Rushes

I decided to read this book after reading an in-dept interview with John Rechy over at one my favorite websites, the Lambda Literary. (interview here for those interested):lambdaliterary/feature)In this interview, Rechy is so brilliantly eloquent and doesn't eat his words. He gives his opinion on everything from gay marriage and monogamy, to the still very controversial S and M practices. Considering the man wrote the ALL TIME HUSTLER CLASSIC City of Night and lived through the many many changes [...]

Published during the advent of the Reagan Administration and the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, “Rushes” chronicles four different gay men cruising a rough trade bar in mad, mad, Manhattan.While I was reading “Rushes” I found it somewhat ironic how incredibly testosterone fueled John Rechy’s notions of homosexuality are. There’s hardly any recognition of sissy marys, drag queens or transgenders at all, and if there are, there’s a bizarre contempt for them for their lack of macho g [...]

Read at a time before I'd found any gay book stores, this book gave me a sometimes frightening, somethimes thrilling look into what I had known in my bones must exist somewhere, even if I'd imagined it a lot less dark.

I couldn't finish it. Dull, over-written and struggling too hard to be 'literary'. Rechy is capable of wonderful writing - 'The Sexual Outlaw' and 'Numbers' are excellent. 'City Of Night' and several other novels are good too. I was hugely disappointed by this one though.

Eh…immed much of it, was not as engaging.