Customer Reviews

Now Batting For Boston: More Stories By J. G. Hayes

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4 star:		(1)
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We knew it was coming when THIS THING CALLED COURAGE was published: JG Hayes had opened a door into his prodigious gifts as a storyteller, a voice while uniquely indigenous to South Boston that could universally address the terrifying and ultimately gratifying journeys of discovering our sexual identity. NOW BATTING FOR BOSTON: More Stories by JG Hayes broadens that expected base of support that comfortably confirms the fact that Hayes has the gift.

What makes these seven short stories unique is their platform. South Boston remains a blue-collar area of that great city of American equality for all - Boston, the beacon for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet South Boston is an historical and current enclave of Irish American immigrants with strong ties to the Catholic Church and braggadocio male/female dichotomy. This is Hayes' neighborhood and root source: the fact that his stories deal with those boys and men who are gay in an unfriendly climate makes them tender, vulnerable, courageous and immensely touching. Hayes chooses not to opt for the easy routes, the obvious tear, or the safety of the closet: his characters struggle through the darkly strange labyrinth that gradually leads to light and to finding the true self.

And he knows how to seduce the reader into stories with few signs of where they are to lead. The title story opening the book deals with a WW II broken father whose sharing his war experiences with his son falter at the brink of truth, and at the end the son lies on the grave of his father uttering the same phrases of confession about his sexuality that earlier protected his father's truths about the war. The effect is stunning. 'There is a Balm in Gilead' visits the reunion of ex-lovers, and bares all the scars and regrets and anxieties that can alter the possibility of new beginnings. `The Golden Apples of the Sun' successfully explores the atrocities of war and its sequelae on Veterans in a manner that dwarfs many tales from true Veteran writers!

'You're always happy when you're rich' finds a young painter trying on the false front of wealth only to discover that career dreams are less important than personal physical realities. In 'Lughead' a blue-collar Irish man longs to be other than his nickname denotes and how he struggles, searches for and finds the one who accepts him as he is sans moniker. 'The West Broadway Academy of Martial Arts' recounts a journey into the homophobic Southern states made by two friends verbally sidestepping their gay proclivities as they bond on their journey. And 'Terry-Love: One Good Thing' follows the nightly Sheherazade-like tales of encountering physical love (apologized as heterosexual) told by a lad in a rehab facility, a tender and frank means of survival among young Southie DUI offenders whose childhood roots bind them.

The stories are varied and ring true and Hayes' writing is picturesque and picaresque and poetically eloquent. Though his style is verismo and redolent of the earthy South Boston accent, when he addresses nature he waxes "..and I was watching the moonlight on the floor, like...spilled silver. Shifting, rolling. Like milk. Then there'd be like a cloud smudge, and the light would fade, it would be pitch-dark in a heartbeat. Then all bright again."

For this reader JG Hayes has found a niche where he excels, fulfills the promises of his first book, and steps fully into the arena of important American authors. And what a joy that this man can write so richly about the souls of gay people. Highly recommended for all readers: required reading for those who thirst for fine gay literature. Grady Harp, July 05

in 2002 J. G. Hayes published THIS THING CALLED COURAGE: SOUTH BOSTON STORIES, one of the very best collections of short stories in a long time. Now he follows that debut with NOW BATTING FOR BOSTON: MORE STORIES BY J. G. HAYES. There are eight stories here-- although one of them barely qualifies ("Once on Christmas Eve") as it is only three pages long. The other seven stories allow the reader to fully engage himself with a group of memorable characters. Michael Nava may know his California, the late John Preston had his finger on the pulse of working-class Maine, but Mr. Hayes clearly understands South Boston. His characters usually have many things in common. Being Southies, they are of course white, Irish Catholic, blue-eyed, rabid Red Sox fans, either high school dropouts or only high school graduates, blue-collar workers-- pipefitters, drywallers, painters' helpers, housecleaners. They detest the gentrifiers moving into their neighborhoods who would make a verb out of "winter." Some of them have criminal records, drinking problems and parents who are deceased. While they may have girl friends, they also have strong, forbidden feelings toward other men although the word "gay" never enters their vocabulary. That is not to say they are of one cloth. To paraphrase Tolstoy, each one of them is unique in his sorrow.

