Joe Westmoreland’s *Tramps Like Us* is a compelling, heartwarming novel about a group of misfits. It captures the essence of what it means to be a found family. The dialogue is sharp and realistic, often laced with humor that provides moments of lightness amidst the novel's more serious undertones. This is a book that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt like an outsider, and it’s an unforgettable read. Highly recommended for anyone in search of a story that’s both poignant and uplifting.

Tramps Like Us feels like a confessional, a celebration, and reflection, and a love letter all rolled into one. We follow Joe, our narrator, as he brings us through his life. From beginnings in the south, hitchhiking across the country, and his years in San Francisco. 

The novel is full of booze, drugs, sex, finding chosen family, immeasurable loss, and, at its core, hope and love - even in the midst of what will become the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Joe’s chosen family only grows with each passing page and some of these characters you come know and to love as if they could be your own friends. Westmoreland’s storytelling makes the reader an active participant alongside Joe and his friends as they dance in packed clubs, drive here there any everywhere, and comfort each other in hospital rooms.

The new forward and afterward further enrich the story told within the pages between them. The afterward made me cry just as much as the novel itself did (which is a lot)

I am so glad this is being republished! I hadn’t heard of this before perusing NetGalley and I fear it would be lost to the ages should this not happen. I cannot recommend this enough for anyone who reads gay literature. Tramps Like Us feels like it will be a classic cornerstone piece of gay literature among the likes of Giovanni’s Room and Stone Butch Blues.

This book was an absolute emotional rollercoaster, and I just couldn’t put it down. I was so drawn into Joe’s journey as he grows up, leaves his small town, and builds a found family. It’s a powerful exploration of the ups and downs of adolescence, and the search for who you really are along the way.

What really spoke to me, though, was how the music of the time was woven throughout the story. There’s something so powerful about how music shapes our identities, and I loved how Joe connected his life to the songs and sounds around him.

The parts about the AIDS crisis were tough to read, but so important. I couldn’t help but reflect on the author’s afterword, where he mentioned how little the AIDS crisis is discussed nowadays—and that hit me hard. So many queer lives were lost, so many stories never told. This novel brings those stories to life in a way that feels both raw and necessary.

I truly loved this book. It’s destined to be a queer classic, one that will stick with me for a long, long time.

What a fun romp through a tumultuous couple of decades this was. It was lewd, it was funny, some parts were serious and they were interspersed in a way that was easy to digest. I loved it.

Joe Westmoreland’s Tramps Like Us pulled me into a raw, emotional journey through the 1970s and ’80s. Following Joe, a young gay man escaping an abusive home, I felt every mile of his search for freedom, belonging, and self-discovery. His bond with Ali, another outsider, leads them to New Orleans and San Francisco, where they dive headfirst into a world of music, drugs, and fleeting joys.

Westmoreland’s storytelling is brutally honest, capturing both the euphoria of youth and the heartbreak as the AIDS crisis begins to shatter their community. This reissued cult classic is a gripping tale of friendship, survival, and a generation caught between liberation and tragedy. It left me deeply moved and grateful for the stories that endure.

What a wonderful, beautiful read.
Told in the form of small episodes that take place in the life of the protagonist, the novel sucks you right in, like you're right there alongside Joe and his friends. It's like sharing snippets of a life with a friend, reminiscing on your common memories. The writing is simple and accessible, but never simplistic, it is full of sentiment and weight in it's vulnerability, the openness in which the events are shared with the reader - we become the confidents Joe tells his story to, or the spectators of this troubled, happy sad life we're being shown. I loved the manner in which music is always present through each episode, as music is such a big deal to me, too, and it was so much fun to find names I used to listen to at about the same time - I'm from a younger generation, though, and while the characters were in their late 20s, early 30s listening to Sistes of Mercy and Siouxie, I was 15, 16 and enjoying the very same songs. I may have screamed a little when the Prince gig happened, or when Madonna visited the store Nick owned.
The characters felt so real, and so close, it was impossible for me not to forge an emotional bond with them all, even those who sort of annoyed me a little, like Ali sometimes did. They became my friends, through the reading, my found family, and it was really both heartwarming and heartbreaking to witness their bonds and the way they cared and looked after each other in the midst of what was such a dreadful time with the full force of the AIDS epidemic and the lack of knowledge there was about it.
To say my eyes watered quite a bit through those final chapters would be an understatement - I had to pause to wipe my tears, for it felt far too close to home, those losses.
It's a book I would recommend to anyone as a portrait of a time younger generations won't know, and older generations won't know either, unless they moved in certain outskirts of society. A must-read for the beauty of the contents and the historical context.

This is one of those books that will stay with you long after reading it. Joe has got to be one of the most complex, intriguing characters that I've read in some time. His journey takes us on a roller coaster that I found myself physically reacting to at times. The author does such a great job of writing about the AIDS crisis in the 80's, it's done with respect and dignity to many queer people who lost their lives and the effect it had on the community still till this day. You will need tissues while reading this but I highly recommend this to anyone, it is a must read!