Customer Reviews

Glamourpuss: A Novel (Plume Books)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

The path to true love has always been rocky but it is only Christian McLaughlin who made a slob of a boyfriend be a memorable and major pothole in this endearing tale of an adulterous affair between Alex and Nick.

An on-again, off-again closeted boytoy-starlet, a crazed stalker, militant gay activists and the bitchy world of TV soaps -- all these are funny route markers and interesting landmarks to the hopefully fairy-tale ending for our two boys that readers will be rooting for by the time you reach the final chapters. However it turns out, this book will have you reading "happily ever after."

Not all books have to be plausible or loaded with heavy, hidden meaning, as some of the other reviewers indicate. I greatly enjoyed the story line, the characters, and the complexity of the situations Alex found himself in - not unlike problems most of us find ourselves in (at least to some degree, if not in Hollywood or on a national level). I was sorry to finish it; I also ordered the author's next novel.

Alexander Young is a handsome actor playing the popular villain Simon in the daytime soap Hearts Crossing, in his twenties, and doing very well until a national tabloid prints a picture of him kissing his boyfriend. The fall-out affects his relationship with his lover, pretty boy model and upcoming TV star Trevor, and his role in Hearts Crossing. Shortly after Alex's outing in the press the producers of the Hearts Crossing reveal his character Simon as gay, and turn him into an even more bizarre villain. He has to deal with irate as well as over enthusiastic fans, a vociferous and mixed press and the enraged Gay movement. However the loss of his lover is not so much of a problem for Alex, after all he has never gotten over Nick, his first love from college; not that ever had him exclusively in the first place; but he always lives in hope.
As Alex narrates his story of his role in Hearts Crossing and subsequent events, he gradually fills us in on the history of his frustratingly unrequited relationship from his very first chance encounter with Nick, who stubbornly remains faithful to his dorky partner. While Alex and Nick maintain a casual relationship, will Alex ever realise his dream and have Nick to himself?
Don't be misled by the cover picture, while there is plenty of lust and desire, this is no sordid story. Christian McLaughlin has produced a lovely romantic tale, while at the same time sending up showbiz and soap operas with wit and plenty of humour.

A good comic novel is hard to find. A good gay comic novel is even tougher to come by. This is a novel with humor at many levels, including its writing style and form. Some folks just won't get it, and that is ok, but those who do will get some great laughs. Also lots of fun is McLaughlin's other book, "Sex Toys of the Gods."

Highly recommended-- excellent, hilarious, light "beach reading" ...a scream.

I read McLaughlin's "Sex Toys of the Gods" a few years ago, and I finally got around to reading his first book. It's as fun and sexy as his second book! Alex Young begins working on a soap series, and ends up dealing with a starlet boyfriend, his public outing in a gossip rag, and his lingering feelings for Nick, the man Alex has always loved. Like Orland Outland's "Every Man for Himself", this book includes commentary on gay culture within a fluffy story of gay men's romance. A really great read and perfect for a relaxing night at home.

If you take this book for what it is--a light-hearted, campy romp--you'll enjoy it.