Boys Like Us (Stonewall Inn Editions) - Softcover

McGehee, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312069138 ISBN 13: 9780312069131

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 1992

Synopsis

Zero MacNoo, who abandoned his Arkansas home for Toronto, tries to organize a circle of support for a companion with AIDS while trying to avoid returning to Arkansas to face his crazed array of relatives and his mother's second marriage

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

McGehee's first novel, about gay relationships in the age of AIDS, is filled with unrealized good intentions. The sadness of those who have lost loved ones to the disease comes through clearly enough in the narration by Zero MacNoo, an Arkansas native transplanted to Toronto, where he is involved in a confusing array of ambiguous relationships. When his best friend, Randy, is diagnosed with AIDS, Zero belatedly realizes his true feelings for him. Unfortunately, he's also torn by bittersweet feelings for ex-lover David and his fluctuating attraction to his one-dimensional, oversexed bedmate of the moment, Clay. Revolving around cliched perceptions of gay men as unfaithful, the plot sinks to ridiculousness when Zero has a fling with an untrustworthy drag queen named Jesus Las Vegas, who in turn goes after Clay. McGehee segues into farce by sending Zero back home to Arkansas, where he encounters his eccentric mother, about to be wed again, and his closeted Uncle Markus. Nothing much comes from these episodes; in fact, McGehee leaves many questions unanswered and several characters unexplored. Although he tries to employ humor to alleviate a somber situation, McGehee never provides enough insights into his stock characters to elicit the reader's sympathy.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Zero MacNoo is a gay man in his 30s living in Toronto. He is working hard to make a go of his new relationship with Clay while coping with the break-up of his eight-year relationship with David. Meanwhile, he cares for his best friend Randy, who has AIDS, and who Zero realizes he loves, "More than Clay. Or David. Or anybody, for that matter." In the midst of all this, he returns to his home in Arkansas to attend the wedding of his mother, and to have some time alone to sort things out. This is a pleasant, often humorous novel, with fun and imaginative characters. The three Toronto chapters are reminiscent of David Feinberg's Eighty-Sixed ( LJ 11/1/86), without the deep introspection, while the two chapters in Arkansas could be right out of Steel Magnolia s .
-James E. Cook, Dayton & Montgomery Cty. P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0312069138
• ISBN 13: 9780312069131
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 168