Customer Reviews

Narrow Rooms

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

a beautifully written story of love and hate going to the extremes which resembles "wuthering heights" in more than one respect; semi-articulate passion in a deserted land bordering on madness and advancing slowly into a near intolerable showdown. it's amazing with which composure Purdy manages to tell this pitch black "romantic tale"; never corny, never embarassing, a perfectly clear, simple plot and language. Highly recommended (for everybody by the way, gay or not gay)

Purdy is poetic in his descriptions of some of our darker places. I've never read anyone write about pain, pleasure, desire, hate with such beaut

This is my favorite Purdy book. It is one of the most original novels ever written - straightforward, brilliant, and weirdly kinky. I had the pleasure of telling Purdy so in person. He is a charming and kindly old fellow and I think he still lives in Brooklyn.

While it is both beautifully and repetitively descriptive of desire and power, I found Narrow Rooms to have a stony quality (in several senses of the word stony). Even though I'm only a generation removed from Purdy and not two or three, I had to keep in mind that the book was first published 30 years ago and that this is a writer, like Vidal, of a certain age, with a period perspective. While the depiction of desire is real, it is shadowed and joyless. Purdy is always interesting, but I'm reminded of how lucky I am to have come of age post-Stonewall (if barely).

james purdy is one of my favorite authors. his inventive storytelling and fantastic prose have always worked wonders on me. sad to say, i really really hated this book. this novel is simply ugly. i could not finish it. please do not start reading james purdy here. if i had, i would never have read another book of his (and would have missed several masterpieces, like: i am elijah thrush, in a shallow grave, the house of the solitary maggot, and jeremy's version). read this author, just save this for last, or, in my opinion, you can skip it altogether.

I just don't get Purdy. And believe me, I have tried since 1977 when I read "Jeremy's Version." The prose was unusual, but became boring. I kept reading reviews of how funny his books were and yet I never laughed. I even met him once at the book signing party of "Narrow Rooms." He reminded me of my crazy grandmother. But he was cherished and revolutionary author according John Yueker, his "note-taker." Ho-hum!

I recently tried to read "Malcolm" and kept thinking Purdy is caught in his own shadow and keeps breathing life into his tricksters for no apparent reason other than to shock and seem original. There is nothing original about Purdy's works. They're just gay "Peyton Places" with little or no redeeming values. This is what Purdy would have us think of 20th Century America.

My advice to Purdy is enter the 21st Century and start dealing with the world that constantly brings light on the shadow. Get out of your Brooklyn Heights cave and study the absence of the Twin Towers and a Broadway fighting for its very existence. Get out there and contribute.

Edith Sitwell is dead. Let her rest in peace.