Part love story, part indictment, the debut novel Outline of My Lover traces our society's damaging obsession with celebrity.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
...a thoughtful book that contemplates passion, celebrity, authority, and identity and sucessfully emerges as both an original and enjoyable work. -- Rain Taxi review of books, Summer 2000
...able to capture the paranoia and insecurity of childhood and growing up gay and project it believably into an adult character. -- OC Weekly, July 21, 2000
...an uncompromising edge....enacts the intense conflict between the power of language and the urge to form and control. -- Times Literary Supplement, December 1, 2000
...beautiful gems of cerebral longing, and Martin's disregard for commas makes the language flow in a charged stumble. -- The Stranger, August 31, 2000
...billed as a novel but speaks with the captivating sincerity of fact. -- Star Tribune, July 9, 2000
...explores the ways people will behave to get the things and people they want, why they discard it once they have it....A fine debut. -- Instinct magazine, June 2000
...poetic in places.... -- Publishers Weekly, April 10, 2000
A serious poet and writer, Martin definitely takes the road less traveled and doesn't churn out a sensationalistic celebrity tell-all. -- SF Gate, August 2, 2000
Martin is adept at mixing genres, and Outline of My Lover sets the tension between fiction and poetry while not getting caught in a debate about form. -- New York Blade, August 11, 2000
...able to capture the paranoia and insecurity of childhood and growing up gay and project it believably into an adult character. -- OC Weekly, July 21, 2000
...an uncompromising edge....enacts the intense conflict between the power of language and the urge to form and control. -- Times Literary Supplement, December 1, 2000
...beautiful gems of cerebral longing, and Martin's disregard for commas makes the language flow in a charged stumble. -- The Stranger, August 31, 2000
...billed as a novel but speaks with the captivating sincerity of fact. -- Star Tribune, July 9, 2000
...explores the ways people will behave to get the things and people they want, why they discard it once they have it....A fine debut. -- Instinct magazine, June 2000
...poetic in places.... -- Publishers Weekly, April 10, 2000
A serious poet and writer, Martin definitely takes the road less traveled and doesn't churn out a sensationalistic celebrity tell-all. -- SF Gate, August 2, 2000
Martin is adept at mixing genres, and Outline of My Lover sets the tension between fiction and poetry while not getting caught in a debate about form. -- New York Blade, August 11, 2000
From the Publisher
"There is a reverence in Douglas Martin's writing composed of equal parts language and love. Outline of My Lover strips away the dross, leaving you with the pure mood of youth." -Dale Peck
"Douglas Martin takes you through the heat of family, the electricity of want, and the watch-what-you-wish-for gift of an elusive, famous, lover. This novel feeds you." -Michelle Tea
"Spare and elegant, Martin's book is a worthy companion piece to Duras' The Lover. It is his elegy on passion and loss." -Darcey Steinke
"Douglas Martin has a very beautiful voice. It is a thing of grace." -Dennis Cooper
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Surprised and Touched,
By
This review is from: Outline of My Lover (Paperback)
I received this book as a gift and was ready to read it out of morbid curiosity then scoff at it, knowing who the famous Lover is that the author refers to. Instead, in a bout of insomnia, I read the book through to the end in the early hours of the morning. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a tale of love, loneliness, yearning, need, and loss, with all the details and small obsessions ringing true. Rather than completely malign his ex-love Martin chose the better part and gave a ruthlessly honest portrayal of a relationship in which both sides are flawed, real people, and both sides also have love and kindness in them. It's a fragile little story that anyone who has ever fantasized about having a passionate affair with a famous person, can identify with. My main concern is that now that he has 'spilled the beans' will his former Lover still mail him new sheets?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outline Of A Loss: A Moving First Novel,
By H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Outline of My Lover (Paperback)
Douglas Martin in this his first novel has created characters and situations that are as real as your best friend's (or your own) real life experiences. Every page in this short work that you should read in one sitting cries out the truth. The narrator grows up in less than a perfect family, to put it mildly, goes off to college-- a state college in Georgia-- and falls in love with an older celebrity singer who is never named. Most of the story is about that relationship. The narrator is pretty sure from day one that he will not grow old with this man. There are too many things standing in their way. The singer must protect his reputation and certainly could never have an open relationship with this man (although he does keep him supplied with expensive bed linens) so the narrator travels with the singer's group of friends and would be the unnamed person in a group photo. Starved for love and affection ("He [the singer] will never need anyone like I have always needed someone"), the narrator's own self-esteem is determined by his lover. "I am some attachment, someone hanging on to him."
Some of the most touching passages are about the unraveling of this couple's relationship. The lover, for example, cuts short a trip in order to be present for their anniversary but brings a gift to the narrator that he picked up at the airport. The social workers among us will find enough about this hopeless relationship to write papers about. The rest of us, however, will marvel that Mr. Martin has written a searing love story that goes right to the heart. I suspect that most readers, if they are honest with themselves, will see at least glimpses of people and events from their own lives. After all, isn't that what good writing should do?
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
sensitive,
By A Customer
This review is from: Outline of My Lover (Paperback)
this is an excellent very sensitive book. i wouldnt rank it as a classic, but i do think that it is exceptionally frank and shows a sensitivity hard to find both in books and in people. i lent this book to a number of my friends. they all thought this is one of the best books they read in a while.
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