Customer Reviews

Jeremy Thrane

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this book after reading (and enjoying) Christensen's In the Drink. The reviews assured me that if I liked In the Drink, I would love Jeremy Thrane. Boy, were they wrong! Now, don't get me wrong. I read Jeremy Thrane quickly and enjoyed it. There's nothing "wrong" with this book. It's just very different than In the Drink, and, in my humble opinion, not as "good."

Like In the Drink, Jeremy Thrane is written with a first-person voice, which I enjoy. Unlike, In the Drink, however, I feel, well, very aware of the face that our narrator is, well, narrating. Many of the narrator's comments, thoughts, etc. seemed very contrived, and, overall, detract from the book's "flow."

If you're looking for a book that reads quickly, is written decently, and comments on "celebrity culture," a gay man's life in NYC or... just "hip" life in general, Jeremy Thrane won't disappoint. If, however, like me, you're looking for a follow-up to In the Drink, keep looking.

You'll enjoy this book - great dialogue, exacting descriptions of situations, moods, scenery. She does the job we all wish we could do slamming some of the types we all love to hate (the nosy neighbor, the snooty 20-somethings who think they run the world.) One of the most interesting aspects of this story are the descriptions of good food and drink that are integral to the main character's life, not matter what else is going on. He's all boy, that's for sure. Christensen implies that he's guite a stud, but never comes out and says it, which adds to the intrigue.

Ever since I read In the Drink, I have become a fan of Kate Christensen. In the Drink was filled with the kind of dark humor that I enjoy in fiction. I also enjoyed her realistic view of New York City. She didn't romanticize the city -- she showed it for what it was. It was a very clever satire. So I was eager to pick up her second novel.

Jeremy Thrane is the tale of a gay man in his mid-thirties who's had a secret affair with a famous film star named Ted for ten years. Ted is married to a famous movie actress. Both his wife and the media are unaware of his homosexuality. The novel takes some humorous, poignant and sometimes unexpected turns.

The novel is well written, however, there are some things that were left floating in the story. For instance, Ted seldom appears in the novel. Character and story development were needed throughout the novel. Christensen needed to delve into and explore some of the secondary characters.

All and all, it was a satisfactory read. It is not as dark and sinister as In the Drink, but it's nevertheless a great read. Kate has a way with words, and I recommend her lyrical and witty novels most highly.

Such an intelligent writer, but one who takes 309 pages to tell a story that could have been told in less than 100. If you're into page after page of ruminating, intellectualizing, ego-centric analyzing, you'll love this book. If you prefer a good story where the plot actually moves, then look elsewhere. Maybe I just don't get the whole New York angst thing...

This is the first book I've read by Kate Christensen and I enjoyed it so much that I immediately bought her first novel, In The Drink (which I have yet to read). Her gift for narrative and description is beyond measure, and the storyline and characters were beautifully crafted. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars because I did feel the story tended to drag in spots; whole sections of the book spanned a single day. Also, there was not one character in the book I didn't find less than sympathetic (including Jeremy himself), and I have to admit I found the recurring nonchalant references to incest and pedophilia more than a little disturbing -- must be a gay-culture phenomenon I'm not aware of?

Jeremy Thrane is a gay man in his mid-30s living in New York City and posing as the archivist to his sometimes-lover (a closeted, married Hollywood action star). Jeremy is also writing an epic novel about his absentee father and is generally lounging about, until he unintentionally, yet purposefully, outs his married lover to the world. Jeremy escapes before the fallout into his own search for a new start. He finds a real job for the first time in years; he reconnects with and slowly learns to appreciate his oddball family. And through it all he matures and skewers his friends, and ultimately finds love (maybe). "Jeremy Thrane" is quirky and intriguing, and yet midway through reading, I found that it bogged down where Jeremy flits about making a general nuisance of himself. Christensen's writing style, sense of humor, and her characterizations kept me interested, and with perseverance, I found myself compelled to find out how it all ends. While it's not as gorgeous and spectacular as Kranz's "Leaps Of Faith" or Hamilton's "The Short History Of A Prince" or Duncker's "Hallucinating Foucault", "Jeremy Thrane" is a charming and lively story of a gay man growing older and suddenly finding that life isn't so bad after all.

I thought Jeremy Thrane was a better novel than In the Drink in that the characters felt more developed and the writing took a slower pace, more relaxed. I recognized none of the characters individually but all of them in pieces,composites of the best and worst of the New Yorkers around us. None were stereotypes and all hid surprises that made this novel a totally fun read. The one character I wanted to know more about was the mysterious Mexican lover of Max's (I can't remember his name) who intrigued me once we met him briefly. I will be waiting for Kate Christiensen's next surprise, hopefully soon!

