Customer Reviews

Numbers

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

 

 

"Numbers" is a very honest depiction of the sex life of many urban gay men. With unsafe sex on the rise, it's still relevant to our times.

I've recently re-read this book and it's a great story of pathological cruising for gay sex. It's a short, intense look at the gay world pre-AIDS and some of the problems that gay men faced at that time. It's not as good as "City of Night" but it's worth a read especially if you are gay.

... Sheer Genius ... Sacred Text ... A Masterpiece of Modern American Literature ... A Book That Changed My Life ... My Favorite Novel .... My Favorite John Rechy Novel...

All this describes how I feel about *Numbers* -- but nothing I could type in this space would come close to fully expressing my profound love for this phenomenal work and its talented author.

While I am sympathetic to some of the confusion and frustration expressed by reviewers who have found only darkness and despair in its pages, I am more horrified by the lack of attention paid to the themes of liberation that resound throughout this story. For me, *Numbers* will always be beautiful and timeless. A tale of wonder filled with ageless glamour and promise.

In case you're wondering if my perspective comes from sharing in a particular "generational" or "environmental" link with Rechy himself, no, it does not. I was far from being born at the time the novel was written, and I have never (and in fact never could have) experienced or participated in many of its rituals.

However, *Numbers* is about much more than a series of sexual acts. It is the quintessential American journey of identity and one that is gloriously and unabashedly capable of contextualizing the experience of self-discovery with a sense of human vitality and spirit that acknowledges sexuality. This achievement alone puts *Numbers* above not only its contemporary works, but on a level that continues to evade many writers today.

Read *Numbers* not as a description of "days gone by," or a depiction of specific things you cannot do or would find harmful, but as a story filled with hope, possibility, and the power of finding yourself. Should you follow Johnny Rio's example or replicate his experience? Not if you think that means committing sexual suicide. *Numbers* may delve into themes of darkness and death, but it needn't be seen as a necessarily "fatalistic" novel.

Why not be inspired by Johnny Rio's bravery instead of disgusted by his recklessness? Follow him not by mistaking exploration for degradation, but in seeking (as he does) to learn ways in which you are deceiving yourself or playing needless games with others. Anyone can do that if, like Johnny Rio, they can ultimately commit themselves to the act of personal discovery -- in whatever form it may take.

John Rechy's 1963 CITY OF NIGHT was a shocker in its day, an episodic collage of metro-area male prostitution, sex, and self-destruction written in a style that echoed Jack Kerouac's beat literature. Although dated by slang, changing mores, and the AIDS epidemic, it still bears reading today as a portrait of gay street life in the pre-Stonewall era. NUMBERS, Rechy's second novel, is quite another matter.

NUMBERS is essentially CITY OF NIGHT repeated, but without the "shock of the new," with less style, and with considerably less interest. The extremely episodic story concerns Johnny Rio, a Los Angeles street hustler who several years earlier overdosed on the lifestyle and escaped to a solitary life in Arizona; now he's back "for just ten days" and, not unexpectedly, finds himself drawn back into the malestrom.

There's nothing here that Rechy hasn't said elsewhere and often quite a bit better, and NUMBERS feels much less a novel than a series of strung-together sexual fantasies lacking significant point. In this instance, the result is less interesting than annoying; readers interested in Rechy's work should pick up a copy of CITY OF NIGHT, his first and finest work, instead.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Written in 1967, John Rechy's NUMBERS is a significant contribution to gay literature not only because of it's pre-Stonewall publication, but also because the book goes a great distance in helping to chronicle some of the virtually underground gay sexual mores, play, and attitudes of LA in the 1960s...and it does so very entertainingly and with lots & lots of sex.

Johnny Rio, a former superstud star hustler on the Strip, returns to LA on a vacation from his mundane "working" world in Texas. In no time it becomes clear to the reader that "hotter than ever" Johnny is returning to get a little taste of what he has missed leading his 9-5 "straight" existence. Specifically he returns to reclaim the buzz that comes from being desired, especially by other men. Though claiming to be straight and obsessed with defining himself as such, Johnny needs this male affirmation - it is his power, his food, the confirmation of his worth. The book follows Johnny on his hot & smutty adventures accruing the "numbers" in the title which refer to the number of men who've given their power over to him as a result of his desirability. NUMBERS is a raunchy read - so prudes beware...but this book is also a lot more - a fine rumination on sexual need, sexual definition, vulnerability, and how so much in our sexual nature often reveals something deeper.

NUMBERS is not Rechy's best book (personally I still think his greatest contribution to gay literature is City of Night) but it is an extremely worthwhile read...and just to keep you turning the pages - it's HOT, smokin' hot. You've gotta love that sexy/smart combo - at least I did.

a must have for the John Rechy fan. it may take others a little to get in to the book but man once you do get in to it you are hooked.

So I really enjoyed "City of Night" and "Sexual Outlaw", so I was excited to try this book. From the summary, I got the sense that it was about a man growing older and coming to terms with his age and trying to get as much sexual activity in as possible while he was young - something that I have grappled with. However, it just goes on and on in boring detail of all of these boring hook-ups that the author presumably had - it wasn't even good erotica. Pass over this one and try the first two that I mentioned. Those are really quite good and interesting.

Although it was important to me to read this book - because of its historical value (it depicts an era and a frame of mind typical of the 70's gay before acceptance and stonewall, especially self-acceptance), I didn't think it was well writtten or structured.

The whole story is made of rather unconscious and pattern behaviour; it shows emptiness, self loathing; sex is a game of power and a way to avoid dealing with issues of affection and identity.

It is not sexy at all, although there's a lot of sex happening. The writing is dry and essentially not inclined to describe bodies and acts. It could be described as character/psicological based, but then it is as superficial as the main character is shallow.

It intends/pretends to show body and psyché in paradox, but actually what we get to read is exterior. It's all about the vanity of this character who's obviously the author and his nonstop whining that tries to convince himself of the correctness of his actions and his view of the world - and the main focus is gay promiscity and the macho image (that is seen as the opposit of being gay).

Every idea about love, sex, happiness and pleasure is repeated (or should I say reiterated, or even repelled) without any insight.

However simple, the book describes a struggle every gay man still goes through and is therefore contemporary, although set in a distinct 70's frame and getting obsolete by the minute.

This obsessively driven novel of a haunted gay man trying to rack up "numbers" in the casual sexual arenas of Los Angeles is a brilliant follow-up to the author's masterpiece, CITY OF NIGHT -- and so much more. Some describe this beautifully written book as a time-capsule of "a long-lost era" of gay male promiscuity. But it is so much more -- the epic story of a timeless, internal quest of the male ego driven by testosterone to "divide and conquer," following the command of biological nature, yet fired by feelings of insecurity. This is the male ego. Naked. Helpless. Desperate. Violent. Hungry. Longing. What number does one need to reach to feel whole? Brilliant.

Read John Rechy's best: CITY OF NIGHT, NUMBERS, RUSHES, and THE SEXUAL OUTLAW.

While I can see the talent in the author, I can't help seeing this as a prime example of "gay ghetto" writing. The subject matter is anonymous sex-and believe me, there is plenty of it in this book. Maybe older gay men might be able to find something or someone in here to relate to but I couldn't. I grew up with the AIDS epidemic and found this book scary and very depressing. I didn't like any of the characters but it did educate me about the low life type of people out there. I read this but could have spent my time better doing something more cheerful.