Nightswimmer [Paperback]

Joseph Olshan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 2000

In one of the most highly acclaimed novels of the year, Joseph Olshan crafts a vivid mosaic of the intense passion and pressures of gay life in New York as two men find their all-consuming affair threatened by the cynicism of mutual friends and memories of lost love, all falling under the shadow of AIDS.

"Olshan has explored deeply the realities of the obsessiveness of love."-Robert Olen Butler

"Beautiful and bittersweet...[A] fervent story of love and loss...with universal resonance and appeal."-New York Times

"One of the boldest and most accessible stories about loneliness... since Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Crying Game..."Thom Jones

"A beautifully written story of gay love, betrayal and loss."-People

"A meditation about love...that transcends any question of gender or sexual preference."-Washington Post Book World

"Lyrical and evocative."-Boston Globe

"A fine balance of the comic and the dramatic, the lyrical and the realistic."-The Wall Street Journal"Passionate and deeply felt...[Olshan's] observations about obsession, loss and rejection are transcendent."-Kirkus Reviews

Nominated for a Lambda Award

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Intensely personal and infused with a rare degree of immediacy, Olshan's ( Clara's Heart ) first venture into gay-themed fiction succeeds on several levels. A dramatic death brings Sean Paris into the life of narrator Will Kaplan, who is still haunted by the disappearance 10 years earlier of his lover. Was Chad struck down by a ship during one of the duo's frequent nocturnal swims off the California coast, or did he purposefully vanish from Will's existence? Hampered by Will's obsession with Chad (and lingering attachment to ex-lover Greg) and by Sean's harmful concealment of parts of his own past, the two can only skirt the edges of involvement. What might initially appear a protracted game of musical beds, however, has deeper undercurrents, as the novel's beautifully etched characters explore the themes of longing and loss. With the constant fear of AIDS looming over its vivid Manhattan setting, Olshan's story spins out through flashbacks within flashbacks--indeed, nearly all of the novel is one long remembrance . In consequence, the plot occasionally becomes difficult to follow, but readers who navigate these waters will be richly rewarded.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

"Nightswimmer" is the sobriquet Will Kaplan uses for his first lover, who disappeared while swimming in the Pacific with Will several years ago. Because the young man's body was never recovered, Will has not accepted his death and has vigorously avoided emotional attachments for almost 10 years. Then he meets Sean Paris, a stunningly beautifiul landscape architect, at a friend's apartment and falls instantly in love. Sean, too, has for years been pining away for a lost love and has also been avoiding relationships. Sean's life is further complicated by another relationship, with a young artist who, we learn late in the novel, killed himself because Sean didn't return his love. Readers will also come to view the term nightswimmer as a metaphor for the enigmatic mood Olshan gives this tale of three men's search for missing love. Olshan writes with a sensitive, caring tone that imparts an extra dimension to his characters. Highly recommended for collections where gay literature is popular. Charles Harmon --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (December 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425176614
• ISBN-13: 978-0425176610
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,393,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joseph Olshan is the award-winning author of nine novels. His broad-ranging subjects vary from the wise, tough-minded, hilarious Clara Mayfield who became the model of the film character based on his novel, Clara's Heart, to an aristocratic, politically savvy Italian novelist who lives in a villa in Tuscany (The Conversion). His forthcoming novel, Cloudland (St. Martin's April 2012) is based on a true crime story: the serial murders of 6 women that occurred in the Connecticut River valley of Vermont and New Hampshire, crimes that were never solved. His writing has been translated into sixteen languages. He lives between Vermont and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Abreast with the best of them, October 8, 2000

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Nightswimmer (Paperback)

Joseph Olshan has achieved a nearly impossible task: a successful novel about the kaleidoscope of emotional rides that constitute the anticipation, the terror, the neuroses/psychoses, the obsession and the gamut of highs and lows of that strange encounter called 'falling in love'. Not that potent love stories are oddities, but when the characters are all males in varying degrees of acceptance/indulgence of being gay, such rollercoaster rides often become either merely taudry, steamy sex encounters or distanced longings such as the wondrous "Maurice" of EM Forster. Nightswimmer takes us many places we know and more places we haven't been, and does so in such convincing style that we feel like part of the in-crowd of these perfectly drawn characters. For the reader who wants to understand both sides of the approach/avoidance magnet of being hopelessly in love, here it is. With enough use of metaphor to keep the story universal, Olshan has written a durable novel that already is showing the test of time. I'm happy this book is becoming more available. Recommended highly - thanks to a friend's recommendation!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Nightswimmer" All Aglow, April 11, 2000

By 

Ryan Flynn - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nightswimmer (Paperback)

While I had read mostly decent reviews of "Nightswimmer", I went into this book with a bit of skepticism. So often, gay-themed novels barely qualify as true literature. Thankfully, Joseph Olshan is a first-class author who takes this multi-dimentional story and enhances it with a very unique perspective--written almost as an extended, detailed love letter. It is refreshing to find a book about mature men who question and struggle with love, passion, relationships, commitment, and the role personal history plays in each one's future. A definite read for anyone looking for a quality story about love and loss that just happens to feature gay men.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite gay fiction book ever., August 25, 2001

By 

Michael T. Rognlien (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Nightswimmer (Paperback)

Nightswimmer was actually the very first item I'd ever written a review for here at Amazon. I don't know what ever happened to it, but the book remains my favorite of all the gay fiction books I've ever read. Most gay fiction centers around name brands, a-list stars and a-list cities, lots of gossip and overblown scandals/dramas. While those books are fun to toss in the beach bag on a nice summer day, Olshan created a story that hits much closer to home in the lives of many gay men. He writes about relationships in a palpable way - love, love lost, and love found again. It's really neither gay nor straight, but an exploration of how gay men in particular tend to cling to relationships of the past, leaving pieces of themselves behind until they have the chance to reclaim them in finding new love. He does not glamourize his characters nor does he attempt to apologize for their flaws or shortcomings. They are who they are, and they are well-crafted and quite realistic. The haunting melancholy of the past and the trepidation the main character, Will, has about his future is beautifully written and the story remains a favorite of all the friends I've loaned this fine book to - get it for yourself, you won't be disappointed.