In Search of Pretty Young Black Men: A Novel [Hardcover]

Stanley Bennett Clay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 2005

Disillusioned by a cold and loveless marriage, Maggie Lester Allegro finds sexual healing in the arms of Dorian Moore, a mysterious young man who provides comfort to the lonely and neglected residents of her upper-class southern California neighborhood and whom Maggie finds strikingly familiar. 35,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Zane

"In Search of Pretty Young Black Men" is an engaging novel that will have readers caught up from page one. Stanley Bennett Clay has a poetic way with words and the erotic scenes are as steamy as they come!

About the Author

Stanley Bennett Clay has received three NAACP Theatre Awards for

writing, directing, and coproducing the critically acclaimed play

Ritual, as well as a Pan African Film Festival Jury Award for the film

adaptation. The author of Diva and In Search of Pretty Young Black

Men, he lives in Los Angeles. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Atria; 1st Atria Books Hardcover Ed edition (January 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743497155
• ISBN-13: 978-0743497152
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,380,818 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stanley Bennett Clay received 3 NAACP Theatre Awards and 3 Drama-logue Awards for writing, producing and directing the stage play "Ritual." The film version, starring Clarence Williams III and Denise Nicholas, marks Clay's film writing/directorial debut and was voted The Jury Award at the 2000 Pan African Film Festival.

Clay produced on stage the GLAAD, L.A. Weekly, L.A. Times and NAACP Award-winning musical "Children of the Night" and the world premiere of James Graham Bronson's "Willie & Esther." That production received 2 L.A. Weekly Awards as Best Play and Best Ensemble Performance.

Clay wrote, directed, and composed "Street Nativity" (commissioned by the National Council of Negro Women for the Black Family Reunion Festival), wrote/directed the play "Lovers," (Theatre of Arts) directed west coast premieres of "Jonin'" at The Harmon Theatre (Drama-logue Award/Direction) and "The First Breeze of Summer" (Theatre of Arts).

He is the author of three novels, "Diva" (Holloway House), "In Search Of Pretty Young Men" and "Looker," (Simon & Schuster/Atria Books). "Search" won the 2004 N.Y. Hotep Society Book Award for Best Gay Novel. His fourth book "Visible Lives: A Tribute to E. Lynn Harris" co-written with James Earl Hardy and Terrance Dean was released by Kensington Books in 2010.

Former Editor-In-Chief of Black Beat magazine and American Correspondent for London's Blues and Soul magazine, Clay published and edited SBC magazine for 10 years (1991-2001), at the time the most widely distributed periodical for the black LGBT community.

A Los Angeles-based actor, he starred, guest-starred, and/or has been featured in over 200 TV episodes, films and commercials, including "Good Times," "Cannonball," "Minstrel Man," "Man Friday" and "Cheers."

He received the NAACP Best Actor Image Award for his stage performance in the Inner City Cultural Center's production of "Anna Lucasta" and was nominated for the same award (and won another Drama-logue Award) for his performance in the Lafayette Players West's production of "Zooman and the Sign." Other stage performances include "Or" by Felton Perry (One Flight Up), "Sonata" by Bill Duke (Theatre of Arts), Albert Camus' "Caligula" (Zodiac Theatre) and "Six Pieces of Musical Broadway" (Dorothy Chandler Pavilion).

He most recently starred in his new play "Armstrong's Kid" as a gay schoolteacher falsely accused of child molestation by his best friend's 14-year-old son. "Armstrong's Kid" ran nearly 9 months at Theatre Unlimited in North Hollywood and the Lucy Florence Village Theatre in South Los Angeles.

Clay is the first recipient of the African American Gay and Lesbian Cultural Alliance Outstanding Achievement Award (1990) and received Genre magazine's 1993 Role Model to the Gay Community's Lifeguard Award. He is the recipient of the International Black Writers of America's highest honor, The Edna Crutchfield Founder's Literary Achievement Award "In recognition of outstanding work as writer, publisher, producer and director of the written word." On August 18, 2007, he was awarded The Lifetime Achievement Award at the 5th Annual Black Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival in Oakland CA.

Born in Chicago, IL the second oldest of eight children has lived in Los Angeles since 1963. He has been in a committed relationship with his partner Reny for 7 years.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grabs you by the nuts ... and slowly squeezes., February 24, 2006

By 

Taylor Siluwé "Literary Provocateur ..." (Jersey City, NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In Search of Pretty Young Black Men: A Novel (Hardcover)

"A lust-laced hallelujah."

That's how G. B. Mann described the steamy novel, In Search of Pretty Young Black Men by award-winning filmmaker and playwright Stanley Bennett Clay. The quote, by the author of Low-Hanging Fruit, is on the back cover of the dust-jacket. I made a skeptical little sound at the magnificent, though extremely `authorly' quip-one carefully crafted to be repeated, and therefore, somewhat self-serving.

Why am I repeating it? Because after reading the book, I realize that Mr. Mann's four little words can't be bested. He hit the nail with this one ... dead center.

I took the provocatively titled tome on my birthday cruise and between peaceful moments staring at the sea, I was enraptured by this tale of Dorian Moore, "... a mysterious and seductive young man who provides comfort to the moneyed, the neglected, the lost, and the lonely in an elegant hilltop community in Southern California."

It was the title that drew me in, and I ordered it from Amazon without knowing a thing about Stanley Bennett Clay. Maybe because I've resigned myself to the fact that, in a way, my life has been a search for pretty young black men ever since I WAS one ... and also that, until the day I die, they'll have the heart-stopping ability to bring a smile to my face, a tingle to my nether-region, and make me play the biggest fool. Yeah. The good ones can.

