Books: Neil Bartlett's Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall

The first thing which struck about this novel, is Bartlett's writing style - he requires to very carefully, no skimming here. Every world is chosen with care and the complex sentence structures need careful attention. If you are up for this it is very rewarding, however sometime when I was tired at the end of the day, I found this a bit tough (but worth it). 

There  were clear references to other "gay classics", some of which I got (Wilde) but there were clearly many more which I didn't:

Bartlett has created this book, as so many gay men create their lives, from bits and pieces welded together by a sense of what it should be. As he himself says in a final note, the novel includes fragments and reworkings of Oscar Wilde, Baron Corvo, E.M. Forster, Jean Genet, song lyrics and screenplays, the lives of divas, a century of gay history and culture filtered through his own vision of contemporary gay life.

Throught-out the book, there is a strong sensual theme, many of the men are quite effeminate and this relates to themes of homosexual culture which more prevelant when being gay was illegal and less-tolerated. Being a gay man in Brighton I know a lot of gays and lesbians, and I believe we are more like everyone else than the old effeminate stereotypes which gay men were encourage to play up. The gay community is still distinctively different, in my opinion "on the whole" less conservative, more conservative and more focused on just living.  

I'm not sure about the following comments, he probably has got the measure of the book, but this is in the hidden depths:

Ready to Catch Him predates, to a large extent, the "we're just like everyone else" political mantra espoused by The Movement in recent years, which itself strikes me as a have-your-cake-and-eat-it philosophy. Once upon a time, the idea was that we should all be treasured for our differences that make life something besides a round-the-clock 9 to 5. In many respects, the book is about gay liberation, but Bartlett has done it in such a way as remove it from the realm of the overtly political completely, although there is no escaping the highly political subtext. The hidden life of The Bar, the anger, the assaults, the life of Father, all resolve themselves in the final triumph of Boy and O, who ultimately are not granted the right to be treated like everyone else -- they just take it, as their due.

Last night I attended the Hove Library LGBT book group, and we discussed this book: 

• It went down reasonably well, this book was Neil's first novel and not everyone's favourite: "I'm glad I read Skin Lane before this". 
  
• The group liked that it was beautifully written with lots of incidental detail which gave real colour and flavour of what the "gay scene" was like in the 80s. 
  
• There was reminiscing of the quasi-private men-only bars in Birmingham in the 80s (apparently they let teenager lesbians in too). These bars had an unusual atmosphere, for example everything painted black floor to ceiling! 
  
• I raised this issue of that the men in novel where much more feminine then? This was something I have noted in other novels: Duncan in Sarah Waters' "The Night Watch" or in "Before the Night Falls" by Reinalo Arenas there is a sub-community of very camp and effeminate prisoners
  
• There is something curiously fascinating talking about the cultural changes within our own lives, an alternative perspective on gay men being less stereotype effeminate, is that heterosexual men now spend much more time on their appearance, with deodorant, aftershave/perfume and even manscara... (David Beckham wearing a sarong)
  
• Do some people just want to be kept - one of the recurring themes was age-gap relationships, firstly the stereotype middle-aged man with good looking young boy, and then the young boy looking after an elderly/geriatic man. It was pointed out these sorts of relationships are probably as common in the straight world and in many cases both parties are often content? 

reminisce |ˌreməˈnis|

verb [ intrans. ]

indulge in enjoyable recollection of past events : they reminisced about their summers abroad.

ORIGIN early 19th cent.: back-formation from reminiscence .

effeminate |iˈfemənət|

adjective

(of a man) having or showing characteristics regarded as typical of a woman; unmanly.

ORIGIN late Middle English : from Latin effeminatus, past participle of effeminare ‘make feminine,’ from ex- (expressing a change of state) + femina ‘woman.

sarong |səˈrô ng; -ˈrä ng |

noun

a garment consisting of a long piece of cloth worn wrapped around the body and tucked at the waist or under the armpits, traditionally worn in Southeast Asia and now also by women in the West.

ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: Malay, literally ‘sheath.’

geriatric |ˌjerēˈatrik|ORIGIN 1920s: from Greek gēras ‘old age’ + iatros ‘doctor,’ on the pattern of pediatric.USAGE Geriatric is the normal, semiofficial term used in the U.S. and Britain when referring to the health care of old people ( : a geriatric ward;:geriatric patients). When used outside such contexts, however, it typically carries overtones of being worn out and decrepit and can therefore be offensive.