los Angeles Times Bestseller for several weeks. But when I read it, I wasn't surprised. It's a novel that goes far beyond its subject, becomes a stunning picture of an era--the 1980's. I don't know of any other book that has captured more exactly what was happening on the "sex front" right before "the coming of the night." That the book can be so serious and yet so humorous in places is surprising. When I read one of the characters asking another after sex, "Would you die for sex," I felt very moved and illuminated, and somewhat terrified. But it has places of great humor. The drag-queen Za-Za LaGrande had me roaring aloud. Its difficult to describe a novel that is as rich as this one, and so beautifully written, with a cast of characters that includes almost every one you'd find on the gay scene, in one day--a bodybuilder, an older man who loves opera, an S&M-er, a group of punks with their tough girl, a black guy, a hustler, etc. One day--that's how long the book takes. That one day, though, becomes an epic, and I'm sure that's why so many readers, gay and straight, are picking it up. This is Rechy's best since "City of Night."

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning, unforgettable and timely novel, July 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Coming of the Night (Hardcover)

Ever since I read "City of Night" in highschool a dozen years ago, I've been waiting for Rechy to write another book like his first classic novel. "The Coming of the Night" was worth the wait. I read it through in one sitting. It's a stunner. I won't ever forget the characters Rechy follows for one day and night, when whispers about AIDS were beginning but not believed. Rechy brings that very sexual time to life, and the book is very, very sexy. Rechy leads you with compassion to understand what was going on, how AIDS struck gay people with as much indifference as the heated wind blowing across the city. The book is beautifully written, and very pertinent to today. At times, it's surprisingly hilarious. I laughed aloud at the drag-queen rehearsing her porn stars for a private performance before a closeted movie executive. The book races back and forth from character to character, all different, all alive. I especially like Jesse, the beautiful 22-year-old kid celebrating a year of being gay; the picture Rechy draws of him is very accurate, very moving. The ending almost knocked me out. I sat there, stunned, absorbing it all. Frankly, this may be Rechy's best novel, as good as "City of Night."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reading, great writing, March 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Coming of the Night (Hardcover)

No one can match Rechy in taking us along on a journey of discovery, and this new novel sweeps us into the lives of about a dozen or so men and a few women throughout one single hot day in Los Angeles. Rechy captures the eerie sexual mood of the city when the Santa Ana winds are blowing, and distant fires are blazing, just as he captures the lives of his characters, focusing on the moment they wake or appear in the City. They all come to life, Jesse "the kid" and Chas the strange biker--and the obsessed priest, so many others; they stayed in my mind, and I didn't intend to read the book in one sitting but I did, couldn't put it down--it's that kind of book. Very sexual, yes, and beautifully, even poetically written. No one does this better than Rechy.