I've a Feeling We're Not in Kansas Anymore: Tales from Gay Manhattan (Plume) [Paperback]

Ethan Mordden (Author)

Book Description

Series: Plume | Publication Date: March 1, 1987

"We have traded tales, my buddies and I; of affairs, encounters, secrets, fears, self-promotion-of fantasies that we make real in the telling."

In this, the first volume in Ethan Mordden's acclaimed trilogy on Manhattan gay life, he introduces a small group of friends-Dennis Savage, Little Kiwi, Carlos, and the narrator, Bud-and chronicles their exploration of the new world of gay life and the new people they are in the process of becoming.

In a voice at once ironic, wistful, witty, and profound, Mordden investigates his suspicion that all of gay life is stories and that, somehow or other, all these stories are about love.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ethan Mordden investigates the stories that gay life in the city engenders -- the fantasies, the secrets, the fears, the joys. Ultimately all the stories are about love, and Mordden is a master at painting love with a delicate brush. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

"Ethan Mordden is a master craftsman. His style combines the satirical urbanity of Juvenal, the wit of Oscar Wilde, the intelligence and drawing room sophistication of Jane Austen." --Bay Windows

"There are too few writers who can turn a phrase with as much wit and style as Ethan Mordden. You are dealing with an unusually major talent." --Torso

"Undeniably a major gay writer, with Manhattan to the Pines as his turf." --Kirkus Reviews

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Plume (March 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452259290
• ISBN-13: 978-0452259294
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,276,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The "Buddies" Cycle Begins With A Quiet Bang, January 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: I've A Feeling We're Not In Kansas Anymore: Tales from Gay Manhattan (Stonewall Inn Editions) (Paperback)

Ethan Mordden's first entry in his decade-long series could easily have stood on its own as simply a collection of short stories, some of which share the same characters and continue situations. Fortunately for us, it is just the beginning, a somewhat modest introdction to his world. He lightheartedly tells of friendship and growing up and painfully yet without bitterness details the diffculty of maintaining a longterm gay relationship in a gay world that is still obsessed with sex and yet falling apart for that very reason. His characters are interesting, well drawn, and extremely well spoken always having the witty response and the snappy one-liner ready in any situation. Like real people, which no doubt they are, this group plans for the future, fears the present, and recalls its youth with fondness. I first read Ethan Mordden and "I've A Feeling We're Not In Kansas Anymore" when it was published in paperback in 1987. I was twenty and had grown up in a very rural setting and had moved to a fairly large city where here seemed to be something going on, but which I knew nothing about. I found the book at a local store and devoured it the same day having come across something I had never seen before. This wass the real life that I knew existed, but which seemed hidden and forcefully so. While it is not a book to educate the young gay male or the recently out gay male, it does tells not only of gay life in New York before AIDS, but also chronicles the universal establishment of a circle of friends that often becomes family in a most entertaining and literate fashion. Mordden is laugh-out-loud funny at times, culturally superior at times, and even lays on the line some of his great sadnesses and disappointments creating a widely multi-faceted picture of the life he knows and lives

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book will hook you, June 4, 2001

By 

Todd E. Keeler (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I've A Feeling We're Not In Kansas Anymore: Tales from Gay Manhattan (Stonewall Inn Editions) (Paperback)

While the title might seem a little trite, it wasn't when the book was published and the vignettes told within are certain to hook the reader into reading and following the exploits of the members of this crew of buddies as they live their lives on the Manhattan-Fire Island axis of the 1970s. I caught myself laughing out loud on the train reading these stories, especially some of the actions of Little Kiwi; the interaction between the characters is so masterful that either Mordden is an incredible chronicler of his surroundings or has one of the most amazing imaginations of any fiction writer ever. The reader can picture the events vividly and they are believable. Highly recommended, and this book will hook you into reading the other three in the series, and hunger for more when they are completed.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars made me the fag hag I am today, October 24, 2006

By 

Bronx Girl - See all my reviews

This review is from: I've A Feeling We're Not In Kansas Anymore: Tales from Gay Manhattan (Stonewall Inn Editions) (Paperback)

I read this in high school. This was one of the first peices of gay "literature" I ever read and I fell totally in love with it (and what I imagined gay culture to be). Elitist, warm, fun and fantastical. I'm re-reading it now and I'm on Amazon looking for more work by the author. I hope I find something just as good.