This book was not for me. I did not finish it. However, I'm glad I gave it a chance as I can see that some people would really like it.

I did not like Oscar or Sebastian. I really can’t stand Oscar. He just grates on every nerve I have. This was a huge obstacle for me to even look at Sebastian with any kind of objectivity.

I received a free copy of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily. I am sorry to say that I did not connect with the characters in this book. You might, so please do not take my opinion as anything other than a reader who did not make a connection.


I received a free copy of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

There are a lot of things to celebrate among queer Americans at the moment. Progress has been made that, when I was a babyqueer, was inconceivable. (And yes, I do know what that word means.) Legal marriage? Common surrogate fatherhood?! Even, in some places, adoption?!? All this presupposes joint mortgages, life insurance left to one's partner, joint bank accounts, Social Security survivor benefits...holy carp, the GOP tomb-raiders who oppose even straight people getting back the money they put into the system must be plotzing. Believe you me, under-40s, not one bit of this was probable in a world with Don't-Ask Don't-Tell witchhunts in all branches of the military and the ever so inaptly named Defense of Marriage Act specifically, and unConstitutionally, forbidding same-sex couples from receiving the 1,049 (by some counts) benefits available to heterosexuals simply by speaking a few words to a County Clerk. (If you're wondering, the religious idiots do not have any thing at all to say about marriage. They can refuse to perform a marriage ceremony for anyone they choose, for any reason they choose; but the State is the only entity that can declare you married, and this has always been so in the United States.)

But what laws give, they can take away; and these rights which are justly ours as much as theirs can, with the wrong (aka right-wing) party at the helm of government, be taken away again by legal chicanery. And Oscar Burnham is bitterly aware of this. Beyond the fact that the extension of legal access to protection for couples strikes at one of the defining qualities of gay-manhood, unbridled and unfettered and unceremonious couple/uncouple relationships where everyone is Mr. Right Now, he's grouchy and squicked out about how the gays are becoming hipsters instead of threatening outsiders to be envied and feared. When he meets Sean, the elderqueer, the survivor of the AIDS years (aka "my direct contemporary") they bond over the Sad State of Things. Sean remembers what it was to be Other with a capital Q when one came out or was outed. Oscar, bless him, tries his damnedest to be there in Sean's head, attaches himself to the older man, becomes his happy shadow.

Sebastian Mote teaches for a living. Sebastian, after re-encountering youthful friend Oscar at a wedding, begins to think...well...sense...maybe perceive will do...that the unfinished business he brings to the table where Oscar's sitting should get more attention from them both. A dance begins, one that ended a decade before; one that wasn't ever resolved, though, so the emotional bonds are still firmly seated. Sebastian's so involved with his students, in the not-squicky way, that he doesn't quite see how Arthur is becoming an obsession...doesn't quite want to let go of his access to the youth's open, happy life awaiting him with boyfriend Raymond.

There is so much about what happens that you'll hate having spoiled. I need you to know, though, one big facet of this story is tragic and painful and life- and generation-defining. It will leave or open wounds for its ferocity and its outrageous reminder that Hate trumps all values thrown in its way because humans love the raw, red, bloody gobbets of The Other's flesh. I don't like that it's true, but nothing in my over-sixty years on Earth has ever come close to persuading me that it isn't.

I am, in a lot of ways, like Oscar: Grumpy, disillusioned by mainstreaming, in a strange, intergenerational love relationship that doesn't look like one anyone outside it understands. (I hope like hell that Rob doesn't feel conflicted about the same things Oscar does!) For that reason, I found this read very much an involving one. The relationship Oscar has with his parents, the emotional ties that bind but are ever looser he feels with Sebastian...all very much like my own life.

What in the end worked best for me about this read was my sense of its reality, its groundedness, and thus it earned my trust. I was always glad to read more and I returned to the read without hesitation. I'm so pleased that the publisher decided to offer me the book to review, and I'm just as pleased that the author wrote such a deeply personal story. The one thing you shouldn't expect is detailed sex scenes, à la Garth Greenwell mentioned in the blurb. It's just not needed to tell this tale the best way it could be told, so Author Salih doesn't do it for the sake of doing it. A big point in his favor.

