Like many future English majors/wannabe-writers, I was obsessed with postmodern lit between the ages of 17 and 21 – most especially anything associated with the Beat Generation. In his novels he has written extensively about gay culture in Los Angeles and wider America, among other subject matters, and is among the pioneers of modern LGBT literature. That slacker mentality is thankfully back in its mischievously muted manner - 'It gave me the feels' being one of my current favourites. When I picked this book to write about this morning, I noticed that a lot of my friends have written about it, which is natural, since this is an iconic gay male novel, born out of an era in which writing of this blunt honesty was nearly impossible. Telling the story of a male hustler in pre Stonewall USA, the book was a Bestseller on release, despite coming in for criticism from many reviewers at the time. Lonely, punishing, and. I don't want any injuries. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Emotionally I think it touched on a lot of stuff I related to (and haven't read about before), to the point where I was willing--happy, even--to overlook things like the description of a hot dog cart as a relic from Hell. Never fear though. One episode out of the American classic "City of Night" by John Rechy, originally published in 1963 in New York by Grove Press. But beyond that I found there to be so much psychobabble and pretension that the book was at times completely insufferable. Bits of this book are certainly 4-star, a few chapters may even merit 5, but the overall journey through the nocturnal world of 1960s America's gay hustling scene, over almost 400 pages of small print, was just a little too arduous for my liking. It is also the kind of book that people speak of as hard, edgy, frank, which means that the writer treats sex in a particular way; at least I find that to be true most of the time. . Wow! Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published The Mardi Gras scenes are also genuinely Boschian and more than repaid the effort of getting through some of the talkier chapters. What a loss! City of Night was published in 1963 and was considered one of the first novels of the genre generally called gay literature. Be the first to ask a question about City of Night. This book is basically a queer take on ', This book should be required reading for anyone interested in 1950s/60s "underground culture" (for lack of a better term, or sort of the opposite of straight, white, heteronormative Mad Men). The above lyrics are for Bruce Springsteen's official studio version of CITY OF NIGHT as released in 2010. The ending was so incredibly touching. In terms of atmosphere it can be viewed as part of the Gothic tradition, but the setting is a supposedly modern city. Having been born post the AIDS/HIV discovery era, I was always fascinated by the kind of lifestyle previous to that, and at the same time, felt repulsed by it to a certain degree. Cars in Night City can be summoned in a similar manner to what you might be familiar with if you have ever whistled for Roach in The Witcher 3. City of Night by John Rechy, 1984, Grove Press edition, in English - 1st Grove Press outrider ser. I read the book because of my endless fascination with outsider culture, especially in ages of great conformity. City On A Hill . B From the celebrated imagination of Dean Koontz comes a powerful reworking of one of the classic stories of all time. But that doesn't mean I don't have a song and dance to tell you about it now. Unfortunately for Jackie, ADA Decourcy Ward (Aldis Hodge) is onto his adversary’s latest misstep. I picked up the 50th anniversary copy of this novel in The Strand in NYC based on its blurb, it somehow having passed under my radar in the past. Ulf Kjell Gür. John Francisco Rechy (born March 10, 1931) is a Mexican American novelist, essayist, memoirist, dramatist and literary critic. . This is one of those which will pick you up, spin you around, chew you up and spit you back out. . Such beautiful, evocative dialogue. The Night City Policy Department is proud to announce the current threat level for City Center is: SAFE. I get why James Baldwin was such a fan. Welcome back. When I picked this book to write about this morning, I noticed that a lot of my friends have written about it, which is natural, since this is an iconic gay male novel, born out of an era in which writing of this blunt honesty was nearly impossible. This led him to break off and form his own company Night International, with the end goal of creating the ideal city.Situated in the What a loss! The ending was so incredibly touching. And while John Rechy’s landmark debut, City of Night, shares many similarities with the Beats that popularized their iconic movement (and the novels that defined it), it managed to fly under my radar. Drawing on his own background, he has also contributed to Chicano literature, especially with his novel The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez, which is taught in several Chicano literature courses in the United States. . This book is not one of his best, and unfortunately people fluff it as though it is his best, and most people do not read any of his other novels. The novel is sad, bleak and depressing showing the lost lives of people living in a more closed and tragic rendering of American society. As literary and social mores were liberalized, Cheever himself dealt with homosexuality in his prison novel Falconer (1977) and even more explicitly in his personal journals, published posthumously in 1991. I actually finished this book months ago, but I never rated it because I wanted to write a comprehensive review and now it was so long ago that all i can say: In the late 1950s, John Rechy returned to his hometown of El Paso, TX, after several years spent criss-crossing the US. 1960. City of Night is an art event that has so many unique features it is hard for me to even describe! CITY OF NIGHT is what you get when you cross headlong, Beat Generation writing with a young man's emerging sense of self as gay -- and it's a shocking and wonderful meld indeed. Truly gripping and evocative. Rechy displayed a throwaway brilliance.”