Some Men Are Lookers
Some Men Are Lookers, Ethan Mordden's much lauded fourth volume in his "Buddies" cycle, follows the exploits of his best-loved characters-Dennis Savage, Little Kiwi, Carlo, the 'elf-child' Cosgrove, and narrator Bud. Mordden lays bare the emotional landscape of the city within a city that is Gay Manhattan. Blending the comic, the sexy, and the at once idealistic and realistic, these stories represent Ethan Mordden at his very best.
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Some Men Are Lookers, Ethan Mordden's much lauded fourth volume in his "Buddies" cycle, follows the exploits of his best-loved characters-Dennis Savage, Little Kiwi, Carlo, the 'elf-child' Cosgrove, and narrator Bud. Mordden lays bare the emotional landscape of the city within a city that is Gay Manhattan. Blending the comic, the sexy, and the at once idealistic and realistic, these stories represent Ethan Mordden at his very best.Kirkus ReviewsA fourth volume of 11 linked stories from the prolific author of the Buddies trilogy (Everybody Loves You, 1988, etc.), about urban gay men obsessed with friendship, food, the arts, sex, and growing old.For the 20 recurring characters, the advent of AIDS has parsed life into segments: Before, Very Before, and After. Most came of age (and came out) in the early '80s and now comprise a wisecracking, extended family that keeps itself entertained through incessant gab. The ground rules? Don't take yourself too seriously, and use a lacerating quip to deflate anyone who does. The stories, meanwhile, are contrived by incidents that function simply to provide scaffolding on which to hang dish. The rambling discourse is usually vague and pointless, sometimes involving ritualized adolescent parlor games along the lines of "If you could sleep with any porn star, who would it be?" The literature of repartee can be hilarious (Joe Orton and Ivy Compton-Burnett come to mind), but here the effect is fatally undermined by pages of numbingly unfunny dialogue, relieved by occasional apt one-liners ("What's soliciting? Saying yes to someone over 50"), while earnest but obvious generalizations about the gay condition often smother the laughs just as they're getting naughty. The more successful tales feature endearing, quirky characters, like the sassy drag queen in "What a Difference Miss Faye Made," and Konstantin, the impossibly sweet Russian construction worker in "Jeopardy." But the rest of the ensemble is nearly interchangeable. Truly clever conversation can sometimes compensate for otherwise undeveloped characters, but in this case neither the glib pronouncements nor empty personalities give us much reason to care about these chatterboxes.
\ From the Publisher"Mordden explores a tricky moral universe in which emotional loyalty is exalted but sexual fidelity is not assumed...There is a sense of real pain amid the zingers; Mordden's characters run their mouths to avoid baring their souls." --The New York Times Book Review\ "Sexy..charming...wonderfully apt and touching." —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)\ "Mordden is one of our community's major contemporary writers...[his] stories have the speed, unexpectedness and lunacy essential to comedy, but they are also studded with his keen sensitivity and appetite for observation..an unusually rich and provocative re-creation of our lives." —HX Magazine\ "A sophisticated stack of stories that reunited our favorite fictional cast and provide wry commentary on queer life from one of our most reliable authors." --The Advocate\ "Some Men Are Lookers is a witty, satirical, intelligent and sophisticated book." —In Step\ "Entertainingly portrays facets of ourselves, our lives, our loves and our conflicts; thus it conveys the essence of our drives, obsessions, desires and demons...alternately outrageous and touching." —Windy City Times\ \ \ \ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsA fourth volume of 11 linked stories from the prolific author of the Buddies trilogy (Everybody Loves You, 1988, etc.), about urban gay men obsessed with friendship, food, the arts, sex, and growing old.\ For the 20 recurring characters, the advent of AIDS has parsed life into segments: Before, Very Before, and After. Most came of age (and came out) in the early '80s and now comprise a wisecracking, extended family that keeps itself entertained through incessant gab. The ground rules? Don't take yourself too seriously, and use a lacerating quip to deflate anyone who does. The stories, meanwhile, are contrived by incidents that function simply to provide scaffolding on which to hang dish. The rambling discourse is usually vague and pointless, sometimes involving ritualized adolescent parlor games along the lines of "If you could sleep with any porn star, who would it be?" The literature of repartee can be hilarious (Joe Orton and Ivy Compton-Burnett come to mind), but here the effect is fatally undermined by pages of numbingly unfunny dialogue, relieved by occasional apt one-liners ("What's soliciting? Saying yes to someone over 50"), while earnest but obvious generalizations about the gay condition often smother the laughs just as they're getting naughty. The more successful tales feature endearing, quirky characters, like the sassy drag queen in "What a Difference Miss Faye Made," and Konstantin, the impossibly sweet Russian construction worker in "Jeopardy." But the rest of the ensemble is nearly interchangeable.\ Truly clever conversation can sometimes compensate for otherwise undeveloped characters, but in this case neither the glib pronouncements nor empty personalities give us much reason to care about these chatterboxes.\ \ \