Then there's the Tragedy I alluded to above, while handled sensitively, isn't so delightful; I wasn't all the way convinced that the event's aftermath was, in fact, not given short shrift. It felt to me as though it was no longer useful in the plot so let's just go now, k? And they did. It wasn't what I felt was enough given the scope of it.

While it did reinforce the solipsism of these men's on-again, off-again intimacy, it felt off, almost reductive, as it's presented in the book. That's a matter of opinion, I know, so take it as such and decide for yourself what you think of the ending.

Now we all have to sit and twiddle our thumbs until Author Salih brings us his next idea. I'm looking forward, and expect you will be too.

OK, I really enjoyed this. Complex characters and I despite not being queer myself thought it was a good characterization of what it might be like to be part of the gay community. The writing style is a little bit unique and it took me a bit to get used to however I did overall enjoy the story. Also this cover is second to none.

Let's Get Back to the Party is a book that examines how queer identity changes from generation to generation. How our ideas of freedom and choice shift. All the things we want to have achieved evolve and the fights we find most important change. With focuses on both characters, Oscar and Sebastian, Salih examines how what we hold as 'queer' or 'gay' shift. For Oscar, his friends getting married is coded as abandoning what he sees as the soul of gay culture. Whereas for Sebastian, he wants to have that security and domesticity.

Throughout Let's Get Back to the Party, Sebastian and Oscar not only look at each other - and what's changed - but also reflect on their own memories. So even in the scenes where they aren't even together in the same room, their ghosts and illusions remain with them. We're able to see how much Sebastian wishes he would have had a childhood where he could be open, where acceptance was more forthcoming. At the same time, Oscar reflects on how his image of Sebastian has changed and even the tinges of their memories.

“Let’s Get Back to the Party” is a raw, contemporary tale with solid characters that make you think about life and fitting in, and I found it profound.

What struck me about the story is how the author realistically captured the tone and theme of the LGBTQ community in the present world and how you can still feel alone even with all the progress that’s happened. This book is raw and emotional and will make you connect with the characters and how they struggle with progressing in life and relationships.

Both the leads also shine in the tale. I thought the author portrayed Oscar and Sebastian accurately, and the author immersed me in their lives. I could empathize with Oscar’s nervousness and found his scenes with Patrick and the explosion memorable. Similarly, Sebastian’s scenes revolving around school life and reconnecting with Oscar were notable. One of the best moments in the story revolved around their reaction to Sean and made the story stand out.

However, I did face quite a few challenges with the book. I am not a fan of books with very few chapters, and each chapter spans 40+ pages. Secondly, while I enjoy a story with an open-ended climax that leaves you the rest of your imagination, I felt this was an instance where it did not work. In my opinion, the story finished abruptly and had me yearning for more.

Nevertheless, “Let’s Get Back to the Party” is an impressive debut by the author that stands out because of its realistic depiction of the community and what it is like for a middle-aged person to fit into the world.

I read the premise of this book and was excited for the potential of what was to come. Unfortunately for me, the writing style for Let's Get Back to the Party didn't click for my taste. I am not a big fan of not using quotations when there is a conversation. Even if dialogue was in the past, I think it's important to establish conversation in a certain way. Therefore, it kept pulling me out of the story and I'm going to have to DNF.
With that said, I still think the story being told had potential and I'm curious how the story would've unfolded, but not enough to finish after reading the first 30%. The characters weren't exactly likable, but I know they had something to say.
I think this was a case of "It's me and not the book" and I would definitely give it a shot if you're ok with alternative and fresh ways of storytelling.

Thank you to Algonquin for the advance copy.

