Lots of bad decisions and rotten behavior in this novel that' more character than plot driven. A pass from me.

Essentially plotless, this is not the Rechy novel to reach for. Surely, were it not written by John Rechy, this novel would not have found a publisher.

I was unable to finish this novel due to the poor writing style. I have read other novels by this author which I have enjoyed, this one was not good though.

Part autobiography, part fiction, this well-written but ultimately inconsequential novel, tells the story of a young writer, called, like the author, John Rechy, who is invited to stay on a private island by one of his admirers. Paul is a slightly older man, and is on holiday with his beautiful mistress and teenage son. It soon becomes clear that Paul is a manipulative and perhaps dangerous man, who loves to indulge in power games, and the atmosphere on the island becomes sinister and toxic. All the characters are somewhat strange, and I couldn’t relate to any of them, not even to John Rechy himself, and so I remained unengaged by the narrative. Seedy, decadent and mildly pornographic, it wasn’t a pleasant read and felt ultimately empty and pretentious – especially with the frequent references to literature and music, which, whilst fun to see how many names the reader can recognise, seemed to be a sort of cultural showing-off. The writing, however, is admittedly, good, as is the pacing and slow reveal of the characters’ backgrounds, which all contributes to the building tension, but in the end this wasn’t really one for me.

I read Rechy's 'City of Night' sort of by accident when I was sixteen (It was on the same library shelf as Anne Rice.) So, Rice's sadomasochistic fantasies, Anais Nin's erotica (not on the same shelf, but read around the same time) and this all got intertwined in my head. Rechy was by far the most shockingly eye-opening; the most gritty - but at the same time, his writing shares a certain overwrought drama with the other two.
I never really followed his writing after that - tried to get a hold of his memoir that came out a few years ago; but never got my hands on a copy. When I was offered a review copy of this book, I accepted it eagerly.
Reading this, I had to wonder how factual the memoir is. The main character here is a young man called, coincidentally, John Rechy, and there are plenty of metafictional musings about the nature of identity and the 'truth' of narratives. This, however, is definitely not a memoir. I cannot say how closely the character matches the author, or if any parallel incidents occurred in his life, but the structure here is that of a novel.
It's much less sexually explicit than I expected. I recall 'City of Night' as being blatantly pornographic, but this is almost understated - sizzling and brooding with tension; putting the reader on constant edge about what *might* happen.
John Rechy (the character) is a promising young writer known for his treatment of edgy subjects (the gay underground scene, of course) who is invited by an unknown man to visit his private island. We expect a sexual assignation; but the man actually seems to possibly be interested in his writing, perhaps in acting as a kind of patron. Also on the island are the man's beautiful mistress, his teenage son, and two odd and silent household staff. And overlaying all of it is a mass of secrets. Soon, the man's ex-wife may be coming for a visit - and then certain things may be revealed.
I think the book, although published in 2017, has a decidedly 60's-70's vibe to not just the setting, but the writing. It's an interpersonal drama about a troubled family relationship, into which a disinterested party is dragged... but the whole thing teeters right on the verge of crossing over into horror, the way the tension is maintained and developed.
I really liked it.

Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the opportunity to read. As always, my opinions are unaffected by the source of the book.

I hate to say it but I just didn't understand this book. Unless there wasn't any more meaning to it than a terrible rich man, with a terrible rich son who used and abused women and the young writer who is invited to witness this terrible behavior. This book was repetitive. They woke up to heat, lounged around in the heat, had dinner in the heat, repeat. I just didn't get it. Felt like a waste of time reading this.