Faggots

I found this book truly awful. I had a long term monogamous relationship with my lover. This novel made it seem that all the stereotypes about gay men might seem real. Read Maurice by EM Forester instead.

Kramer, Larry. "Faggots", Grove Press Reprint, 2000. Is This How It Was? Amos Lassen and Literary Pride When "Faggots" by Larry Kramer first appeared in 1978 people were up in arms. Some did not understand that what Kramer had written was a satire of gay life in New York City. Some felt he had written an expose of some of the seediest aspects of gay life when it reality it was a touching tale of one man's search for love and quite a desperate search at that. In the 70's and early 80's the book was hailed as genius one hand and excoriated on the other. It is brutal and erotic and harsh and fascinating as it deals with the sexual excesses of the period. Looking back at it now, after a careful rereading, it is a look at how much and how little times have changed. The sex is graphic and not for the squeamish (perhaps that is why I look so much). Fred Lemish at 39 is in great physical shape and is ready to find Mr. Wonderful and settle down. He cruises everywhere looking for his Mr. Right in all of the wrong places. He has told the man that he is dating that he is in love with him and is waiting for him to answer. But while he waits, Fred takes us to all of the hot spots of gay night life, the bathhouse, the club openings, the summer parties on Fire Island. While he agonizes over his boyfriend, he is out having random sexual encounters and his friends are living in drugged out stupors. Kramer gives us a New York that is one big party-sexy, wild and glamorous and excessive. It is a look at gay life that spares no one and nothing and the truth and honesty hit very hard--especially to those that lived like this. Kramer has written a moral satire and sadly his unwritten predictions came true with the AIDS epidemic--the music stopped, we calmed down, the bathhouses closed and we kept quiet for a while. The book hits close to home, in fact it is a bull eye's target hit. And it is funny--laugh at loud funny. It is also a novel of great courage--it is his bravery that allowed Kramer to pull everything out of the closet and slam the door behind him. He liberated gay sexuality in this book and because of that he paved the way for a more serious look at the way we live. How can anyone revile Kramer? He was simply a prophet--a man way ahead of his time. He documented an era in a wonderful social parody. This is a book that had to be written and Kramer gives us an undaunted look at the way we lived. Kramer begs for justice and love as he looks at the gay ghetto--a self-imposed area of gyms, sex clubs, and partner swapping. He has written the book that helped bring about our liberation and Kramer had the courage to write about it. "Faggots" is a book of major importance both historically and culturally and he changed the way America looked at gay men. His sense of unease with the way things were--promiscuity, drug use and sadomasochism is a look at the gay community that was needed. "Faggots" has not gone out of print since its original publication and has re

What an amazing journey Larry Kramer takes us on with this book. He takes us back to a time long gone but never forgotten. One of the most imporant books in gay literature.

It is as if James Joyce were alive and queer in 1973 New York. Kramer is an author, dramatist and activist who helped found Act-Up. In this harsh, funny, terrifying, graphic, pornographic, brilliant, compelling book, he both honors and skewers the "gay scene" of the early '70s. This book is simply required (though at times difficult) reading.