4 1/2 stars Excellent read.(view spoiler)[After I got over my qualms about reading a whole book in present perfect tense (yeah, ironic, since I'm writing in that form ...), I discovered a story full of fascinating characters who are just trying to live their lives to the fullest and get along with each other.We have three narrators to follow, Jeff, Henry and Lloyd, and as their stories unfold and interweave with each other, they present the reader with a diverse view of the world in which they live. For Jeff and Henry, it's the gay dance circuit they participate in, going from city to city to party, dance and get high, though for each of them the circuit represents something different.Jeff is avoiding confronting the pain of reality in which one of his family, Jarvit, has died of AIDS and losing his long-term boyfriend in the process. He feels guilty for not having been at Jarvit's side when he died, and refuses to talk about him except in clips and phrases that do the man little justice. By the same token, he feel estranged from Lloyd, with whom he's happiest, yet they've drifted as far apart as two people can, with different expectations and dreams, looking for a way to connect but not quite getting there.Henry is feeling more and more disillusioned, not only about his day job as a CPA, but also the circuit scene. The more he participates, the more disconnected he feels. He's ready for something more permanent, more settled and steady. When a man he meets on the dance floor (Shane) offers to pay him money to spend the night, Henry refuses, but soon after starts exploring the possibilities of being a hustler, not only for the added income but for the shear novelty of the idea. But after one really bad incident with a disgusting client, Henry begins rethinking his strategy and wonders if it's really worth his dignity to sell his body for money.As for Lloyd, Jeff's estranged boyfriend, doesn't like the circuit and avoids getting involved in it as much as possible. For him it is a place of drug and alcohol abuse, where men are so disparate to disengage, that they're willing to do stupid things just to have fun. Instead, he snags himself a business partner whose self-esteem and self-image is severely damaged. Though it seems a dream come true when he and Eva buy a bed and breakfast together, it quickly becomes obvious that Eva wants something more from Lloyd than he's willing or able to give. To add to the situation, Lloyd is also dealing with his own grief over Jarvit's death and not being able to speak to Jeff about it, he's unaware of his own behavior with Eva, both enabling and exacerbating the situation.How each of these men deal with their problems and each other and find themselves in a new place in time for the new year is a journey well worth reading. Along the way we meet a man, who, as a teenager, committed a hate crime that sent him to prison and forced him to take a good, long look at himself and change his life, several men who have less than perfect bodies, but better than average attitudes, and a chance to look into the world of the circuit where every one lives in a fantasy world outside of their everyday, mundane lives. (hide spoiler)]
UPDATEDNFNothing's any better, I'm afraid. The dialogue is more turgid than the characters' winkies ever get, and it's still loaded with mentions of the speakers' names. (Didn't this book have an editor?) On one page alone, where there was a conversation between two men, the speakers addressed each other by name 11 times. That's 11 times in 15 pieces of dialogue! I can't take much more.In addition, and in spite of all the crying the guys do, this 400+-page tome has too little conflict to justify its length. I'm still having difficulty distinguishing between the POV characters. Another key player is like some gratingly overwrought female in a really bad old movie; every time she appears, I roll my eyes and skip to the next chapter. Basically, I just don't care about these people. At all. I'm afraid this one will be a DNF. * * * I've just started this book, but some of the author's narrative choices are already getting in the way of the story.1.) Three POV characters with (so far) virtually indistinguishable first-person voices. o_O2.) Each character's habit of stepping out of voice and addressing the reader directly, which is not conducive to immersion.3.) Each character's habit of repeatedly saying the name of whomever it is he's talking to. "Jeff, I have something to say. I know all about you, Jeff. Want me to tell you what I know, Jeff?" AAAACK! This particular dialogue quirk sets my teeth on edge!I'm hoping I get used to this stuff, 'cause I really need an enjoyable read right now.
What do You think about Where The Boys Are (2004)?
I really like what this book is about-- the family that we chose for ourselves and how (like biological family) its struggles are intencse--and the impact of grief, how people deal or don't deal with it, individually and collectively. I also liked reading about both sides of the whole circuit party thing, the fact that nobody talks about AIDS anymore and the internalzied and external (of course) effects of homophobia. I like that this is all percolated into what is essentially a romance novel and seen through the eyes of complex mulitlayered characters who are believable and interesting. I like the three interconnected storylines that keep you turning the pages. Mann is a really good story teller and though this time I was a little ahead of him, he really knows when to release information and keep suspense going. What's really needed here is a red pencil. It's about 50-75 pages too long which could be remedied if the characters didn't talk about their feelings quite so much and the "look--no, you look" structure of many of the scenes was more varied. The emotional investment of the author adds weight and truth to the story and keeps it from melodrama, but at times is feels repetitive and borderline corny. And does everyone have to cry quite so much? Still, I remain a fan of Mann's writing -- both fiction and non-fiction--and am happy to have (re)discovered another gifted gay writer. (PS. I would love to be his editor!)
—Mark
I was disappointed with this sequel to “The Men from the Boys”. The different story-telling voices didn’t work for me. I became confused as to which person’s point of view we were in. The overwhelming over-use of names in the dialogue distracted me all the way through the book, even though this could’ve been one way the author chose to show whose section we were in. I was constantly pulled out of the story, as I was thinking we were getting one character’s thoughts/conversation, when it suddenly became clear it was someone else. Even though each different character’s name appears before each section, I still somehow became confused. Having three different character’s thoughts wasn’t conducive to an easily flowing reading experience for me.
—Aussie54
It is often an easy matter to say "I liked this book" or "I didn't like this book", but sometimes the simplest descriptions don't always apply. For instance, we may not LIKE the road we're forced to travel in life, but we may LIKE where the hardships lead us. In "Where the Boys Are", many of the characters are undeniably hard to like and sometimes too "holier than thou" to be tolerated ... but, that's okay ... since they end up leading us somewhere we needed to go. That destination is a realization that we have to do it all wrong before we ever learn to do it anywhere near right.
—Dolphe
