Endangered Species: A Novel [Paperback]

Louis Bayard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2001

"In his witty and beautifully written novels, Louis Bayard is establishing Washington D.C. as the District of Comedy."-Bob Smith, author of Openly Bob, and Way to Go Smith

The Broome family is facing an uncertain future; however no one but youngest son Nick seems to notice. Driven by an inexplicable but driving certainty that they are on the brink of extinction, Nick vows to bring a child into the world by whatever means necessary. The problem? Nick is gay. The brave new world of parenting is explored as never before in Louis Bayard's new novel, which is full of the dry wit, snaking plot turns, and vivid, well-rounded characters that earned raves and fans for his first novel, Fool's Errand. Nick's quest for a surrogate mother will draw him to schizophrenics, Hispanic immigrants, body-pierced teenagers, female escorts, a God-fearing phlebotomist, an itinerant matchmaker, and an unbalanced but irrepressible young woman named Nattie, who ultimately may provide what he is seeking in the way he least expected. Alternately moving and very, very funny, Nick Broome's quest to leave a mark on the world drives straight to the heart of the evolving nature of love and family.

Louis Bayard is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Nerve.Com, Genre, Lambda Book Report, and the Washington Blade among others. He is the author of Fool's Errand, and lives in Washington, D.C.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Nick Broome has the first biological clock by Timex: it takes a licking and keeps on ticking. In this queer twist on the new genre of reproductive comedy, a single gay Washingtonian in his 30s realizes that although he has a brother and a sister--both healthy, successful adults--no one in his family has made a move toward having children. The Broome genes are being swept into oblivion. Nick's brother Greg tries to compensate for the unspoken loss by arranging a dreaded annual dinner for the siblings in an ugly roadside restaurant. Even Nick's mother, who has never asked for a grandchild, remarks that there's not much point in having a big Christmas tree every year. With sudden clarity and a fetching image of Atlantic herring dropping their eggs and semen in unison, then swimming on, Nick decides to take matters into his own hands. Rejected by every sperm bank he can find, he looks in vain for a lesbian coparent, then a straight coparent, then a surrogate mother, meeting a wonderfully weird collection of similarly needy people in the process, and incidentally coming across a gorgeous bartender named Joe. Although funny, this astute and occasionally surprising second novel offers far more than a good laugh and manages to avoid almost every stereotype of gay life.--Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

In this well-crafted second novel, Nick Broome, the youngest son of a Washington, D.C., family, is facing an existential crisis, namely, the demise of his nonprocreative clan's family name. He wants desperately to bring life into the world, envisioning a boy in a blue parka as his ideal son and even going so far as to make a deal with himself to make a baby within a year. Thirty-four-year-old Nick refuses to adopt because his lump of love must share his DNA, and the usual boy-meets-girl route is not open to him, for Nick is gay. The bulk of the novel is a whirlwind tour of the world of artificial insemination and surrogacy. Nick's breeding quest takes him behind the door of sperm banks, where posters of European towers suggest phallic exuberance; when sperm collectors reject him, Nick tries to find a surrogate mother. His ads in the newspaper and on the Internet bring in, among others, a female escort, an angry teen and the unbalanced Nattie, whose brother, Joe, Nick meets in the mental hospital where Nattie has registered herself for a tuneup. Though Joe and Nick become lovers, he continues his search for a fertile vessel. His family is dying out, Nick believes, and he's doing nothing about it. As the novel reaches its crescendo, Nick foolishly treats Joe like a son and flirts dangerously with a contract matchmaker named Lyle, eventually learning more about love and himself. Though the novel's method is at times tiresome and the humor at best tepid, Bayard manages to keep our interest in Broome's quest while teaching us a thing or two about the force that drives procreation. Regional author appearances.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 265 pages
• Publisher: Alyson Books; 1st edition (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555836410
• ISBN-13: 978-1555836412
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,681,718 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, yes, but there's more important substrata here, April 25, 2001

By 

Ronald L. Donaghe - See all my reviews

This review is from: Endangered Species: A Novel (Paperback)

I certainly agree that Bayard's ENDANGERED SPECIES is funny and fun to read. But the way he sketches some of his most endearing characters (like Broome's grandmother in the hospital, having to remember how to eat) is so fresh and full-bodied, I read the passage over several times; Broome's boyfriend and the on-again, off-again relationship with him is written with real sensitivity, giving depth of character to both. This is a lot deeper book than its breezy, entertaining style would suggest. It can be enjoyed on several levels. -Ronald L. Donaghe, author of Common Sons (part of the series: "Common Threads in the Life")

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific choice for libraries & summertime reading, April 23, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Endangered Species: A Novel (Paperback)

This book cracked me up! Very clever writing, a great pleasure to read. As a librarian, I think this book has all the elements of a good summer read and I bought 3 copies for my library. Treat yourself and have a good laugh with this book!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light, Enjoyable Read., May 28, 2002

By 

Brett Benner (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Endangered Species: A Novel (Paperback)

In his quest to "plant his seed", and send offspring out into the world, Nick Broome will go to almost any lengths to get one.(And he does at points.)The novel isn't as laugh out loud funny as I had anticipated, but is touching and heartfelt as this gay man goes through a crazy journey to find what a child means to him, and what finally constitutes a family.