The Men from the Boys - Softcover

Mann, William J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0452278562 ISBN 13: 9780452278561

Publisher: Plume, 1998

Synopsis

Jeff O’Brien - bright, good-looking, and inching dangerously past thirty, is caught between two generations, the Baby Boomers and Generation X. He’s been with his partner, Lloyd, for seven years now, but when Lloyd announces that there’s no passion left between them, Jeff is sent into something of an existential frenzy. Desperate not to end up alone, Jeff haunts the dance floor and roadside rest stops, finding both the sordid and the sublime in anonymous encounters. But it’s love he’s after, so ultimately it’s his bittersweet romance in Provincetown with Eduardo, twenty-two and a vision of gorgeous, wide-eyed youth, that lingers in his mind and seems to hold the answers he seeks. This is a story of a man coming to terms with the accelerating ambiguity of his world, where men die young but old age is actively devalued. It is the story of gay life today, the life being led by thousands of men trying desperately to keep up, and to discover if anything really unites gay men other than desire. It is the story of how the truths of gay life are handed down from gay generation to gay generation. It is the story of what separates the men from the boys.

About this title

Review:

Over the past seven years Bill Mann has established himself as one of the most intelligent, prolific, and witty journalists writing for the gay and lesbian press. Now, in his first novel, The Men From the Boys, Mann turns his attention to delineating the process by which boys become men and men become gay. Set in Massachusetts, Mann's characters enter and leave relationships, find mentors, sleep with cute boys, deal with AIDS, face death, and generally learn what it means to be responsible, caring, sexually active adults in a culture that does its best to inhibit all three. The Men From the Boys is a debut novel that delights and challenges, but more importantly, understands how we live today.

About the Author:

William J. Mann is the critically acclaimed author of Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood’s First Openly Gay Star, as well as The Biograph Girl and the novel The Men from the Boys. He is a contributor to Architectural Digest, The Boston Phoenix, and The Advocate.

About this edition

• Publisher: Plume
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0452278562
• ISBN 13: 9780452278561
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352