In his "Preface" Mr. Hayes mentions one reviewer of his first book who found the collection "often bleak." He points out that in a five-year period, "over 350 young men had died in South Boston due to a variety of causes--alcohol and drug overdose, violence and suicide" and that he was attempting to "highlight the ill effects of the violence caused by homophobia, whether it comes from family, peers, church, school, media, advertising, or consumerist/corporate culture." Mr. Hayes goes on to say that some of these new stories are "less bleak." Indeed some of them are. These men sometimes improve their lives, find love and a modicum of happiness. Just as in the first collection, however, these characters, to a person, tug at the reader's heart-strings and are more sinned against than sinning.

The title story "Now Batting for Boston" is about a young man's love affair with both his father and with baseball and of course his quest for a lover. His father returned from the military to civilian life a broken man physically. He vowed, however, to marry a woman he would treat as his queen. Since the narrator's name is Joe Hayes, we have to assume that much of this poignant story is autobiographical. One could to a lot worse than have such parents as these. In "There is a Balm in Gilead" taken from the hymn title, two lovers meet after an eight-year separation and in a surpise ending worthy of O'Henry find out that relationships may be possible, at least the hope of one, even in South Boston. Although Danny in "You're Always Happy When You're Rich" will probably never be the architect he dreams of becoming since he cannot get into college, he is loved by his friend Billy, in his own way of course. There is a touching scene where Billy and Danny go on a picnic after Billy has made sandwiches for the two of them, marking Danny's with a red "D." Then they split a "Mountian Dew." They promise to share secrets with each other and maybe even volunteer to work on a Habitat for Humanity house. Not all the characters fare so well. At least two of them in as many stories attempt suicide by slashing their wrists. Another is in detention for a DUI; another steals a car in order to leave South Boston and drive his friend to Florida.

These stories are every bit as good as the first collection and are not to be missed.

I picked up this book and remembered that I had taken a look at an earlier collection by this author, only to put it down because of its ludicrous beefcake cover. This cover is more subdued--I wonder if the book will sell fewer copies being less garish? If so that is sad indeed. Anyhow I have heard some of my friends say good things about JG Hayes, so I took a chance and I'm glad I did. In the introduction to his book says that the first book elicited admiring comments from Jamie O'Neill, author of the wonderful AT SWIM TWO BOYS. Hayes isn't as ambitious, perhaps, as O'Neill, and a book of stories delivers less of an impact than a novel (generally speaking, and specifically thinking of the different betwen NOW BATTING FOR BOSTON and AT SWIM TWO BOYS), but they're working the same ballpark, and at least one of the stories in this book reaches quite delirious heights of feeling and execution. I got sucked into it, and I don't think I'll ever be the same, that is the story called LUGHEAD.

Some of the other pieces I thought were slight, or derived from cliches of "gay writing." LUGHEAD, like something by James Purdy, seems like it's written from a place where writing will be in fifty years from now. It's a recognizable Boston cityscape, but there are prophetic touches, like the angels walking among us in Wenders' film WINGS OF DESIRE. By the end I was just flabbergasted. People have been looking for years for the hoped-for "gay Bruce Springsteen," and this is him, but something more, something extra. For this one tale alone I give the book five stars. I wonder what he is like, J G Hayes, and if I would like him as a man.

But again his publishers are letting him down. Has Southern Tier ever put out a good looking book? Do they all have to be so cheap and tasteless? This one has no naked men on the cover, but what is with that subtitle, "NOW BATTING FOR BOSTON: MORE STORIES BY J G HAYES." Even Chekhov wouldn't have a book that said, "MORE STORIES BY CHEKHOV." It makes Hayes sounds like the vainest man on Planet Earth, and I'm sure he's no such thing.

But that's just a peccadillo. He could have published "Lughead" in smoke signals and it would still stand head and shoulders above most modern American stories.

