Customer Reviews

Trust Fund Boys

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

 

 

Nothing that Byrnes submits in this book requires a big stretch of the imagination. But the way he ties everything together is sheer genius--and I won't give it away. This book is a delight to read, and addictive. The situations in which Jamie and Brett find themselves leave you sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what in the world could possibly come next. What does come next is not always earth-shattering, but usually unexpected. Isn't that what makes a fun read?

Set aside a rainy afternoon and read this book. It will bring sunshine. Sure, it's light, gay fiction. But if you enjoy reading that--as I do--you can't do better. I just hope that the author will soon let us know what happens next to these characters who found a place in my heart. When is the next Rob Byrnes book coming???

This was not my favorite of Rob Byrnes. I felt there was no character to just grab you. I bought this book after reading THE NIGHT WE MET which is a much better work of fiction.

I recommend this for only a light read. I could have taken it or left it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel from start to finish. The things the protagonist goes through to get a life only to find it isn't the life he wanted at all make for a fun read. It is a quick read because once you start, you can't stop until you see what happens. The author keeps the story moving and even though you know there will be a happy ending, it is fun just getting to it. Others have given a synopsis of the story, so all I will say is to pick up the book and enjoy!

For those of you expecting a screwball, over-the-top repeat of Rob Byrnes' delicious, THE NIGHT WE MET be forewarned. TRUST FUND BOYS maintains Byrnes' wonderfully irreverent and slightly cynical narrative voice, so captivating in the first novel, but the story, this time around, is more "expose" than "madcap adventure." It has its slap-stick moments, but the setting and tone are a great deal more personal, and not always pretty to look at. The end result, however, remains enormously satisfying.

Brett Revere, our hero and narrator, is a barely thirty, out-of-work actor, eking out a living as an office temp, and dreaming of that big break that will make him a star of the Broadway stage, but the dream is beginning to wear thin, as is his bank account. As our story begins Brett is auditioning for a back room, non-equity, gay spoof of the musical ANNIE, called ANDY, starring an obnoxious queen named Joey Takashimi. After a single rehearsal Brett walks out on the embarrassingly bad production certain of its quick demise. He accompanies a fellow actor from the show for a drink, and ends up at the Penthouse, a bar frequented by the upwardly mobile, i.e.: gay and filthy rich, and those who want to be carbon copies of them. On his first night at the club, Brett meets Jaime Brock, an attractive, if somewhat weather-worn, charmer and ends up loosing his heart faster than Cher can change costumes.

It doesn't take long for our two fellows to discover that they are both wanna-be's not be's, and a plan is hatched to charm their way into this elite circle for the purpose of career enhancement. Unfortunately for Brett, the denizens of this exclusive enclave are not the only ones Jamie is conning, and Brett's puppy-dog crush is making him an easy mark. Will Brett wake up to the insanity of the situation, or will he follow Jaime in this soul snatching buffoonery? Will he ever stop playing Oliver to Jaime's Artful Dodger? Byrnes allows the character of Brett to be uncompromisingly human, with all his greed and selfishness exposed. Brett is a nice guy, deep down, but can he remain one and still gain entrance to the snooty society he sees as his salvation. We don't always like Brett, but we understand him.

TRUST FUND BOYS takes-no-prisoners in its disdain for the petty social snobbery of the Hampton's elite, and the bottom feeders that surround them, but the book's near-total lack of sympathy for this world in no way diminishes the reader's fascination by it, kind of like watching the Menendez trial, you now-did those divine brothers really do that?

While the majority of the people we meet along this exclusive trip are arrogant bores, the author never lets us forget that real, non-discriminating, worth-knowing people are part of every element of society, if you just look for them. Byrnes has lessons to teach us this time around, and he wears those lessons on his narrative sleeve. I, for one, don't mind calling a spade a spade, and appreciate Byrnes' frank candor. I highly recommend this book.

Perhaps I have difficulty relating to the struggling actor/model/waiter/writer that typifies the main character of this book. Despite the comic backdrop against which this story was written, I found the main character thoroughly unlikable, and thus I dreaded picking up the book every time I set it down.

I honestly don't know why I continue reading these types of stories, but I realize that by doing so, I'm partly to blame for the fact that they keep getting written and published.

The good parts of this book: the author has a relateable writing style, doesn't try too hard to justify the bad behavior of his characters and he ties all of the different subplots together neatly by the end of the book.

The bad parts: none of the characters, save for Angel, the waiter, have any redeeming qualities which would inspire the reader to root for them. Sadly, that's less a reflection of the writer's lack of creativity than it is of the modern/urban single gay man. The main character is lazy, allergic to the truth, a user, a doormat and a totally passive-aggressive codependent. The supporting characters share most of the same qualities in addition to snotty elitists, haters of the 'unfabulous' in absolutely everything, and, in many cases, blatant racists.

In a world where a picture like "CRASH" can win the Best Picture Oscar for its completely stereotypical portrayals of racism in the new millenium, I suppose it's not surprising that a book like this would be written/published/enjoyed. While the main and a few of the supporting characters eventually wake up from the completely worthless comas that are their lives, it feels overindulgent to celebrate them for doing so, because in the end, the only thing they accomplished was achieving a basic sense of humanity that should be the standard expectation of all, not the glorified exception.

Rob Byrnes is a great writer. His work is always fun, romantic and there is just enough realism infused to give the story weight. I loved this book! This would make for one hell of a movie! I highly recommend it!

I don't know which is more disheartening, that gay authors keep turning out such inconsequential fluff or that people seem to like it. But even fluff should have a sympathetic protagonist and a believable plot, and this book fails on both counts. At 39, failed actor Brett Revere has the maturity and insight of a 19-year-old; he's the void at the center of this black hole. Turning down a role that doesn't meet his lofty standards, he will do anything -- which ultimately means lying, cheating, and stealing -- to get ahead, anything except get a job (he disdains the working class.) He inexplicably falls in love at first sight with a man who engages in the above vices on an even grander scale and treats him like a doormat to boot. If Brett were a naive young new-comer to the big mean city, this might have worked, but at his age (too old to be any kind of "boy") he's already been failing in New York for quite a few years and doesn't have the charm or wit to succeed in his ill-conceived scheme or to merit the attentions of a cute younger guy. His attempt to pass himself off as a "trust fund boy" (the phrase quickly becomes tiresome) is not convincing and the"elite" of New York society, at least as described here, would see through him in a minute, if they cared at all about another social climber.
The book is competently enough written, if laced with stereotypes and political correctness (rich white men, bad, people who date racial minorities, good). If only the editor mentioned in the acknowledgments had taught the author when to use "I" and when to use "me;" that he didn't or couldn't is also disheartening.

I had to read this book for a gay men's reading group I belong to and was very disappointed.

The book is poorly written, shallow, the characters have no redeeming qualities, and it reflects the typical and superficial "low" values of idiodic gay men trapped in self-created stereotypes. This was an annoying experience for me: to see the one thing that disgusts me most about gay men in the US "fictionalized" (a "Queer as Folk" nightmare).

The story and it's characters are truly "American": gay men don't act like this in Germany and this type of book/behavior is exactly why Europeans hate us so much. (I'm an American living abroad). The book is an embarrassment.

I do not recommend purchasing this book.

David, 31