Customer Reviews

Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Neil Bartlett, already well-known for his play "A Vision of Love Revealed in Sleep," wrote a gorgeous novel here, about a gay bar, its clients, its owner, and the lovers who meet there.

The novel is framed by the narration of an unnamed bar client, as he tells the story of O (which stands for "Older Man") and Boy, two men who first meet in a gay bar, chock full of interesting personalities, from the elegant bar owner, Madame, to the passive/aggressive dress maker, Miss Public House. The bar, which seems to be set in a city not unlike London (although it is never explicitly named), is a neighborhood fixture, and the first gay bar Boy ever sets foot in.

As the story continues through Boy and O's courtship and marriage, Bartlett builds incredible tension by throwing in dream sequences, and subplots involving a series of hate attacks on local gays and the strange relationship between Boy and his 'father.' The book also contains literary allusion after literary allusion, from "The Picture of Dorian Gray" to "Lady into Fox," and evokes strong female images through the use of the mysterious character of Madame, and the influence on the plot of the Billie Holiday song "All of Me."

This book is meant to be pulled back layer by layer, until all the diverse strands are threaded together. Boy's coming of age through his relationships and interactions with bar patrons is elegantly wrought. Particularly effective scenes include a long car-ride/sexual encounter with one unnamed bar patron, and a dream-like sequence involving O on the subway.

"Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall" really reaches its full peak, though, in a scene during which one of the bar patrons is wounded by an attacker, and stumbles into the bar in shock. Madame gets up on stage and delivers a speech which sums up much of gay life and love. It is just an incredible scene, and the narrator's commentary on the action is both enlightening and heart-breaking.

Although "Ready..." can sometimes become almost too theatrical and lush for its own good, it's an extraordinary read, maybe the best book featuring gay characters published in the 1990s. It easily outstrips Bartlett's earlier "Who's That Man?" and later "The House on Brooke Street" as his best piece.

So many unworthy books have been made into movies. Does anyone own the rights to this one?

This book transcends my expectation. Its is lyrical, unique and possesses a raw honesty which imprisons me from the very beginning. The main characters, "BOY", "O", "Mother" and even "Father" are absolutely fascinating. The love between "BOY" and "O" is conveyed lucidly without any barrier or qualm. I will always remember "Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall" because it is so stunningly unique. It is disappointing that this book is out of print and could not be enjoyed by all of us who appreciate a real gay romance.

There is not much left to say after Mr. Clark's exhaustive and thoughtful review. I concur whole-heartedly. This is one of the best contemporary novels that I have read. I was amazed at the evolution of the plot and characters. There is a depth here that deserves respect and reading. You do not have to be gay to be touched by this book. It probably would have worked with totally straight characters. Its message and appeal are universal. Look past the drag and the leather and you will find a gripping account of the search for love, a need that we all share. Even more touchingly, you will see how and where that search proceeds and ends.

Neil Bartlett's derivative novel from the late 1990s involves a beautiful boy (hilariously here called "Boy") who finds true ecstasy in the burly arms of "O" (for "Older Man") whom he meets in the Gay Bar to End All Gay Bars, all under the approving eye of "Madame" who runs the place. As with Genet, whom Bartlett slavishly imitates, the characters are supposed to be archetypes (hence the silly names) and everything is supposed to be translated to a cosmic scale, as if these were personages out of the zodiac; unlike with Genet's work, however, everything here seems more than a little banal and predictable. It's hard to work up much interest in any of these characters since they do nothing much out of the ordinary.

Our nameless narrator tells of the arrival at The Bar, a discreet establishment with an exclusively gay clientele, of a young nineteen year old incredibly handsome fair skinned lad who they called The Boy, and his subsequent courtship and marriage with the equally handsome older man, know simply as O. The whole affair lovingly watched over, and almost managed by, Madame or Mother, the flamboyant proprietress of The Bar.

Beautifully written, steeped in atmosphere and rich in detail, but often deviating considerably from the main subject, Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall is a tender and moving love story. It also paints a vivid picture of the unspecified (but hinted at) time in which it is set, a time when in London gays were oppressed and regularly the victims of street attacks.

The older/younger gay relationship is illustrated as two gays meet in a bar somewhere in Britain. 'O'being the older and boy, the younger. A tender and beautiful relationship evolves and most of it takes place in this neighbourhood bar where the the matron is called Mom. There are stage performances if you wish.
An underlying sub-plot is the murdering of gay men.
This is a tender, poignant story of two people who cannot believe that they have found each other and in a final scene they want to express their own love for each other on stage.
Surprising ending. Great reading.

This novel is just another one of those 90s works written by people more or less "gay subculture oriented" (as Bruce Bawer would call it) which are not really worth the paper they got printed on. The silly plot consists of the usual mix of weird things (gay bars and their strange patrons, silly ideas about homosexuality and lots of sex and psychological problems) that can be very dangerous for a young man/teen who happens to be gay and possibly reads a book like this to get some answers. I've wasted my time when I was about 17 reading this book, don't repeat my mistake!