—Gary Indiana, The Los Angeles Times Book Review “An American classic, with its loner hero, its juke joints and neon signs, its restless shifting from city to city . A lot of this reminded me of Jack K. Truly gripping and evocative. I have such complicated feelings about it, but i ultimately rated it four stars because even though it depressed the shit out of me by the time i finally made it to the end, i also found so much of it to be familiar in terms of the speech and behavior of the people in it. In his novels he has written extensively about homosexual culture in Los Angeles and wider America, and is among the pioneers of modern LGBT literature. This 1963 novel stunned readers when it first appeared: the narrator whose father's friends demanded he "give them a thousand," his youth as a hustler, the lurking, intense romanticism of various American "entertainment districts." --Gary Indiana, The Los Angeles Times Book Review "An American classic, with its loner hero, its juke joints and neon signs, its restless shifting from city to city . This is the kind of book that Grove Press was known for, edgy and hard. "City of Night" is a novel that I haven't read in about eight years, but its storyline and poetic prose still lingers in my mind to this day. The ideas about gay sex that Rechy wrote about fell out of fashion in the aftermath of HIV; he was an advocate for hustler sex, anonymous sex, public sex; the world he writes about is that night-driven world that gay people occupied in that same era. I'm not sure exactly what I expected from this novel, but it wasn't that it would break my heart so very many times over. But it's also so so so so fucking depressing, the way in which everyone in the book pretty much is a walking wounded tragedy, trying to exist in a culture that hates and demonizes them just for their sexuality and/or gender expression. Internet Utility Functions (Whois, etc) Congratulations! The novel combines an understanding not only of the insistent drumbeats of gay sexuality and male emotion but also the orange-drink-and-popcorn-scented center of the seediest American cities, ca. Here’s a walkthrough of Phantom of Night City in Cyberpunk 2077. It's almost pointless to call this book a classic; it is a singular novel that only got itself born because of the force of the writer and his unswerving vision. I stumbled upon this gay cult classic accidentally and went into it without knowing its status or significance. How? Such beautiful, evocative dialogue. Much of the vernacular did fill in some missing blanks and made me understand many terms still floating about on the modern scene. I suppose I don't want to spoil my first impression of it, when everything Rechy had to say was vital to my understanding of myself. Discussion of themes and motifs in John Rechy's City of Night. from City of Night: This is a novel about America. . Rumors of muggings and acts of gang violence in the back alleys and side streets of Downtown have either been greatly exaggerated or are grossly out of date. Refresh and try again. CITY OF NIGHT is what you get when you cross headlong, Beat Generation writing with a young man's emerging sense of self as gay -- and it's a shocking and wonderful meld indeed. City of Night is a classic of its kind...Rechy is an evocative and at times poetic writer who captures the seedy underside of America. I gave it four stars... so you know I enjoyed it. He simply presents the world of the hustler, the world of the drag queen, the scenes of gay bars in New Orleans, with the sensibility of a natural inhabit of all these milieus. In his novels he has written extensively about homosexual culture in Los Angeles and wider America, and is among the pioneers of modern LGBT literature. But it should begin in El Paso, that journey through the cities of night. City of Night was distinctly a Beat novel, rangy and full of bold riffs as a Charlie Parker album. We’d love your help. City of Night, as I remember it, is a powerful, dead on depiction of the gay underworld of the late 50's, early sixties. Margaret Atwood’s Big Sequel Answers Readers’ Questions. It can be read as "gay lit," of course, or simply as Americana, hot and heavy. I watched other lives, only through a window.”, “Maybe I could love you. ), Like many future English majors/wannabe-writers, I was obsessed with postmodern lit between the ages of 17 and 21 – most especially anything associated with the Beat Generation. The PNCF contains over 80 actions for Council across 6 focus areas: Focus 1 – Planning for a future 24-hour CBD and late trading centres At its best when it is nightmarish, John Rechy's classic account of hustling in the occluded world of homosexuality in mid-century America makes a compelling case that sexual identity is a spectrum rather than points on a plane. Your objective is to neutralize Norio Akuhara and investigate the area. . There are better Rechy books out there such as Numbers. Worthy of its classic status. Night City was the brainchild of businessman Richard Night, who became dissatisfied with his experiences in managing corporate construction projects as part of his company Halsey, Ferris and Night. 