The Farewell Symphony

Absolutely extraordinary! Fiction, memoir, apologia, confession, chronicle, biography all wrapped in one eidetic gay life. Is this White's own life or his narrator's or both? Regardless, it tells of a life, a consuming life, at times raunchy, other times sweet, but always viscerally real, that, in the author's own words, is "about the 1960s ending with the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 and the beginning of gay liberation . ... Read Full Review

Wow being a gay male must be rough, so I can't go there. I found Edmund's so called "ramblings" as described by many reviewers to be beautifully written and real. Yes, the book was a bit hard to read and get through, but I found it poignant yet distressing. Most of his friends start dying, and his surrogate teenage children go back to Chicago. I found the chapter about Gabe and Ana rather interesting since it was retold again... Read Full Review

White chose the title to this novel from Haydn's The Farewell Symphony, in which, as the musical piece nears conclusion, the musicians leave the stage, one by one, until there is a sole violinist remaining, who finishes the work that so many others began.In White's novel, we are taken on a tour of the protagonist's (White himself) 30's, 40's, and 50's as he climbs from unknown author to celebrated chronicler of gay life. Along... Read Full Review

This is one of the finest books ever written - and I have read a lot of books. Not for those of a moralising or piously nervous disposition, or for those with a tragically short attention span. You don't have to emulate Mr White's life in order to be the beneficiary of his breathtaking writing skill. 'The Farewell Symphony' is a work of art.