quinndm's review against another edition
3.0
Edmund White has lived an incredible life and written some beautiful works… but I had no idea how extreme that life truly was.
paulreads's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.75
I liked the first half but soon got very bored and not caring about his judgemental OTT story telling. I just found it all a bit dull.
dkrane's review against another edition
4.0
A dishy read that’s extremely literate and fun. Good picture of bohemian pre-AIDS gay life in NYC, with a LOT of name dropping and memories of hookups. Bit overlong and sometimes feels like there’s a bit of an axe to grind, or an urge to name every famous relationship he had as opposed to a shaped narrative? Still, interesting.
jackieeh's review against another edition
3.0
Oh Edmund, Edmund, Edmund.
What I like is writers writing about when they couldn't write.
I mean, come on, this stuff is ten times more useful than all that make-a-schedule-get-plenty-of-sleep-don't-force-it advice. And, as in Isherwood, there are those friends who tell it like it is:
I haven't mentioned the name-dropping or the sex-having because obviously that happens, and happens a lot. It's fun to read about, but after a while all the proper nouns made my eyes glaze over a little bit. Sometimes (sometimes!) White admits when he's mistaken about something or someone. Other times...not so much. And I wouldn't have him any other way.
A good line, possibly the best line, that has nothing to do with writing or gossip:
You tell 'em.
Can't wait to read about his adventures in Paris. That might just break the four star barrier.
But my sense of personal identity required that I write fiction.
What I like is writers writing about when they couldn't write.
In switching back to realism I'd somehow lost my ability to write.
I mean, come on, this stuff is ten times more useful than all that make-a-schedule-get-plenty-of-sleep-don't-force-it advice. And, as in Isherwood, there are those friends who tell it like it is:
I felt that in choosing literature as a career I'd placed all my money on a single number and it had lost.
When I made this melodramatic declaration to a friend, he said, "What else were you planning to do with your life? Be an accountant? Civil engineer?"
I haven't mentioned the name-dropping or the sex-having because obviously that happens, and happens a lot. It's fun to read about, but after a while all the proper nouns made my eyes glaze over a little bit. Sometimes (sometimes!) White admits when he's mistaken about something or someone. Other times...not so much. And I wouldn't have him any other way.
A good line, possibly the best line, that has nothing to do with writing or gossip:
The idea that we'd erred somehow in not foreseeing an unprecedented disease no scientist in the world had predicted strikes me as bizarre and unfair.
You tell 'em.
Can't wait to read about his adventures in Paris. That might just break the four star barrier.
alenaski's review against another edition
2.0
I haven't read any of Edmund White's other books, so I imagine that I was not the target audience for this book. Instead, I was reading this as one in a series of books on life in New York City in the 1970s. This definitely did present a great view of life in the city in the 60s and 70s, however, I really struggled with White as a narrator. I found his tone constantly grating. At one point, he casually refers to how he negatively wrote about someone he viewed as a mentor under a very thin fictional veneer in one of his books. He then seemed surprised that the mentor had been offended by it, as was typical for many of his stories in the book. For me, the whole thing felt very narcissistic and pedantic and I was very happy when I finally reached the end.
More...