Life drawing : a novel

Adolescent Michael McGinnis has grown up in the 1950s in a small town on the banks of the Mississippi in Iowa, leading a fairly normal life: a steady girl, working as a caddy in his school holidays, pursuing his interest in art. But he recognises his relationship with his girlfriend is lacking, then he meets a young guy who drives him to a disused quarry, and so he discovers his real self. He then takes off, securing passage on a Mississippi barge heading for New Orleans, meets and falls in love with an eighteen year old affectionate black man James; just a year older than himself but considerably more worldly-wise. They set up together until an indiscretion on Michael�s part brings it to an abrupt end, whereupon Michael escapes to California with hopes of becoming an actor. Whatever else he achieves through his travels, his experiences make him a man as he realises and regrets his errors, and he begins to retrace his steps. This is a well written and warm story, evocative of its period and its locations. As Michael McGinnis relates events there is very little in the way of dialogue, and as he shares his thoughts and observations we really get into his mind, understanding how he thinks. The book includes an informative foreword by Edmund White and afterword by George Stambolian about Michael Grumley and Robert Ferro. ---- Benjamin at Goodreads Born to a middle-class Midwest family in 1941, Mickey, the narrator of this homosexual odyssey, has a comfortable but uncertain childhood: Sexual confusion crept in at an early age. Fueled by an excess of Old Crow at 17, this latter-day Huck Finn sets off down the Mississippi to find the world, but discovers instead an 18-year-old black man--it seemed the world was written all over him, and he fairly glowed with it. Their blissful New Orleans affair ends with Mickey's infidelity. After a failed attempt at reconciliation he gives up--a bit too easily, it seems--and follows the fabled Rte. 66 to the soft green lap of California. In that 1960 sexual wonderland, he leads a life of determined profligacy that includes a disastrous brush with acting. The early, atmospheric passages of this Life are replete with dreamy, lyrical descriptions and details that deftly flesh out a slim tale. Unfortunately, as the narrative progresses, so does the author's overwriting. Later scenes are marred by unlikely events and florid descriptions; the ending seems both excessive and abrupt. Though ultimately there may be insufficient material here for a novel, lush passages and a strong romantic sensibility are evidence of a talent cut tragically short--Grumley died of AIDS in March, 1988 From the dustjacket: From the plains of the Midwest to the close humidity of New Orleans to the crazy heat of Los Angeles, Michael Grumley's Life Drawing travels the course of love and its destruction, of the fragile balance of commitment and exploration. Born in Iowa to the sounds of Bob and Bing Crosby and the Dorsey brothers, Mickey grows up to the comforting images of his living room TV and the reassuring ruts of his parents' life. During the restless summer of his senior year in high school, drifting away from the girlfriend he could never quite love, Mickey spends a night with another boy, and his world will never be the same. On a barge floating down the Mississippi, he falls in love with James, a black card player from New Orleans, and in time the two of them settle, bristling with sexual intensity, in the French Quarter - until a brief affair destroys James's trust and sends Mickey to the drugs and images of Los Angeles. Lush with visual detail, told with an inflinching and lyrical honesty, Lie Drawing captures the bright agonies of learning to be the person one is born to be. Includes a foreword by Edmund White and an Afterword by George Stambolian. From Amazon.com reviewer: There are two "losses" here: the author's loss of his first love, a kind man named James, to impulsive infidelity (the author's); and the world's loss, that of author Michael Grumley, to AIDS, ten years ago. This autobiographical novel is many things: well-written, simply told, generous to his quite wonderful family and the place he grew up in. It's also heartbreaking because the reader knows from the outset that Grumley has died of AIDS; the introduction is a beautiful one, a eulogy really, by Edmund White. A good book for gay teenagers -- the observant and comforting portrayal of childhood, adolescence, and (blissfuly untormented) emerging sexuality amidst the comfort of a good family is refreshing and heart-warming. The descriptions of nature, people, and New Orleans are precise and seem effortlessly well-wrought. The requisite trip to early- 1960's California is (sanely) made brief, and Grumley returns home to Iowa none the worse for wear -- and ready to take on his future. I really liked this man and the story he tells, and it breaks my heart to know that's he's gone. In this lyrical coming-of-age story, author Grumley's only novel, a 17-year-old gay man leaves home in Iowa in 1958 to find himself, first in New Orleans with a black lover, then in Los Angeles, then back home again