As J and I sun-bathed and enjoyed the pleasant rocking of the ship (he was reading the hip debut by Blaire R. Poole ... Breathe), I peeked over my shades at the most pleasant sight. A real, live, pretty young black man (who'd only been old enough to drink for ten minutes, tops) sauntered by looking edible, dangerous and darkly Brazilian in his Speedo. My elbow nudged J and we both watched him set up a deck chair opposite us ... and then put on a seductive show involving languid application of oil, and a few choice stretches.

`Oh ... my ... God.' J muttered, expressing his appreciation for my heads-up.

I thought of Stanley Bennett Clay's character, Dorian Moore-who drove some residents of the exclusively rich black enclave of Baldwin Hills to lascivious and tragic distraction-and I had to admit that lust for such heavenly creatures ... can do exactly that.

Stanley Bennett Clay grabs you by the nuts, and slowly squeezes. In Search of Pretty Young Black Men made me question the objectification of the pretty young `anythings' of the world, and ponder society's ideas (and my own) about lust and morality. And reading it was kinda like being ravaged by a pretty young black man. Well ... almost. ~ Taylor Siluwé, author of Dancing With The Devil

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad but not great either, February 22, 2005

By 

Maurice Williams "mauricewms" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Search of Pretty Young Black Men: A Novel (Hardcover)

"In Search of Pretty Young Black Men" depicts black bourgeois life in the factitious Los Angeles suburb of Baldwin Hills. As the story unfolds we learn of Maggie's marriage to Dr. Lamont Lester-Allegro. Lamont is the son of the most powerful man in Baldwin Hills. After a near fatal accident, Maggie is nursed back to health by Dr. Lester-Allegro. During Maggie's recovery, doctor and patient develop a mutual attraction; "The small scars had healed surreptitiously and the only telltale sign of her hospital stay was here obvious schoolgirl's crush on her handsome and ever attentive physician. And as if designed by romantic oracles with sweet-ending stories, young Doctor Lamont Lester-Allegro found himself equally enchanted by his patient." Soon after Maggie's recovery, the two are married and learn shortly thereafter that Maggie is pregnant with her former boyfriend's child. The timing of the pregnancy is one aspect of the novel that seems somewhat contrived given that Maggie would have to have been pregnant while in the hospital and you'd think during her recovery someone at the hospital would have discovered the gestation. Pressured by her husband's anger with the pregnancy and the smear that it would cause to the Lester-Allegro family reputation, Maggie decides to secretly put her child up for adoption. Maggie and Lamont attempt to start their marriage anew unaware of the future ramifications of the adoption. They are able to ignite a small flame under their marriage but over time the union deteriorates, leaving both Maggie and Lester open to explore sexual gratification elsewhere.

Center stage in the novel is Dorian Moore, the object of everyone's desires. Dorian is an escort who services the wealthy women and men of Baldwin Hills. Elaine, Maggie's best friend and Dorian's pimp, arrange a hookup between the two. Throughout the novel, Maggie reminisces about her sole encounter with Dorian. The early scenes - within the first 30 pages - depicting their encounter represent some of the most subtle and imagistic writing in the novel. Unfortunately, the author's writing style looses some of its grace as the novel moves on. At times the story nearly collapses under the weight of lazy writing and mistrust of the reader's abilities and sensibilities. Multiple usages of certain adjectives - "beautiful", "stern-handsome", "black-as-midnight" - and repetitive descriptors - "mumbling, mumbling, mumbling", "back and forth, back and forth, forth and back", and "beautiful, beautiful" - adds an element of corniness to the story. Abrupt shifts in setting were quite disruptive to the flow of the novel. Awkward sentences preceded and followed creatively written ones. Overtly decadent and vulgar scenes are followed by wonderfully subtle sexy ones. Despite what I believe to be poor editing (the novel could have been a few pages shorter), the author is able to hold the story together.

Overall, "In Search of Pretty Black Men", survives despite the bumps and stumblings of the narrative. It's a brief story with enough twists and sex to keep you interested and the author manages to weave tidbits of significant historical events into the narrative as well. It's worth the read but take heed to the author's (through one of his characters) warning: "Hey lookahere Brothaman I have to write what I'm feeling and if what I'm writing is too much for them to digest well then maybe they need to find something more suitable to they digestive system like chicken see `cause I write chittlin' and a lot of people don't like chittlin' and that's okay `cause for the people that like chittlin' they read my [****] stand up and slap they mamma but for the otha ones [**** ] `em and feed `em chicken."

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark eroticism in the Baldwin tradition, December 27, 2006

By 

souldrummer (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: In Search of Pretty Young Black Men: A Novel (Paperback)

This book is James Baldwin transported to bourgeois, black LA society. It's a courageous book to write in our times and it deals with many themes that contemporary black fiction tends to avoid. You don't find too many novels whose centerpiece is an angelic male prostitute whose dazzling attractiveness overwhelms male and female characters alike in this powerful novel. Clay's novel shares James Baldwin's willingness to explore the psychological challenges of blackness in their erotic context. The unrealistic expectations and the naive perfectionism of black elite expectations guilt the main characters of this novel into destructive decisions as they wrestle with their own identity and past failures that they seek deny and suppress.

If you're thinking about buying this novel, do check out about ten to twenty pages of the prose first. I can see how many readers have a love hate relationship with this book. Some readers will be alienated by a narrative style that interweaves past and present events and the poetic prose. Others will applaud this author for taking some risks with a style that deviates from standard black contemporary fiction.

I was moved by the story and I'll recommend it, although I advise readers to consider this more a dark erotic exploration of gender and identity than the steamy novel being advertised in the book reviews on the cover.

3.5 stars

--SD