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Boy Cuddle
Set in present day South London, this book tells the story of a love triangle between Joseph Dean Tortois, known to his friends as Toys, Boy Cuddle, a cross-dressing rent boy, and Jenny, a young northerner who came to London looking for love.
224 pages, Paperback
First published December 28, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 16, 2021
I liked it. Found it in a second-hand bookshop in London.
I liked the way it's written, in a semi-nonlinear way, like a stream of thoughts with random memories popping up, and being frank and direct. The characters were interesting and so was 1990s London.
There's a slight issue that I think it depends too much on the readers knowledge of London to fill out the minor details of the story. I've lived in London for a year now but I still feel like I missed out on some details - perhaps it's intended.
It also has loads of British slang, which was interesting.
Overall, it's a good and sort of dreamy story.
I liked the way it's written, in a semi-nonlinear way, like a stream of thoughts with random memories popping up, and being frank and direct. The characters were interesting and so was 1990s London.
There's a slight issue that I think it depends too much on the readers knowledge of London to fill out the minor details of the story. I've lived in London for a year now but I still feel like I missed out on some details - perhaps it's intended.
It also has loads of British slang, which was interesting.
Overall, it's a good and sort of dreamy story.
May 18, 2025
"In the course of one late afternoon, Toys, the narrator of Stevie White's bitter sweet novel of London life charges through his memories - his paradoxical start as the black child of a white mother, his emerging bi-sexuality, and his six year liaison with Boy Cuddle, the cross-dressing rent boy who began life as Sean Cuddel in the same South London slum as Toys.
"Boy Cuddle has emerged from a damaging childhood, insensitive to life, love and Toy's advances. Unaware of his own value and desperate to please, he becomes the victim of every situation: used by everyone, he uses drink to get by.
"The third member of this heretical love triangle is Jenny - a north country tart come to live in London. She falls for Boy Cuddle too and as she muscles in an indignant Toys tries to match her step for step. But Toys is more than just a rival. His outrageous behavior at the gym where he is training to be a boxer, at disco, seance or just picking girls up at London Airport will disarm all but the most rigid moralist. And the end of the rivalry when Toys teams up with Jenny to help Boy Cuddle fight his toughest fight of all, will move all but the most hardened of hearts.
"Boy Cuddle is a remarkable first novel which takes the reader into a world that few writers have tried to enter and makes its inhabitants come vividly, painfully alive." from the jacket flyleaf of the 1992 hardback edition from Andre Deutsch.
Compare the above to what GR says:
'Set in present day South London, this book tells the story of a love triangle between Joseph Dean Tortois, known to his friends as Toys, Boy Cuddle, a cross-dressing rent boy, and Jenny, a young northerner who came to London looking for love.'
Which is about as reductive as describing 'Romeo & Juliet' as 'Two teenagers go OTT ape-shit when their parents stop them seeing each other'. Both statements are true but tell you nothing. Indeed what is most important about this novel is not what it is about (and even the publisher's blurb is not accurate) but when it was written.
Although published in 1992 this is a novel of the 1980s. The shabby hypocrisies of Tony Blair and 'Cool Britannia' had yet to ensure the UK would leave the 20th century via a 'low dishonest decade'. This novel is set in the time before huge swaths of the homes of ordinary, working class Londoners ugly and run-down but still the beating heart of communities and ways-of-life now as vanished now as the parsonages of Jane Austen were displaced to create slums for millionaires. The homeless still lived in encampments on the South Bank and everyone used public phones. London was so different then, it had yet to begin to start :
"...growing... changing... (to) heave up in the middle, incredibly and as it heaved and spread, to befoul itself and darken its skies..." (with apologies to the 'Magnificent Ambersons' of Booth Tarkington)
This is the London I knew when young, and Stevie White might as well be Giuseppe Tomasi, 11th Prince of Lampedusa, 12th Duke of Palma describing the world of his ancestors in Risorgimento Italy.
