Nights in Aruba: A Novel [Paperback]

Andrew Holleran (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 18, 2001

This groundbreaking novel of gay life centers around Paul, an uneasy commuter between two parallel worlds. He is the dutiful son of aging, upper-middle-class parents living in Florida, and a homosexual man plunged deliriously into the world of New York City's bars, baths, and one-night stands. With wry humor and subtle lyricism, Holleran reveals the tragedy and comedy of one man's struggle to come to terms with middle age, homosexuality, truth, love, and life itself.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andrew Holleran, a Harvard graduate, is a well-known journalist and frequent contributor to major gay publications. Dancer from the Dance, his first novel, was originally published in 1978 to great critical acclaim. He is also the author of Nights in Aruba, The Beauty of Men, Ground Zero, In the Mirror of Men's Eyes, and In September, the Light Changes.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (December 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060937343
• ISBN-13: 978-0060937348
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,217,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Holleran Must Do Better, August 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Nights in Aruba (Plume) (Paperback)

Nights in Aruba is a book that left me wondering why I took the time to read it. It tells the story of a gay man from his youth in Aruba through his time in the military to New York. The book did not really keep my interest and I felt as if the book was nothing more than pages filled with the laments of a middle-aged gay male who has had a life that amounted to very little.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read if you like "literary" books, July 20, 2006

By 

Benedict Luna "Benedict Luna" (Nomansland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nights in Aruba: A Novel (Paperback)

This is not a book to read for plot, but for the "voice" of the narrator and in that sense it is truly excellent. This does not mean it is boring - at least I didn't think so - and found myself longing to continue reading it.

The book full of truths. Reading it makes one FEEL what it is like to be human, (though from a gay point of view) - and what it means to feel ambivalent, and how the weight of life's uncertainty feels like.

"Dancer from the dance" is Holleran's more successful novel, but I personally preferred "Nights in Aruba".

One of the earlier reviewers trashes the book on the basis that the character does not learn from his experiences - but to this I wish to say that the novel is not a "bildungsroman". I do not think that the book has a bleak outlook to life - rather is depicts one viewpoint (and does so very well) - and shows how and why humans are prone to making the same mistakes and that there is so much existential uncertainty to life.

The book's literary qualities are also such that the book improves with a second reading.

Kudos to Holleran.

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Nights in dullsville, March 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Nights in Aruba (Plume) (Paperback)

What a bunch of self-pitying tripe this book is. The main character sees everything, does most of it, and resolutely refuses to learn anything from his experiences. He looks for love, finds it, and tosses it out the window without anything so unglamorous as motivation. And then he wonders why he is so unhappy and why his life has not amounted to anything. Has Holleran ever heard of developing believable characters, or even of cause and effect?