Buddies

If you want to read a fun, upbeat book about gay men's friendships without decadence, drugs, or AIDS this series of books is your ticket. Ethan Mordden gives us a birds-eye view of a recurring number of his friends and their foibles and achievements. You can feel the love and companionship that runs through this entire series. If you are below 30 years of age and want to know what being gay was like before the ravages of AIDS, I highly recommend you pick up this book, and the others in this series.

I have never read a series I enjoyed more. I love the way Ethan Mordden writes.

I have enjoyed every one of Ethan Mordden's books I can get my hands-on. I think it is reasonable to compare him to Edith Wharton. His finely drawn characters and his ability to capture the texture of a moment are beyond compare. Where Holleran is often depressing and Picano a bit introspective, Mordden presents a rich synthesis of both the joys and the tears of what it is to be gay in our time. I still think the best of what he has written remains "How Long Has This Been Going On?"

Mordden is my favorite gay author. The entire series keeps one enthralled. He is a New York centrist and has a hard time relating to Gay Life anywhere else, but since he's not writing about anywhere else, that's ok. I've read the entire series through at least 3 times. Because they're novels set up in short story format, it's easy to read small segments in a single sitting and not be caught up in cliff-hangers. These books are very much worth your time and money.

Buddies, and the rest of the Buddies Cycle, represent an important piece of literature not only for the gay movement, but for everyone. Unlike many authors, Mordden doesn't gloss over the uncomfortable facts of life. He tells of abusive lovers and the sometimes truly bizarre relationships we find ourselves in. And yet, at the end of the book there is some hint of hope that the world is a good place and that we CAN rely on our buddies.