Two gay Millennials, once childhood friends, cross paths at a wedding in D.C.. Their brief, frosty encounter reopens unfinished business from the past and begins an intertwined search for meaning and connection. Firmly grounded in our modern times, Salih’s début novel endeavors to say something about our world. Indeed, its marketing materials proclaim: What does it mean to be a gay man today?

That’s a gutsy endeavor as we’ve come to appreciate the many shades of diversity within diversity and their impact on lived experience and identity. To put it more realistically, Salih’s novel sheds some light on how middle class, cis gender gay male Millennials are doing today. As gay literature has been dominated by Boomers and Gen Xers, a younger perspective is exciting. For me, an ol’ Gen Xer, it was also unexpectedly bleak.

One begins with Salih’s choice of flag-bearers for his generation, which establish a surprisingly uncharitable portrait from the start. Sebastian Mote, perhaps the more sympathetic of the two leads, is frozen in an inner world of insecurities, obsessions and jealousies, such that, while opportunities for emotional connection surround him, he comes across as wallowing and narcissistic. Oscar Burnham enters the story as a bitter, self-involved wedding guest, ducking through the affair, immersed in his cell phone where he’s rifling off texts to potential hook-ups about how dreary it is to have to participate in the celebration of the two grooms.

None of this is positioned with wit or contrasting viewpoint, and Oscar doesn’t get much more likeable from there. Oscar despises everything about the mainstreaming of gayness (vocally, and violently at times), and at thirty-five years old, he idolizes the good ol’ days in the rebellious, liberated 1970s and 80s, which of course he knows nothing about.

Things are not off to a good start for the modern gay man.

Characters need not be likeable to show the reader something true about the world, of course. Funny, reading Salih’s book reminded me of reading the work of Andrew Hollerhan and Alan Hollinghurst from the 1980s, whose characters cast unflattering reflections on gay men of that era, yet one could not deny they were honest, familiar. I think most readers will say the same about Salih’s Sebastian and Oscar. You know these guys as friends, acquaintances, and maybe, if you read on through the cringes, you can even admit you see a bit of yourself. The deft crafting of these flawed young men is an impressive achievement, and, while one wants to grab and shake them at times (“Have you really earned the right to be so jaded and self-loathing in our era of substantial social progress?”), there are moments where one feels for these guys.

Sebastian is hurting from a recent failed relationship with a guy he thought was “the one,” and his defensiveness is forgivable given the challenging landscape of gay dating apps and instant gratification. He’s also a hard-working high school teacher, cultivating student interest in art history, of which he’s passionate and profusely knowledgeable.

Oscar is transparently hurting on the inside as well while he brings down every boys’ night out with his diatribes against heteronormativity and his drunkenness. For anyone who’s had their favorite queer watering hole overtaken by heterosexual bachelorette parties, his outrage resonates. He wants to be “seen” in a world of evaporating queerness: nightclubs closing to make way for high-end real estate development, gay men blending into the suburban scenery. With LGBTQ+ sociopolitical progress, we’ve lost a sense of culture and community, which is particularly important for single gay men like Oscar. He’s also estranged from a homophobic family.

Yet, Salih takes strange turns with Sebastian and Oscar’s stories that don’t quite create compelling character arcs or insight really. Taken as character studies, their stories are exciting, even thrilling at times, but in endeavoring to show character change through complex circumstances, Salih seems to have bitten off more than he can chew. As Sebastian withdraws from the world, immersing himself in his work, his need for emotional connection demands to be dealt with and leads to an obsession with a student who’s living an out and proud life. Oscar pursues solutions for himself through an equally intense emotional bond with an author of some repute who chronicled his sexual escapades in the 70s and 80s.