Even the most simplest 'facts' of the novel will be incomprehensible to younger readers. Boy Cuddle the 'cross-dressing' rent boy is not transgender he is straight not gay. The bisexual Toys is even more complicated. Another reviewer on GR thought him:
'One of the most unpleasant and antipathetic protagonists I have ever encountered. We see the world and characters through the veil of his self loathing homophobia and misogyny...'
But that is completely to misunderstand Toys who is not in the least homophobic (though Jenny, Boy Cuddles girlfriend, says some some homophobic things) is not self loathing and his misogyny while real is of his time. You might as well complain about Bill Sykes being a thief.
The wonderful thing about this novel is that it is that rare voice in English gay fiction, the ordinary working class. That 'Boy Cuddle' was published at all after Alan Hollinghurst had more-or-less usurped the role of 'English gay voice' back into the fold of public school tedium is a testament to a publishing era that was soon to disappear. Just like the London 'Boy Cuddle' is set in. That Stevie White never had another published, while Hollinghurst tedious post Brideshead wank fests keep pouring off the press, explains why UK literature is a cul de sac.
'Boy Cuddle' is, whether intentionally or not, a novel capturing a London just about to vanish. Unlike American novels like 'Saul's book' by Paul T. Rogers or 'User' by Bruce Benderson which narrates the demise of one New York and the birth of another 'Boy Cuddle' has no such long term view. But then 'Boy Cuddle' is a London novel and the days when London was a metaphor for the world were long past. New York could represent the world, even Booth Tarkington's Indianapolis could represent the world, but not London.
But 'Boy Cuddle' is a beautiful novel which will probably have to wait until its setting is sufficiently past for its merits to shine forth. It is worth remembering how little understood or appreciated 'The Great Gatsby' was and although 'Boy Cuddle' is not a Great Gatsby (or a Saul's Book or User) it is a very fine novel which I hope will be read when the meretricious tripe that passes for 'literature' has been forgotten.
"Boy Cuddle has emerged from a damaging childhood, insensitive to life, love and Toy's advances. Unaware of his own value and desperate to please, he becomes the victim of every situation: used by everyone, he uses drink to get by.
"The third member of this heretical love triangle is Jenny - a north country tart come to live in London. She falls for Boy Cuddle too and as she muscles in an indignant Toys tries to match her step for step. But Toys is more than just a rival. His outrageous behavior at the gym where he is training to be a boxer, at disco, seance or just picking girls up at London Airport will disarm all but the most rigid moralist. And the end of the rivalry when Toys teams up with Jenny to help Boy Cuddle fight his toughest fight of all, will move all but the most hardened of hearts.
"Boy Cuddle is a remarkable first novel which takes the reader into a world that few writers have tried to enter and makes its inhabitants come vividly, painfully alive." from the jacket flyleaf of the 1992 hardback edition from Andre Deutsch.
Compare the above to what GR says:
'Set in present day South London, this book tells the story of a love triangle between Joseph Dean Tortois, known to his friends as Toys, Boy Cuddle, a cross-dressing rent boy, and Jenny, a young northerner who came to London looking for love.'
Which is about as reductive as describing 'Romeo & Juliet' as 'Two teenagers go OTT ape-shit when their parents stop them seeing each other'. Both statements are true but tell you nothing. Indeed what is most important about this novel is not what it is about (and even the publisher's blurb is not accurate) but when it was written.
Although published in 1992 this is a novel of the 1980s. The shabby hypocrisies of Tony Blair and 'Cool Britannia' had yet to ensure the UK would leave the 20th century via a 'low dishonest decade'. This novel is set in the time before huge swaths of the homes of ordinary, working class Londoners ugly and run-down but still the beating heart of communities and ways-of-life now as vanished now as the parsonages of Jane Austen were displaced to create slums for millionaires. The homeless still lived in encampments on the South Bank and everyone used public phones. London was so different then, it had yet to begin to start :
"...growing... changing... (to) heave up in the middle, incredibly and as it heaved and spread, to befoul itself and darken its skies..." (with apologies to the 'Magnificent Ambersons' of Booth Tarkington)
This is the London I knew when young, and Stevie White might as well be Giuseppe Tomasi, 11th Prince of Lampedusa, 12th Duke of Palma describing the world of his ancestors in Risorgimento Italy.
