Glamourpuss: A Novel (Plume Books) [Mass Market Paperback]

Christian McLaughlin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1995 | Series: Plume Books

When Alex Young, a young heart-throb from th e hottest Hollywood soap, is caught in a steamy kiss with an other man by a sleazy tabloid, his career and life are set i nto a hilarious and disastrous tailspin when emotions run am ok. '

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Life imitates art imitating life in this slyly amusing debut about the tribulations of a soap star-"I had put a lethal dose of poison into Cyrinda's milk shake two weeks before, but the bitch had lived through it," confesses evil Simon Arable, main character of the soap opera Heart's Crossing, as the novel opens. In real life, Simon is Alex Young-funny, hunky, witty and gay. And thereby hangs a tale: a delicious and gossipy behind-the-scenes peek at daytime TV, a frenetic take on closet doors being involuntarily flung open, a slightly syrupy saga of Alex pining for the guy back home in Texas he can't have. Though McLaughlin's writing is occasionally flaccid and his zingers fall a bit short of their targets, his immensely likable hero will surely grab readers' funnybones and hearts-romantics in particular will root for true love to triumph. The novel's back-and-forth time frame proves somewhat confusing, though the assorted antics of castoff boyfriends, starstruck fans (both in letters and in person) and righteous zealots more than amply compensate for any minor shortcomings.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Breezy, shallow, and often funny, Glamourpuss is the story of Alan Young, a soap opera actor who's having romantic trouble with the man of his dreams. In addition, his newly offered role in a soap is put in jeopardy when a tabloid publishes a photo of him kissing another man. While there's a good deal of lampooning of the Hollywood "culture," gay and otherwise, the novel is never able to rise above its writing and deliver true satire. And Glamourpuss is a very talky book. Most of the plot twists, such as the conflicts created by the photo, don't even occur until late in the story, though there's an abundance of information about who slept with whom and when (all the sex is safe, of course). Reads a lot like the movie script it's trying to be, in spite of a number of laugh-out-loud lines. Brian McCombie --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Plume; 1st Plume Printing October 1995 edition (September 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452272653
• ISBN-13: 978-0452272651
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,247,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A witty and romantic rendering of gay love in the nineties, January 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Glamourpuss: A Novel (Plume Books) (Mass Market Paperback)

Christian McLaughlins GLAMOURPUSS has a truly appalling jacket - a bronzed, headless beefcake drapes his privates in crimson satin. Its the sort of jacket you have to twist over and hide when youre reading on public transport. But thats just about my only criticism of this book, which is one of the funniest and most romantic novels Ive read for some time.

The story revolves around the life and loves of the extremely likable Alex Young. McLaughlin charts Alexs life from his college days to early stardom on a daytime TV soap. The constant throughout this time is Alexs passion for Nick, who remains elusive through his steadfast commitment to loser Barney.

With a light touch, McLaughlin pinpoints the experience of being gay in the nineties. It is good to find a contemporary gay novel that isnt constructed around AIDS. Nevertheless, the politics of being gay loom large when Alex is outed and has to struggle with the consequences to his private life and career.

Above all, McLaughlin brilliantly conveys the dilemmas of looking for love in the nineties. Whilst written from a gay perspective, McLaughlins observations have a wider constituency. Male or female, straight or gay, weve all fallen for people like Nick who are everything we want ... except available. Equally, weve probably come across people like Trevor who although gorgeous is self-obsessed. Admittedly, this is compounded in Trevors case by his being gay and living in fear of being outed.

There are some particular frustrations to the love-hunt when youre gay. McLaughlin cuts right to the chase in one scene when its Saturday night and Alex is walking past the bars and clubs of West Hollywood.

In one block, I counted nine faces handsome enough to kiss with little or no personality-intelligence data available. Couldnt one of them be Mr Right, lonely, bored of smoky clubs and their empty-hearted poseurs, not to mention terrible house-music? How could you ever know?

There needs to be shelves more gay fiction like this. Like its central character, GLAMOURPUSS is witty, clever and genuinely sexy. Its just a shame it looks like the sort of book you need to hide under your bed!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A gay re-telling of all modern myths, March 8, 2000

By 

C. Bouchard (Paris, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Glamourpuss: A Novel (Plume Books) (Mass Market Paperback)

After finishing this book (more precisely, relishing it for two days and being sorry when I was done), I wondered why I found it so engrossing. It certainly is not exemplary of any literary or stylistic innovation, though the flashbacks are rather well put together. Then it hit me- this book reunites and retells almost all of the myths which define "happiness" in modern America (and hence almost all romance novels at the check-out in the supermarket): fame, fortune, success, love, lust, beauty, etc. This book, then, along with many fine(r) forays in what we now call "contemporary gay fiction", offers us characters to whom we can relate and whose desires and fears are or have been at some point our own. Don't get me wrong, though- the characters in question are certainly no spiritual role models, but then again, the simplicity of unrequited love and yearning is universal, and you don't have to be James Joyce to write it...or a post-doc to read it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Poolside read, August 15, 2001

By 

Cambel "cambel" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Glamourpuss: A Novel (Plume Books) (Mass Market Paperback)

I am a huge fan of authors who can write a book without resorting to the same tired story lines we so often see in gay novels. This is an enjoyable book about an enjoyable guy. Alex Young, handsome a bit Naive and inspite of the fact that the object of his affection "Nick" is mired in a bad relationship an optomist. See, Alex move from Texas to L.A. Watch as he becomes a sucessful Soap Oprah Actor, Cringe as they discribe Nicks boyfriends wardrobe. Seriously though, the trials and tribulations that Alex goes through in his life make for fun sometimes laugh out loud reading. As a person I once lent this book said to me. "I was sad to put it down because I felt like good friends were leaving. So to the author I say, thank you for realizing some people like to laugh.