I read In the Drink when it first came out and really liked it. I thought the writing was clear and detailed, and the characters were well-developed. Jeremy Thrane was no different. I think it's amazing how a female author can write so well from the point of view of a gay male--amazing! She did such a good job, I was beginning to wonder if she had a gay male ghostwriter! I loved all of the characters and how Jeremy really grew and became stronger over the course of the novel. I was sorry to see it end.

My creative writing professor used to teach us, "Edit, edit, and then edit some more." I think Kate Christensen could have benefitted from that advice. Her novel JEREMY THRANE contains about 50 pages of actual story; the rest is gobbledygook. Christensen likes to bore her readers with too many unnecessary details. There's too much telling and not enough showing. For example: "I went to the men's room, where I relieved my bladder of the remains of the pint of orange juice I'd downed on my way to work..." Who cares? Was this necessary? The story would have been the same if not for this mundane, descript detail.

As the reader, I'm never involved in Jeremy's world. I'm an outsider looking in through a dirty window, being told the most mundane details about the life of someone I don't even care for.

The story is positioned as a story about Jeremy, a gay man, being kicked out of his in-the-closet Hollywood boyfriend Ted's place, and having to fend for himself. Along the way, he grows up and discovers what love is. Sounds interesting, right? Too bad I never got a sense of that reading JEREMY THRANE. In truth, Ted is barely in the book and I'm not quite sure Jeremy grows or learns to love by the time the novel is over. Jeremy declines Ted's offer of being financially kept and then whines that he has to go out in the real world and find a job. He shoots down every potential love interest because he feels he's too good for them. In the end, he still criticizes the music of the last guy he meets, so I didn't really see any growth.

JEREMY THRANE also presents too many characters. Edit, edit, and then edit some more. If you've ever seen the episode of "Will & Grace" where Grace sets up Will with an arrogant client to get his business, you'll know what I'm referring to. Christensen throws around so many names that the reader has no idea who is who and, therefore, never feels connected to any of them.

"And maybe my unwillingness to compromise my idealized, archaic insistence on authenticity weighed me down like a cargo of lead and sand while everyone else raced lightly on ahead, realizing their ambitions, finding mates, moving on to fulfilled and carefree lives, unhampered by useless pangs of conscience, uncircumcised by all this superannuated deadweight I seemed to have mistaken for ballast."

Like in the above sentence, Christensen tries to sound "intelligent" by using all the words from her 11th grade vocabulary test and then uses the word(?) "gook" twice in a couple of pages apart. Which is she trying to be? Literary and deep? Or trying to sound cool? I'd prefer cool and conversational, but "gook" is as close as she comes.

EDIT, EDIT, AND THEN EDIT SOME MORE.

"I should have drunk more last night; half-assed hangovers did nothing to alter my sense of reality the way really sintelating [sic] ones could, rubbing off all the sharp edges from experience, sealing me in an invalid cocoon of cheerful relaxed semiderangement that allowed me to pretend to be someone else for its duration, someone happy-go-lucky and frivolous and somewhat dim." Holy run-on sentence, Batman!

"He was holding, I couldn't help noticing, a package of those pressed seaweed sheets they rolled sushi with. I knew what they were called but preferred not to even think the word for fear of somehow appearing to legitimize his whole Japanese affectation in any way and having this show on my face." Huh? Who cares? Call 'em seaweed sheets and call it a day!

EDIT, EDIT, AND THEN EDIT SOME MORE. Too many minute details about nothing consequential really bored this reader.

Lastly, the subplot of Jeremy's estranged father seems like an afterthought...and not a very good one. Jeremy writes a novel about what he imagines happened to his dad after he up and left the family. "Angus in Efes" is the title of his debut novel. (Angus?) Unfortunately, we, the readers, are "treated" to excerpts from Jeremy's novel about his father's imagined exploits that is even more boring than Jeremy's own story. And when he finally contacts his father at the end, it's rather anticlimactic, which seems to be a running theme throughout the novel.

"I thought the book was well written and imaginative. I'm not sure about the plot, but what does plot matter in contemporary novels, isn't that right?" Straight from the author's mouth.

Kate Christensen's 'Jeremy Thrane' is crisp, fresh, full of beautiful metaphors and right on the money when depicting the lives and loves of gay men.

It's amazing that (I'm assuming) a straight woman could write so eloquently from a gay man's point of view. As a gay man I found myself laughing aloud at certian situations, identifying wholeheartedly with a lot of Jeremy's viewpoints and gasping at the incredible similarities of Jeremy's friends to some of my own.

I lent a friend my copy when she took a trip to New York City and not only did she love it and was amazed at how right on Christensen is during the Jewish family scene (my friend is Jewish) but also she had the pleasure of meeting an aquaintance of Christensen's at an editors convention who essentially sang the same praises for her novel as I.

I won't go into the particulars of 'Jeremy Thrane' as other reviewers have already done so. However, I highly recommend this novel for anyone in search of a fresh take on gay fiction that goes beyond the nightclub/sex & drugs/kept boy mentality of most gay fiction.