I read this book in 2005 and remember at the time being very impressed with it. From the simple and touching sweetness of ONCE ON CHRISTMAS EVE and the eerie, transcendent beauty of THE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN to truly being taken on a mind trip inside the psyche of the title character in LUGHEAD (a wrenchingly deliberate and painstaking journey at times but - jeez! - what a sublime payoff!), I found myself quite moved at times. I was amazed at the way Hayes made me not just read about the emotions his characters were feeling; instead his words, his dialogues enabled me (my gut, my heart) to actually feel their pangs, their love, their hurt, their guilt and their exhilaration.

A few weeks ago I finished reading his new novel, A MAP OF THE HARBOR ISLANDS, and was so thoroughly exalted (no other word will do) by the experience that I felt I had to go back and read his two short story collections again. Honestly, I don't think I've been quite so deeply and tenderly embraced by the work of a gay author since I read the first of Ethan Mordden's "Buddy" titles nearly twenty years ago. Hayes' work may be set in South Boston but, really, it is beyond limitations of place, beyond limitations of time, beyond limitations of genre.

At some point I want to articulate my feelings about his new novel but while those feelings are manifestly real, I'm just not quite able to verbalize them yet. I think I'll have to allow myself the joy of re-reading it first. Rest with assurance, his two story collections are everything that the overwhelmingly 5-star reviews here have called them. And more.

J.G. Hayes is a fresh voice in modern American storytelling. Choosing the form of literary memoir in this book--he announced at a public reading that he has two novels on the way--captures more than the truth. He captures sentiment without saccarine sentimentality, morbidity, or nihilism. There is pervasive hopefulness in these stories. He captures the commonalities at the center of human consciousness: hopes, dreams, fantansies, fears, and failings in each soul's notable combination of set ways, potential, and fate. His narratives are captivating. His writing has an elegant, rhythmic musicality, not just rock-n-roll, but the heartbeat of a awake and aware observor of astonishing everyday people searching for grace, forgiveness, and belonging.

I am more a blogger than a reviwer. (And I am sorry there isn't spellcheck on Amazon.) But I hope this helps you decide to get this collection of stories and to treasure the author.

I love how Joe Hayes writes. He doesn't try to impress. His artistry is subtle. It is as if he has one eye on his characters and story and the other eye on you.

Once in awhile on the bus, I have become a bit self-concious reading a story that is leading up to more eroticism or emotion than I think I can handle in public, and just when I think I may have to put the book away for another time, Joe takes the the story to exquisite romance as in the ending of Lughead or the admission of great pain that can be survived and shared as in the title story Now Batting for Boston. And he does this with humor, which is a sure sign of hopefulness.

I have recommended this to friends, now to you. By the end of each story, whether it was easy or hard to get into you'll understand what I mean by gentle power.

The first of these stories, "Now Batting for Boston," made me want to do cartwheels; it was so wonderfully written and expressed such wonderful sentimentality of a father-son relationship -- and I am quite a sop for that since I did not have a good relationship with my father! His father was wounded veteran, severly damaged by war. This book, Joe's second, is better than his first ("A thing called Courage") though it was written at the same time. The first books was not as well developed as this one IMHO. Joe's writing is passionate and crystaline with depth and mystery, sometimes needing interpretation. Joe visited with the book group I am in (I live in Boston near where he lives) and his presence was wonderful. He helped us to understand from whence his writings come and he helped to clear us some of the mystery with a story or two. I commend his work to you without hesitation. Check out his web site also, he is quite a nice painter and he is passionately anti war.