One sees Salih’s purposes with the juxtaposition: one man looking to the future for answers on how to live as gay and the other looking to the past. But the desperation of their pursuits feels, if not forced, rather shallow, even pathological. In each case, there’s no real empathy for the object of their desire; it’s a narcissistic exercise. Seventeen-year-old Arthur becomes a projection of who Sebastian would have liked to have been, and when that fantasy disintegrates, Sebastian turns coldly away from the boy at a time when Arthur could use his support. The same pattern plays out for Oscar and his hero Sean Stokes. What Sebastian and Oscar have learned from these experiences is unclear, and their stories’ endings are further muddled by the evoking of a national tragedy as a catalytic event for their growth. It’s not quite convincing.

Of note, Salih’s prose is crisp and effective in forward-moving scenes, but some of his stylistic choices are distracting and unpleasant. Dialogue embedded in dense paragraphs. Chapter names taken from classical paintings for Sebastian’s point-of-view.

Sexually provocative chapter names for Oscar’s, somehow tied to Sean’s book-within-the-book. Alternating scenes from past and present that choke the narrative flow. There’s just a bit too much going on.

Ambitious, provocative, textured, overly complicated and overreaching at times, it’s exactly what a good début novel should be. So, what does it mean to be a gay man today? You won’t find all the answers, but Let’s Get Back to the Party is certainly a good conversation-starter among friends.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this title. Overall I appreciated this look at the evolution of gay culture through the intersecting lives of different generations of gay men. The book had some cringe moments and wasn't necessarily the most uplifting, but still a good and interesting read.

With Let's Get Back to the Party, I was drawn in by Salih’s writing and grappling with cultural identity. This book has been highlighted as a “LGBTQ+ Book That Will Change the Literary Landscape,” and I can see why.

It's a book that explores two men finding each other across different times and circumstances and what that relationship might be. I also always appreciate a book with DC context.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

My full review can be read at Fiction Writers Review (link below). Overall, I found it to be an incredible work of art that I will read many times and I'm so honored to have been an early reader for this book.

https://fictionwritersreview.com/review/lets-get-back-to-the-party-by-zak-salih/

I kinda liked this book. It's about two gay men navigating their way through life post the legalization of gay marriage. They were childhood bffs and both struggled with being gay men. Sebastian is hopeful but jealous of an out&proud student of his, he becomes almost obsessive of him. Meanwhile, Oscar meets an older gay icon notorious for his sexual romps in his youth. It's a good read and will leave you thinking but the plot doesn't stand out and the way Sébastian drools over Arthur's ability to be himself borders on creepy and child molesty.

Unfortunately, can’t recommend this one.... There are so many excellent books waiting to be read, I couldn’t (wasn’t compelled to) finish this one.

I was really excited about this one based on the synopsis and the fun cover, but it didn't live up to the hype for me. I am not usually a big fan of long chapters, but it worked well in this book because the two perspectives changed throughout the chapters.

First, the cover of this book is SERIOUSLY awesome.

There was some really funny writing in this novel, but some of it was a little on the nose. I liked the two points of view and setting the book right after Obergefell, but I just couldn’t root for the main characters and therefore wasn’t super invested.

Lots to like here, but I felt the writing needed a bit more editing.

Sadly I did not enjoy this much as I wanted! It seems to drag for quite a lot of the Novel and I hate DNF’ing Queer stories which I nearly did with this one but a pushed through and it was just meh for me

3.5 Stars

In the absence of college classes, I read to educate myself as much as for fun. This book is definitely one for the former category. The true crux of this book is what it means to be a gay man in today's world. To be honest (and I'm admitting this with embarrassment), it never even occurred to me that there would be an alternative opinion outside of happiness when the US Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage was legal. In this book, we meet two character's on opposite ends of that viewpoint. Sebastian (wanted to be seen as 'normal' to society and welcomed SCOTUS' decision) and Oscar who found the decision abhorrent and prickled at how the struggle was lost and that straight women invaded gay bars and took 'his space' over. Both characters have a history from childhood and flit in and out of each other's lives. They both view the other as the antithesis of what life as a gay man should be. As the book progresses, Sebastian and Oscar have their views challenged by the other as well fall off kilter in their routines due to the force of new people entering their lives. In Sebastian's life, he becomes almost enamored by a student of his who lives his life openly gay and proud. In Oscar's instance, he meets an author who served as a pillar in the gay community who was most famously known for his books on his sexual conquests and later his writing on the death of gay men in the 80s.

