false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176069482m/589264.jpg 138180 24 Famed for his newspaper-column <I>Tales of the City</I> saga, Armistead Maupin has made the transition to fully fledged novelist with panache. Maintaining the wit and conversational dueling of the <I>Tales</I>--indeed, sharp-eyed fans will find odd intrusions from the past here--Maupin's <I>The Night Listener</I> is a gripping novel, brilliantly plotted and ultimately extremely moving, exploring "the chance to feel love without boundaries". <P> When yet another book manuscript drops onto Gabriel Noone's doormat craving his approval, the beloved late-night radio storyteller is skeptical--but this one is different. It's <I>The Blacking Factory</I>, the autobiographical tale of Pete Lomax, a child abused and sold for sex by his parents, who has survived, thanks to his adoptive mother, psychologist Donna. Flattered that this young boy is an inveterate night listener of his shows, Gabriel contacts Pete, and in time their telephone relationship blooms into something approaching father and son--until Gabriel begins to have doubts about who Pete is. At the same time, Gabriel's father falls ill and his life truly becomes "a loose confederation of uncertainties". <p> Perhaps this new emotional pull isn't altogether unsurprising because like many others of his generation of gay writers--Edmund White, Andrew Holleran, Felice Picano--Maupin is now trading more explicitly in the raw materials of his own life. Gabriel Noone shares much with Armistead Maupin--a writer, whose fame is based on a popular form, raised in South Carolina, based in San Francisco, with a lover who leaves him when it becomes clear he's not about to die, and a same-named and difficult father. But Maupin has always been more cagey than his peers about revealing too much of himself--Noone, like his creator, is "a fabulist by trade", overly given to embroidering his stories, or "jewelling the elephant" as he puts it. And for all it reveals about Maupin the man, in its final pages <I>The Night Listener</I> protects its author's privacy--refusing to distinguish between fact and fiction, and refusing to allow that distinction to become important. --<I>Alan Stewart</I> 869733 14 9 2000 The Night Listener total:1002|5:5|4:17|3:6|2:4|1:1| 1002 3485 1280 112 4 1 false false Sat Aug 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 18 15:51:36 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 02 21:59:12 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 1 true false Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu May 10 11:56:39 -0700 2007 Thu May 10 12:02:18 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri May 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 09:36:38 -0700 2009 Sun May 31 21:17:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Jun 15 08:04:14 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 15 08:08:14 -0700 2008
Hollywood should be ashamed of how badly the butchered this amazing book--Robin William was perfect casting, but the screenplay...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 09:24:44 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 22:08:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 true false Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Thu Jan 22 17:24:49 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 08:13:53 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Dec 29 02:02:21 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 11 21:54:59 -0800 2009 2
First, a disclaimer. This review covers the original publication of the novel and not the movie-tie in version. The movie varies substantially (and is really rather dreadful) from the original novel and it is unknown if the tie-in version of...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Oct 04 08:46:42 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 09:03:53 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false true Sat Apr 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 10 08:05:54 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 11 01:27:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 16:29:48 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 16:31:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Thu Jan 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 07 20:39:49 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 06:56:21 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Apr 28 00:53:27 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 28 00:55:22 -0700 2009
PS do not watch the film first - its a real spoiler and nowhere near as good as the book ...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Aug 03 11:44:46 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 11:46:54 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 05 09:36:54 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 05 09:37:12 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 14:18:22 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 14:19:31 -0700 2009 The Night Listener was definitely engaging and unusual, and not quite what I expected it to be. But overall it left me a bit cold. Maybe I'm just not that much of a fan of ambiguity, which the book is all about. I like answers. ]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Mon Nov 02 07:48:54 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 07:51:25 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Sep 01 23:02:33 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 23:04:14 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 18 02:34:22 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 18 02:43:52 -0700 2008 do exist, no matter how relen...more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Jul 16 10:01:38 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 10:05:35 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun May 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri May 08 06:42:10 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 22:21:57 -0700 2009
Time to re-read Maybe the Moon.]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=589264