2,838 likes. Rechy's prose works well when it's sparse but all too often it veers int. So when the gushing honesty of its characters overflows onto the page, do not be surprised to find yourself in awe of what this book actually accomplishes. HISTORY. John Rechy went on to write many other books, most notably THE SEXUAL OUTLAW, but in my opinion this one is his best. "City of Night" is notable for its exposé approach to … City Of Night (Berlin) Lyrics: Listen, can't you hear your crying heart? John Rechy's "City of Night" is notable for its exposé approach to and stark depiction of hustling, as well as its stream of consciousness narrative style. The book is the second in Koontz's series, entitled Dean Koontz's Frankenstein. Start by marking “City of Night” as Want to Read: Error rating book. Also some insights about sex work that are universal, not just limited to the gay market, that shouldn't be missed, though not as great in this area as _The Sexual Outlaw_. --Gary Indiana, The Los Angeles Times Book Review "An American classic, with its loner hero, its juke joints and neon signs, its restless shifting from city to city . Before there was "Midnight Cowboy" this classic came along about male prostitution that never sinks into sleaze. City of Night should be enshrined in a time capsule and revisited every 20 years by successive generations. And I would remember lives lived out darkly in that vast City of Night, from all-night movies to Beverly Hills mansions. At its best when it is nightmarish, John Rechy's classic account of hustling in the occluded world of homosexuality in mid-century America makes a compelling case that sexual identity is a spectrum rather than points on a plane. It is a sad yet beautiful story of a young, nameless, faceless, street hustler that roams the large cities of the U.S. looking for love in a homosexual relationship. John Rechy's "City of Night" is notable for its exposé approach to and stark depiction of hustling, as well as its stream of consciousness narrative style. Until now, the event has been held at Silo City each year. ART. The book is filled with moments that perfectly capture the alienated gay culture of the 60s in an at times shocking way. Corrupt FBI agent Jackie Rohr (Kevin Bacon) is back, looking to exploit Boston's criminal justice system in a desperate attempt to salvage his own career. But critics are correct when they say this is the best of Rechy's work. This 1963 novel stunned readers when it first appeared: the narrator whose father's friends demanded he "give them a thousand," his youth as a hustler, the lurking, intense romanticism of various American "entertainment districts." I read this book and it's extremely overrated, drags on for way too long and should have been edited more, and Rechy's narcissism and snobbery shows through the fiction. The largely passive narrator acts as a device for hearing out the stories of various characters from this furtive sexual underworld, a few of which are incredibly poignant; but there are longueurs too across the many months and miles, and any resolution of the central character's emotional gridlock caused by craving and fearing love in equal measures is only hinted at by the end. Much of the vernacular did fill in some missing blanks and made me understand many terms still floating about on the modern scene. Set before my time but I was blown away by the language, the ghetto pattois, the polari, call it what you will. from New York City, to Los Angeles, San Francisco and New Orleans. I think it succeeds on both counts. There are also at least two books here -- one an almost journalistic account of life in the bars and on the streets and another, much less satisfying overlay of drama and unconvincing introspection. Add the first question. For a young gay man, and occasional trick turner, it was a book that spoke to my experience in a world that did not want me to be. CITY OF NIGHT is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and released on his 2010 album The Promise. That cool, hip and wantonly slick and sleek flow of words, I had never encountered before. Never fear though. . He does so with force and brilliance and a good strong dose of messiness. The book is about a mostly gay hustler who drifts through the major U.S. cities and in the process manages to dissect quite a few stereotypes that are still very pervasive on the gender/sexuality front and also manages to invent a new language to describe what feels like a new world. Though, the latter became apparent as I read. “I read many books, I saw many, many movies. I wanted to like this more than I actually did. Rechy displayed a throwaway brilliance." . I wanted to like this book more - I really did. From "Dexter" to The Suicide Squad, here are our picks for the reboots and remakes we're most excited for in 2021 and beyond. "City of Night" is notable for its exposé approach to and stark depiction of hustling. DEAN KOONTZ’S CITY OF NIGHT They are stronger, heal better, and think faster than any humans ever created–and they must be destroyed. The letter was never sent; instead, it became the staring point for, [(They clearly want each other but are so afraid of admitting their queerness they ultimately do nothing more than hold hands. We talked... To see what your friends thought of this book, I just saw in the NYTimes that Grove is putting out the 50th anniversary edition - my heart stopped for just a second, and even as I'm writing this my stomach has that forbidden fruit feeling of something thrilling and frightening this way coming. Wow! "City of Night" runs for almost 400 pages but you'll never get bored because it's so well written. A lot of this reminded me of Jack Kerouac, if he was more refined and could concentrate better. (It's the same feeling I got well into my adult years when driving into NYC - an-tici-pation.). Expansive and electric, City of Night brings to life a young unnamed hustler’s coming of age. 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