Watching Oscar and Sebastian go through life was uncomfortable, cringe-worthy (at times), maddening (I mean how self-destructive can you be?), but also insightful. I really appreciate the opportunity to have read this book (thank you Algonquin Books) and recommend this as an important read.

Review Date: 02/26/21
Publication Date: 02/16/21

This is an interesting read. Through two central characters and various supporting characters, it explores perspectives on relationships in the aftermath of same-sex marriage being legalized nationally. Coming from different generations and with different priorities, the author explores how progress to many does not always feel like progress to all and how national dynamics and personal relationships relate in often unexpected ways. The premise was interesting and well executed. Recommended!

I would first like to thank Algonquin Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. The publication date of this book is February 16th, 2021.

2.5/5 Stars

I didn't really know what to expect going into this novel. The synopsis that was sent to me by the publisher made it seem like the next, big, gay novel... a modern classic of sorts--the storyline spanning from the marriage equality ruling to the tragic Pulse Nightclub massacre. As aforementioned, I didn't know much beyond that, and I'm glad I didn't.

I really liked some aspects of the story, and I thought that some of the major topics mentioned were very relatable for me as a queer, young-adult, high school teacher that sees his queer students being able to accept themselves at a point in life where I was praying that part of myself away.

However, I felt like Salih was overzealous and tried to cram as many of these poignant, queer topics into his novel, which was just over 200-pages, as he could. Because of this, I felt that his characters lacked the complexity of actual, queer people. Our main characters just seemed to be victims of their circumstances, and the "why" behind their actions weren't ever explored to the level at which they should have been. In fact, one character from the novel refers to our main characters as the "mad queen" and the "sad queen." Which were the caricatures that these characters came off as throughout the entire novel.

Again, I felt like this book had many things going for it, and it just didn't "stick the landing" for me. I know some people take issue with the darker tone of this novel, and it is a rather somber read. Nonetheless, I thought that the tone perfectly matched the subject matter that was covered. This book attempts to showcase the "underbelly" of queer culture (namely, cis male, gay culture). Again, it does a decent job at bringing up some aspects that aren't often portrayed/mentioned in queer media... However, it just doesn't dig deep enough to be anything incredibly meaningful for the reader.

Set between the historic 2015 Supreme Court decision that made gay marriage legal and the devastating 2016 attack on Pulse nightclub, Let’s Get Back to the Party follows two gay men as they form friendships that cause them to re-examine their identities.

Salih is a skillful writer, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading his prose. This is a book of contrasts— past vs. future, old vs. new, traditional vs. free-spirited. This is captured not only through the various characters we meet, who are all at different stages of life, but also through Salih’s writing. I really liked the interweaving of art for Sebastian’s chapters, and how each of Oscar’s chapters connected to a novel.

I still don’t know how to feel about our main characters, Sebastian and Oscar. Neither of them are likable (which is fine and works for me!) However, I don’t feel like I got enough closure at the end of their stories. I think I was waiting for a major turning point in their mindsets, but it felt more like we were slowly chugging our way towards a cliff. The ending was... interesting? I don’t know. I need someone to talk to me about it.

Though this book had a narrow focus on gay men, I felt that it did a great job examining how identity might mean different things to different generations. In a time when acceptance and celebration of LGBT rights is commonplace (at least, a LOT more than it has been in the past), we’re at a crossroads.

Older generations are still mourning those they lost to AIDS. Younger people celebrate the marriage equality they’ve been fighting for. And still younger teens and kids are growing up in a completely different world to the one their predecessors experienced. Salih looks at all of these various lifestages in his novel, and I really appreciated his commentary on this aspect of LGBT culture.

All-in-all this is a solid debut, and I’ll definitely be looking out for more of his works in the future.