The Front Runner: A Novel

Harlan Brown is an ex-Marine and a track coach. In 1974, after he is dismissed from Penn State due to rumors of an alleged homosexual romance with one of his athletes, Harlan finds himself as the track coach at Prescott, a smaller university which he discovers is a more diverse than any other school in the country. Harlan's coaching life is thrown into turmoil when three young track athletes, kicked out of another university for their openness about their sexuality, want to join his team. One of the athletes, Billy Sive who looks to be a contender for the Montréal Olympics, piques his interest, and Harlan soon finds himself falling for the young man. Billy begins to have the same feelings for Harlan. Once they admit their feelings, they form a strong, positive relationghip face together the fear and hatred of the athletic world and society, determined to give Billy his shot at a gold medal.First published in 1974, this became a national bestseller. Patricia Nell Warren's depiction of two gay athletes in the 1970s is filled with so much that's positive about being gay: Harlan and Billy form a strong, monogamous relationship and don't hide it from the rest of the world. (They also don't flaunt it.) They tackle many issues that gay men and women are struggling with today: gay marriage, children, gay rights. The novel also handles the societal negatives regarding homosexuality with much humanity and empathy. You can either run and hide from it, or you can stare it down, be happy with yourself.I also liked the characters. Harlan has only recently come out and is trying to deal with his feelings and jealousies along with his memories of the past and society. Billy is calm, confident, knows who and what he is and is determined that no one is going to keep him from what makes him happy. The two of them together make a great and very realistic couple.While it is a gay novel, it's also a sports novel. Warren was a long-distance runner herself and draws from her experiences to give a realistic view of the amateur sports world, especially when it comes to the politics of jsut being able to compete. It's a world that I found very intriguing and want to learn more about.This is a remarkable book, one that should be read by everyone, gay and straight.

How is it that a female story teller so adeptly delved into the emotions and mind of gay men? I was 27 when I first read The Front Runner, it was published when I was only 5 years old. Even though it is a story about life set in the 70s, it is a truly remarkable tale about love, destiny, passion and the search for that special love we all seek. Harlan, the track coach at the center of the book, has paid some tough prices for coming out as a gay man. He lost a wife, a family, and yes it would be easy to say he should never have gotten married and cheating on his wife...through Ms. Warren's words, we see the pain and confusion that his sexual identity has caused him. It is not until he is into his 40s that he finds he can be out and lead a life deserving in respect & love. The tragic ending will move any heart I'm sure, gay or staright or questioning. Along with its sequels, each just as brilliant, TFR is a landmark book that is a celebration of the gay & lesbian community.

This book is a superbly crafted work. I (like so many others) first read this book when I was 18 years old. In my youthful naiveté, I kept wondering how a woman could see things from a gay male perspective with such clarity and reality. How COULD she know and understand so well what I felt? Ms. Warren used her descriptive powers and a truly warm honesty to draw us into this story like few others before or since. Imagine my astonishment when I found "The Front Runner" in a mainstream bookshop in Oklahoma City! I saw the cover art on the first paperback edition (not the current cover art, but certainly not "lurid" either) and I SNATCHED up the book. Standing between the book racks, I read the first page. I skipped forward and read more. I found myself shaking. Until I found this book, all I knew about being gay was a few brief glimpses I'd caught of truly ugly porn, what I'd heard from my father's pulpit, and a boy in my highschool (whom I avoided like the plague) who had pink hair and a sexy (and unfortunately, swishy) walk. I read this book from cover to cover three times that week. I laughed when Harlan set a seven-minute pace on the way to the clearing where they FINALLY made it. I ran 20 or more miles every day and so that little touch of my own world, that instant of wry humor just as they were about to "do it" made the book even MORE real for me.) I could SEE Billy and Harlan, and I could SEE that clearing! Reading this book gave me a much needed change in my worldview. The sudden discovery that I could be like Billy; that if I grew up and become the kind of man Ms. Warren described in Harlan (faults and all) it would be ok, was (to put it mildly) a revelation. Athletic "macho gay" men who weren't caricatures, LOVING each other! It was incredible, and it was DEFINATELY the positive influence that I needed in 1976. I remember the rumors that "The Front Runner" would be made into a major motion picture. "Redford has bought the rights." "Newman wants to do it, and he's gonna play Harlan." Too bad it didn't happen. Meanwhile, if my nephew grows up and discovers that hes gay, This is the first book I'll hand him. Hell, if he's straight, I'll give him a copy anyway, after he turns 18 and his parents can't kill me.

This is considered by many (myself included) to be the classic gay love story. This book is an exquisitely written piece of literature, tracing track coach Harlan Brown's life, and his love for a young athlete, Billy, all the way the Olympics. First published in 1973, The Front Runner has been translated into a number of languages, and has sold over ten million copies worldwide. In 1974, TFR was the first gay themed book to hit #1 on the New York Times best seller list. Read it, and you will know why this book has enjoyed such huge popularity over the years. Be warned though, I haven't met a single person who has been able to put this book down once started. It pulls you into the lives of Billy and Harlan, you feel their love, their joy and their pain. And, if you get to the end of the book, and you haven't shed tears, I would be tempted to say that you need to be checked for emotions!