Where the Rainbow Ends (Hardcover)

by Jameson Currier (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Modern gay history?the mores and etiquette of dating, sex, coupledom and love from the late 1970s to the present?is covered in this compelling, heartfelt first novel from Currier (Dancing on the Moon: Short Stories About AIDS). Robbie Taylor, 19 and gay, arrives in New York City in 1978. Dazzled by his new cultural and sexual opportunities, Robbie, in his explorations of Manhattan and Fire Island, nevertheless longs for a permanent relationship?"two men bonded by a passion and fidelity and trust for one another." Robbie finds much of what he is looking for in Nathan Solloway, and the two men establish a close circle of friends and a home together just as the grim death toll of the AIDS pandemic begins. Robbie is a long-winded narrator, and Currier would have done well to replace some of the novel's exposition with pithy dialogue and pointed anecdotes. In addition, the recurring rainbow motif is forced. Nevertheless, Currier tells a moving tale in which, in the face of devastating losses, Robbie and his "stitched-together" family, now in Los Angeles, are able to emerge from grief strengthened by the stories they carry. Currier has created a powerful monument honoring a generation of gay men lost to AIDS and their wounded, resilient survivors. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Robbie Taylor, 20 in 1978, is a gay refugee from a small southern town and his strict, religious father. His tale of adventure in New York, of finding himself and building a life, proves to be more than a coming-of-age novel, as it spans the crucial decade and a half when AIDS first became known and then proceeded to wreak havoc. Robbie romantically yearns for love but dances 'til dawn, does poppers, and sleeps around during the hedonistic late '70s. Surely readers know that his will be a short-lived idyll. After less than five years and 150 pages, he reads the first accounts of a "gay cancer," and the book turns inexorably into an account of friends sickening and dying and of the struggle that came to define so many lives. "Ya gotta have friends" becomes the novel's theme, and it resonates, thanks to Currier's smoothly flowing, emotionally charged writing, evoking a time now sufficiently far past to elicit a kind of nostalgia. This is strong work on a powerful subject. Whitney Scott

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover; 1st edition (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879518928
• ISBN-13: 978-0879518929
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,877,047 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a heart rendering treatis on the age of AIDS, December 11, 1999

By	Michael Leonard (Silver Lake, Los Angeles, USA) - See all my reviews

I loved this book! epic and breathtaking in scope with an easy relaxed, fluent style; this book takes you on an incredible "gay odyssey" I have never read a novel that so effectively encompasses all aspects of gay life and sensibilities. Sexy, romantic, sad and melancholy; this book takes us on a wonderful journey as we navigate the highs and lows of Robbie, a young gay "everyman". Through his eyes we witness the sexy hedonism of the Manhattan gay scene in the late 70's, the AIDS ravaged Reagan years of the early to mid 80's and the 90's AIDS activism of LA. Effectively incorporating historical fact with fiction, Currier has painted a fascinating portrait of Robbie and his four friends; their loves, losses, achievements and disappointments. Thematically there are many, many important issues relating to gay life and the homosexual identity being addressed here: questions of faith, religion, and spirituality and whether these can apply to a modern gay man. The importance of family; Currier raises the essential question, What constitutes a family? Is family by blood or is true family friendship? Issues regarding contemporary sexual politics are also discussed particularly the politics of AIDS activism and the attitudes that big business and government had towards the disease in the late 80's and early 90's. This is a beautiful, eloquent, sexy and at times a disturbing chronicle of the ravages of AIDS and the impact that the disease has had on a whole generation od gay men. Currier gives us an uncanny insight in to the mind of Robbie never compromising the gritty realism, this novel tells it like it is. I would recommend this novel as essential reading not just for every gay men but for anyone who has ever has been touched by AIDS or who has had to struggle against adversity.

Michael Leonard

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enough, already!, September 22, 1999

By A Customer

Well written, characters nicely fleshed-out. But dark. Very, very dark. Not a shred of humor or levity anywhere. Ne relief from the suffering of all the characters. Another story of lives rent and ravaged by AIDS and other cruel twists of fate. How many of these can we read? For those who have not experienced "the life," this is, however, an excellent keyhole through which to view it. But I imagine there are few "uninitiates" who will read, much less purchse, such a novel. I fear it's more "preaching to the choir." Currier's style is engaging, but the protagonist is so mired in self-pity that it becomes difficult to empathize after a point. Perhaps writing this was cathartic for Currier, and perhaps his next offering will be more satisfying, because he IS a great writer. Check it out from a library because it's unlikely you'll want a second read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A heartfelt and moving story of a gay man coming of age, December 26, 1998

By A Customer

In beautiful and uncluttered prose, this book manages to tell the very moving story of Robbie Taylor as he arrrives in New York in 1978 and meets the people who will change his life forever. In an almost epic sweep,the author makes the personal historical and the historical personal through the stories that are told in this wonderful book. The novel achieves what many before it have tried as these character's stories become an almost complete compendium of gay life in America in the last twenty years. This is also a stirring tribute to the many who have died of AIDS. At the risk of sounding trite, this book made me laugh and it made me cry, something very few books have ever managed to do - it's full of the stuff of life.