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Boy Culture: A Novel
by Matthew Rettenmund
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$13.95 |
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$11.92 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
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Paperback
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
X a wily hustler, has a dilemma. The object of his affections is his roommate Andrew, who is confused about his sexuality. Meanwhile, X's other roommate--a seventeen-year-old precocious partyboy--is falling for X in a big way. The result is an old-fashioned (well, sort of) love triangle peppered with savage one-liners-a touching portrait of love and lust among three very different gay men.
| Customer Reviews: |
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| The book is soft porn, easy to read and mindless. |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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Matthew Rettenmund's rendition of a gay triangle in which Mr. X (probably himself)--a wily hustler--has a dilemma. He is torn for the object of his affections--his roommate Andrew--who will not give him the time of day. He is enthralled by his job as a male prostitute. And finally he has to deal with his other roommate, Joe, who is 17 y/o and is infatuated for X.
The result is sort of an old fashioned love triangle--a portrait of love and lust among three very different guys set in the background of Chicago;'s gay life.
The book is soft porn, easy to read and mindless.
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| Boy Culture by Matthew Rettenmund |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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It's always an hard task to write a good novel from a very good movie, and I think that most of the time you like one of them, the novel or the movie, but not both. So I was hesitant to read "Boy Culture" since I think the movie is one of the most wonderful gay romance movie out there. But the book is even better! Maybe since it's not an adaptation, but it was a novel way before it was made into a movie?
I think that the novel is better since the main hero, "X", has an innocence that was lost in the movie; the movie was also more "Hollywood" style, in the break and following declaration of forever love (wonderful scene with the two actors making out on the stairs), that X and Andrew actually don't have: their love story is more intimate, and it evolves nicely, there is no dramatic event that pushes X to take his decision to retire from being an hustler, he does it since he loves Andrew and I prefer this reason, for me it's a real proof that his love his sincere, he doesn't change who he is to "please" Andrew, he changes since he wants to be a better man "for" Andrew.
A thing I didn't like of the book is the output of X's relationship with Gregory, the octogenarian trick who tells X stories, and who helps him to realize he is in love with Andrew. Like in the movie, Gregory lies to X, but in the novel X is not able to forgive him... I feel sad for Gregory, I think it's not his fault if he was like that, it was a generation gap. But probably X has to break with Gregory since of all his tricks, he is the only one with whom X really betrays Andrew.
For being an hustler, X has a strange concept of betrayal and fidelity, something I'm not sure it came out from the movie. X's first love was a cousin of him, the boy who took his virginity when he was 13 years old and who broke his heart soon after. From this very bad first experience X learned two things: to associate true love with being a bottom, it's like you give yourself totally to another person, it's a so intimate act that it's scaring, and second that having sex without love is simple and better if done with an older man, less chance to fall in love. So X as an hustler tops only, and in a way, he remains pure and innocent, he is not selling love, he is selling something (being a bottom) that he will not share with his real lover, so it's not important. When X starts to think that it would be nice to have a boyfriend, to find Mr Right, he falls for his roommate Andrew, a man that in the book is stronger than X, both in body that in morality. It's so tender to hear X's thoughts when he said that he is no longer a virgin, he did everything with his body, but he is still virgin in one thing, no one ever really loved him. Only for this thoughts I think he is a lot stronger than what he thinks.
The book closes in a nice way, in a way that makes me think if there is not something of the author himself in X... All in all, thinking that this is a novel published in the '90, I'm surprise of how much a romance it's (there is even a reference to Fabio, the romance cover model...): I'm used to find gay romance good like this one now, but I didn't expect it in this one.
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| A good read |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. X tells himself he's only in the hustling business because the money is good, but the few repeat customers he's retained over the years each help showcase a different aspect of X's personality, giving three dimensions to a character who might have easily been portrayed as just another gay stereotype. His affection for his roommates is heart-felt, and I really felt his frustration with wanting to go farther with Andrew while fending off the advances of other his underage roomie, Joe.
But perhaps the most memorable character for me was one of X's customers, an older gentleman content to pay X for his company more than his body. Between the scenes with him and the flashbacks to X's first gay experiences with his cousin, I found myself really fascinated with the characters. They were well drawn out and likeable, and there was a gritty edginess to the book that made it real to me. I even went so far as to write Mr. Rettenmund a letter thanking him for writing this book, though I never got a response.
If you like contemporary gay fiction with an erotic, street-hip edge, and wounded characters who struggle to keep their emotions under tight rein, definitely check this book out. I think you might be surprised.
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| Confession of a X |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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I was expecting a dull, written book. But I could not put the book down. It was very entertaining. I thought that X gave a very good view why he acts they way he does. The book gave indepth understanding of the movie.
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| BOY CULTURE |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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I FOUND THE MOVIE VERY ENJOYABLE AND INTERESTING. I WOULD RECOMEND THIS TO ANYONE THAT HAS THE LIKING FOR YOUNG MEN IN THE EARLY 20'S.
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