There is a portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. It was painted by Charles Osgood when Hawthorne was in his late thirties. This portrait bears a striking resemblance to author J.G. Hayes (I've seen the man maybe once or twice). The resemblance does not stop there. It extends to their work. They both are masters of the short story form. They both deal with themes of Pride, Original Sin, Sexual Repression, and most especially, Guilt. The sort of nameless guilt one feels when who they are comes into direct opposition with who Society thinks they should be. They both also deal with the "Sins of the Father"; in both cases (most notably)the effects of Puritanism, which still linger today in New England...much as they did in Hawthorne's time.
Okay, at the risk of sounding like a college thesis paper, let me just say that I think the above is all true. Do I think J.G. Hayes is the literal reincarnation of Nathaniel Hawthorne? I don't know. I don't know if I believe in reincarnation. But the resemblance is uncanny (you can view that portrait on the PEM website; and Mr. Hayes is pictured on his latest book...). Perhaps it's just serendipity or synchronicity or one of those other "itys". But the two collections Mr. Hayes has thus far produced are some of the best short stories I have ever read.
"Now Batting For Boston" is the follow up to "This Thing Called Courage" and I think one should really consider them a two volume set. Mr. Hayes has mentioned that the stories in "Now Batting For Boston" were written at the same time as those in the first collection. And of course they both have similar subject matters and settings. The setting: South Boston, "Southie"...a lot has been made, both pro and con, of the locale of these tales. I have conflicting thoughts on this myself. On the one hand, the characters, their voices, their predicaments transcend locale. They are about people trying to come to terms with who they are and where they fit into the world. There is a universality to these tales which transcends where they are set. Anyone, gay or straight, male or female, rich or poor (etc., etc.) can relate to these stories. On the other hand, "Southie" is a very important element. It is not only the loom on which Hayes weaves his tapestry of story, but it is also the framework for the entire undertaking. The two collections can be viewed as a sort of free-form novel. A kind of "Our Town" where each story is a chapter in the life of these characters who may not know one another, but are inextricably linked by where they live, where they come from, who their people are. But of course, each "chapter" is an entity unto itself and a story that stands on its own.
In this collection we have "Now Batting for Boston" which is the story of a young man realizing how the distance between he and his father is mirrored in his relationships with other men. "Once On Christmas Eve" is a very short story about lonely stragglers at a bar on Christmas Eve and how two of them try to connect. "There Is A Balm In Gilead" is the story of ex-lovers who haven't seen one another in eight years and must bridge an abyss of misunderstanding. In "You're Always Happy When You're Rich" a young man comes to realize that his dreams of material wealth may not be the thing that will save him from himself. "Lughead", for me, was the high-light of the book. The first person account of an unassuming guy who's much deeper than his dismissive moniker would suggest. We've all known a "Lughead" and this story really makes you challenge your assumptions about people who may not be the sharpest knife in the picnic basket. There is something so real and tender about "Lughead" that I found myself crying for him at one point. And it wasn't at a point in the narrative where you would expect (another of Hayes's great strengths). "The Golden Apples of the Sun" is the tale of a war veteran who is haunted by the memories of his experience with one of his buddies on an island in the middle of nowhere. This was a very mysterious almost ambiguous tale which left me wanting more. Perhaps there will be a part two to this one in the next collection. This was followed by "The West Broadway Academy of Martial Arts" which is about two best friends trying to run away from (literally)their pasts by high tailing it from Boston to Florida. The story follows their trip through the South and though there is a quiet melancholy to it, there are also quite a few belly laughs (for me anyway). "Terry-Love:One Good Thing" is the final story. It's a story about the healing power of story telling and a fitting close to this collection.
Like I said, I hope the stories keep coming and coming. In any event, we'll always have these two volumes to read and re-read and treasure for always. My only qualm here is that a few of the stories end too soon. I wanted more. And I got the feeling there was more, but maybe there was an over zealous editor breathing down Hayes'neck. I think J.G. Hayes has, in these two collections, created a remarkable achievment for not only gay literature, but literature in general. I think he's written an American classic. Hawthorne would be proud!

J.G. Hayes is one of the best, if not the best, young gay American fiction writers. I was totally knocked out by his first book, This Thing Called Courage---each story was sexier and more revelatory than the one preceeding it. Hayes has his hand on the pulse of the young, confused, uneducated American teenager. It is at that age that sexual confusion is most harrowing. Hayes knows this and writes about it from the heart.

Every story in this collection is as good as those in This Thing Called Courage. You're Always Happy When You're Rich is the stunner here for me. I turned each page of this story with breathless eagerness.

I'm in awe of the talent of this writer. You will be too. Buy this book now!

"Now Batting for Boston: More Stories by J.G. Hayes" is a tremendous follow-up to the author's first anthology "This Thing Called Courage". Powerful and emotionally challenging, these short stories may all take place in South Boston, but they go beyond any limitations of place to touch on the human condition in a universal way. Both volumes are future classics to be read and read again.

If you are a fan of Jamie O'Neill's "At Swim Two Boys", then the work of J.G. Hayes is waiting for you.