Even the most simplest 'facts' of the novel will be incomprehensible to younger readers. Boy Cuddle the 'cross-dressing' rent boy is not transgender he is straight not gay. The bisexual Toys is even more complicated. Another reviewer on GR thought him:
'One of the most unpleasant and antipathetic protagonists I have ever encountered. We see the world and characters through the veil of his self loathing homophobia and misogyny...'
But that is completely to misunderstand Toys who is not in the least homophobic (though Jenny, Boy Cuddles girlfriend, says some some homophobic things) is not self loathing and his misogyny while real is of his time. You might as well complain about Bill Sykes being a thief.
The wonderful thing about this novel is that it is that rare voice in English gay fiction, the ordinary working class. That 'Boy Cuddle' was published at all after Alan Hollinghurst had more-or-less usurped the role of 'English gay voice' back into the fold of public school tedium is a testament to a publishing era that was soon to disappear. Just like the London 'Boy Cuddle' is set in. That Stevie White never had another published, while Hollinghurst tedious post Brideshead wank fests keep pouring off the press, explains why UK literature is a cul de sac.
'Boy Cuddle' is, whether intentionally or not, a novel capturing a London just about to vanish. Unlike American novels like 'Saul's book' by Paul T. Rogers or 'User' by Bruce Benderson which narrates the demise of one New York and the birth of another 'Boy Cuddle' has no such long term view. But then 'Boy Cuddle' is a London novel and the days when London was a metaphor for the world were long past. New York could represent the world, even Booth Tarkington's Indianapolis could represent the world, but not London.
But 'Boy Cuddle' is a beautiful novel which will probably have to wait until its setting is sufficiently past for its merits to shine forth. It is worth remembering how little understood or appreciated 'The Great Gatsby' was and although 'Boy Cuddle' is not a Great Gatsby (or a Saul's Book or User) it is a very fine novel which I hope will be read when the meretricious tripe that passes for 'literature' has been forgotten.
October 18, 2011
From the cover since there is no other synopsis available.
Joseph Dean Tortois,known to his mates as Toys.Black child of a white mother.Trainee boxer with a bisexual soul.Poet and storyteller...
This is his story of a six year liaison with the beautiful but brain-dead Boy Cuddle, the cross-dressing rent boy who began life as Sean Cuddel in the same dismal urban ghetto as Toys.
Then Jenny came to London looking for something..and settled for Sean.Because when Jenny fought Toys, and Sean couldn't-or wouldn't -react..how could their heretical love triangle every find a happy ending?
My own words:A strange,compelling story of 3 people.I couldn't put it down.Set in London. Excellent writing.
Three outcasts who found a home and love with each other--imperfect...but perfect for them...such as it was.
Joseph Dean Tortois,known to his mates as Toys.Black child of a white mother.Trainee boxer with a bisexual soul.Poet and storyteller...
This is his story of a six year liaison with the beautiful but brain-dead Boy Cuddle, the cross-dressing rent boy who began life as Sean Cuddel in the same dismal urban ghetto as Toys.
Then Jenny came to London looking for something..and settled for Sean.Because when Jenny fought Toys, and Sean couldn't-or wouldn't -react..how could their heretical love triangle every find a happy ending?
My own words:A strange,compelling story of 3 people.I couldn't put it down.Set in London. Excellent writing.
Three outcasts who found a home and love with each other--imperfect...but perfect for them...such as it was.
September 1, 2017
One of the most unpleasant and antipathetic protagonists I have ever encountered. We see the world and characters through the veil of his self loathing homophobia and misogyny , which only begins to soften as the book approaches its climax. Also possibly the most British novel I have ever read, and in fact my visualisations, half the bystanders were Micheal Caine, the rest were extras from, Minder, the Bill and Are You Being Served? I did love though, that Stevie White's mid-eighties London was the seventies with Madonna and Walkmans, dodging the tendency to imagine a decade as discrete entity instead of a blurred progression from one age to another. Calling it a win... but only just.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews