Kept Boy

Thirty-one-year-old Dennis Racine has enjoyed a long, lush life as the pampered "companion" to the fiftyish, filthy rich Chicago theatrical impresario Farleigh Nock. With virtually unlimited access to Farleigh's wallet, pool, and imported cars, he couldn't possibly be better situated. Until Farleigh, after weeks of remaining conspicuously cold and aloof, drops the big one, the unthinkable, the horror of horrors: Dennis must get a job.
Dennis believes there can be only one explanation for this outrage: he's let himself go. And as any kept boy worth his gym membership knows, a spare tire can run right over a relationship. Alas, even after a crash course in iron pumping with an albino Amazon, his situation only worsens. First, he discovers that he's unemployable virtually anywhere on the planet. Then he learns that his old career is in jeopardy as well, for Farleigh's affections have been snared by the lithe young pool boy Jasper Batton. When Jasper is promoted from chlorination duties to directing Farleigh's production of Lady Windermere's Fan, Dennis panics; he's in danger of losing not only his position as Farleigh's house hunk, but also his place in Farleigh's last will and testament.
Desperate for a way up from this devastating downfall, Dennis turns to his best friends: Lonnie Roach, the kept man of ancient gossip columnist Dierdre Diamon, and Paulette Ng, the kept woman of a member of Congress whose anonymity she protects by referring to him only as "the Spanker of the House." Together, the three devise a cunning plan to whisk Farleigh away to the romantic Greek Isles, where Dennis hopes to re-seduce him.
But the warm Hellenic breeze stirs up more trouble than magic, and Dennis, with only a pair of Iowa coeds for allies, must wage one final, desperate campaign to keep Farleigh's love, battling everything from stampeding goats to a deranged Santorini grandmother.

Rodi (Fag Hag; Closet Case; What They Did to Princess Paragon and Drag Queen) once again skewers an archetype of contemporary gay life. This time, it's the figure of the kept boy who's subject to Rodi's characteristic wit and sauce. Dennis Racine is 31, looks 23 and is fighting claw to claw with Jasper Moran, a 20-year-old poolboy, for the attentions of his companion (and keeper) of 10 years, 65-year-old theatrical impresario Farleigh Nock. What ensues is a cat fight worthy of Clare Booth Luce. From present-day Chicago to the islands of Greece, Dennis must outwit Jasper and expose him to Farleigh for the money-grubbing phony he is. Luckily, he has the help of two confidants (a woman kept by a male congressman, and a man kept by a female gossip columnist). What results is a series of riotous, if sometimes far-fetched, plot twists that keep the pages turning, culminating with a hysterical visit to Jasper's 100-year-old grandmother on the Greek island of Santorini. Eccentric, wildly exaggerated characters add to this farce, which, although completely insubstantial, provides a delightfully juicy distraction.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Rodi (Drag Queen, 1995, etc.) takes a shot a being the gay MoliŠre and succeeds in pulling off a smart, funny, and terrifically entertaining farce. Dennis Racine, 31, is the title's kept boy, the constant companion, since he was 15, of Farleigh Nock, 63, a wealthy theatrical producer in Chicago. Dennis is pretty self-satisfied, though vaguely wary of loosing his hunky good looks. Living with Farleigh in the producer's large house, sharing space with Farleigh's former kept boy (a queenish Greek named Christos, who does the cooking) and spending Farleigh's endless supply of money, Dennis gets understandably worried when his master turns suddenly cool and distracted. Dennis is late to assume the worst, but when he finally gets a clue, it becomes swiftly apparent that he has a rival for Farleigh's largesse: Jasper Moran, a pool boy whom Farleigh has taken a shine to, going so far as to make him the director of a new staging of an Oscar Wilde play. After several strategies for winning back Farleigh's good graces fail miserably, Dennis conspires with his gigolo brain trust, who urge him to spirit Farleigh away to Greece, thereby freeing him from Jasper's youthful clutches. The farcical quality of the story really takes over once the cast is relocated to the Aegean: Christos begins to act almost butch; a couple of American girls (including Jasper's old girlfriend) join the party--and Jasper shows up. What follows is a zany pilgrimage to the home of Jasper's Greek grandmother, who has violently little patience for fags, and further scheming from Dennis to sour Farleigh on Jasper. What happens after a desperate Dennis decides to seduce Jasper is predictable enough, but it in no way diminishes Rodi's high-speed, at times hilarious tale. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Although he is 31--but, he tells himself, looks 23--Dennis Racine has been a "kept boy" for almost 10 years: his much older lover, theatrical producer Farleigh Nock, pays all his expenses. When Farleigh grows distant and ever more interested in the teenaged pool boy, Dennis works out more, gets a body waxing, worries about those tiny lines around his eyes--and hatches a plot to win Farleigh back. Said scheme ends up involving a nude pizza delivery boy, a trip to Greece, and lots of missteps. The heterosexual kept lovers of a popular male politician ("The Spanker of the House") and an aging female gossip columnist add spice and extrabig laughs to an already riotous cast that includes the likes of an actress with Tourette's syndrome and a middle-aged Greek houseboy who sings along with Maria Callas as he cleans. Rodi has also cooked up one of the best surprise endings in gay fiction for this light, fun, surefire big hit for his and other comic-novel fans. Charles Harmon

When Dennis Racine realizes that his long-held position as the pampered companion of aging Chicago theatrical impresario Farleigh Nock is threatened, he employs every device he knows to keep his man. Farleigh, increasingly resistant to Dennis's gym-toned body, demands that he get a job after a dozen years of indolence. Dennis proves himself unemployable in a zany series of short-lived situations and, with the help of two colorful friends, whisks Farleigh away to a romantic Greek island in a last-ditch effort to remain "kept boy." The ending is a romantic twister that will thrill aficionados of Rodi's previous four capers (e.g., Drag Queen, LJ 10/1/95) and win him many new fans. This farce is recommended for most fiction collections.?Joseph M. Egan, Enoch Pratt Free Lib., Baltimore
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.