Rushes (Rechy, John) (Paperback)

~ John Rechy (Author) "AS OFTEN as he comes to the Rushes, Endore still feels a clash of excitement and dread in anticipation of the sights, sounds, odors he..." (more)
Key Phrases: shirtless youngman, own groin, orgy rooms, Last Call (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Once again, John Rechy takes us to an unexplored part of our world in Rushes, his first book following the controversial bestseller, The Sexual Outlaw.

The story develops during a single evening and is set in a "leather and Western" bar located near the decaying and deserted waterfront of a large American city. This is the sexual battlefield, the world of the trucks, the piers, the warehouses. And Rechy explores it with a compelling, dramatic story told in a style that is elegant, convincing, and unsparing.

Into the bar arrives a range of characters: the regular patrons in their ceaseless search for compatible love, the occasional customer hoping for a quick sexual fix, the female and transvestite hookers who work the dark streets outside, the couple seeking a voyeuristic experience, the young man venturing out for the first time.

During the course of the evening we come to know these people, their loneliness and their fears, their pride and their courage. We share with them their search and their discoveries. Rechy has distilled from these lives a human experience that is moving, painful, and revealing.

The evening culminates with one of the most shattering scenes in recent fiction. The central character, around whom most of the evenings activities have revolved, leaves the bar at closing time and goes to a sadomasochistic orgy room. This descent into the depths of a sexual underworld fulfills the ceremonial structure of this artfully conceived work. The almost religious rites of the evening end in ritual sacrifice.

"Rushes is a tour de force. It is like peering into the gates of hell."--Los Angeles Times

"What he has given us for more than thirty years is a wonderful and terrifying gift.... He has given us life and literature."--Michael Bronski, presenting The Publishing Triangle's William Whitehead Lifetime Achievement Award

"Fresh, beautiful, totally courageous-and totally cool, passionate.... His uncompromising honesty as a gay writer has provoked as much fear as admiration.... John Rechy doesn't fit into categories. He transcends them. His individual vision is unique, perfect, loving and strong."--from Carolyn See's Introductory Remarks presenting PEN-USA West's Lifetime Achievement Award

"The country's most important author on homosexual life in America."--Gerald Fraser, The New York Times

"A major American novelist writing at the peak of his powers."--Richard Hall, The San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

"[He] is one of the heroic figures of contemporary American life...a touchstone of moral integrity and artistic innovation. He is the great champion of desire.... In his endlessly inventive style, he is entirely modern."--Edmund White, introducing Rechy at the Gay and Lesbian Arts Festival in New York

"His tone rings absolutely true, is absolutely his own, and he has the kind of discipline which allows him a rare and beautiful recklessness. He tells the truth, and tells it with such passion that we are forced to share in the life he conveys. This is a most humbling and liberating achievement."--James Baldwin

"John Rechy shows great comic and tragic talent. He is a truly gifted novelist."--Christopher Isherwood

"Eloquent, convincing, basically unsparing."--Herbert Gold

"Rechy's writings are carefully conceived and executed, with as much emphasis on symbolism and structure as on developing characters and delineating settings specific to gay culture."--Jameson Currier, New York Blade News

John Rechy is the recipient of two coveted literary honors: PEN-USA West's Lifetime Achievement Award (which he was the first novelist to receive) and the Publishing Triangle's William Whitehead Lifetime Achievement Award. He is the author of eleven other novels, among them City of Night, Numbers, Rushes, The Sexual Outlaw (all from Grove Press), as well as The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez and Our Lady of Babylon. An NEA recipient, he is also the author of several plays, essays, and short stories. John Rechy lives in Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (January 13, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802134971
• ISBN-13: 978-0802134974
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,190,492 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dark and engrossing look into the leather bar scene, April 3, 2005

By	gac1003 "gac1003" - See all my reviews

"Rushes" tells the stoyr of one night spent at a seddy leather/uniform night club in an unspecified warehouse district along the waterfront. It's a dark place, filled with sexual odors, drugs, hidden faces and lusts, and dark corners wherre anything and everything could be happening. Four friends - Endore, Chas, Bill and Don - spend the evening trying to find the one person to go home with. Endore is a columnist who writes about the gay lifestyle and his belief that there is no such thing as love in the gay world; Chas views the rushes as his hunting grounds, where he is the ultimate prize; Bill wants to see how many men he can connect with but his pickiness sometimes cluds his own judgement of people; and Don is the oldest of the group, feeling his age everytime he invites himself to join his friends at the Rushes.

Each has his own insecurities which come out in full force on this particular evening. Sides are taken when a woman named Lyndy - a fashion designer - is grudginly allowed into their macho, all-male domain. Her appearance and her banter act as a catalyst between Chas and Endore, alternately setting them against on another or forcing them to join the same side. Later, a drag queen and her female companion cause a stir near the entrance to the Rushes which forces Endore to take a closer look at how gay men have been forced to find places where they can be themselves, and any intrusion into that world is angrily looked down upon. This novel also touches on ageism and the fear of the gay community with the character of Don - who feels that no one wants anything to do with him because he's slightly older; he remembers the days before clubowners put up signs such as "Under 35s Only" when everyone went out to have fun and to enjoy each others company. Sure, everyone had to keep their sexual preferences hidden for fear of the police, but nowadays, you had to creep around to avoid the violent, name-calling youths would would very easily bash in your head with fist or pipes.

To get the feel of spending the night with this group in the Rushes, author John Rechy tells the story in present time, allowing the reader to feel and to see what each character does as if he/she were with them. Also, the chapters jump from character to character, almost giving the reader a sense of the darkness, the confusion and the electric atmosphere of the place. A dark and engrossing look into the leather bar scene.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glory! Glory! Ahh Men!, November 21, 2004

By	karahi (USA) - See all my reviews

A novel of grandeur in style, structure, and substance. Theatrical, ritualistic, and elegant!

Filled with insight, rage, power, and beauty, _Rushes_ is a novel that deserves high praise, even among its brilliant predecessors. Rechy's other literary works deserve elevation to a class by themselves, and this novel is no exception. From the careful highlighting of a bar's most subtle nuances, to a sophisticated social critique that remains unmatched and unanswered even today, _Rushes_ exhibits a complexity and depth that allows it to remain both contemporary and classic.

Drenched in metaphor, symbolism, wit, and charm, _Rushes_ is a sensual, exotic delight of a novel. Even as the politics and passion may challenge you, the atmosphere will seduce you. Face your desires, fears, friends, and enemies. Breathe deep and indulge yourself. _Ruhes_ is a novel worthy of your consideration and admiration.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A World Ago, April 16, 2003

By	Ozbriefs "ozbriefs" (Eastmalvern, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews

John Rechy has been around for years and written many novels relating to life on the fringe. In Rushes he creates a dark forbidding and harsh world that repelled and excited this reader at various times. The characters are slightly cliche and generally not very nice. It is still a good read charged with high sexual tension and what now could be regarded as a histoical account of life in the late 1970's.