The City and the Pillar: A Novel by Gore Vidal

Jim and Bob are all American teens who spend their last night of summer together. Jim leaves home in search of Bob, his only love.



Rating: Four Stars****

Genre: GLBT

Summary: Jim and Bob are a handsome pair. They are popular for their looks and athleticism, and all the women wish to be with them. Even though Bob talks about liking women and even has a girlfriend, Jim has fantasies about Bob. One night these fantasies come true when Bob and Jim spend their last night of summer in a cabin retreat because Bob will be graduating soon from high school. A night of playful wrestling turned into three days of affection between the two. Bob leaves to New York, and once Jim graduates the following year, he leaves in search of him. After an unsuccessful search, he joins the service and lives a life experimenting and living with Shaw, a closeted Hollywood star. He also meets and is lives with a tormented writer, Sullivan, but then leaves him because he cannot come to terms with being without Bob. After years away from home, Jim finally reunites with Bob that leads to a tragic ending.

Evaluation: As one of the first novels about homosexuality, the story is contemporary and interestingly relevant. Jim is often hit on by women, and even though he never comes out as being 'gay', he can never sleep with a woman and his liveliness only shows for Bob.

Read-a-likes: Blackbird by Larry Duplechan and Michael Nava
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
Gore Vidal: Sexually Speaking: Collected Sex Writings 1960-1998

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

An evangelical upbringing challenges Jeanette's identity to follow the rules set by her mother and the church or her heart for another woman.



Rating: Three 1/2 Stars ***^

Genre: Fiction - GLBT themes

Awards: 1985 Whitbread Award for a First Novel

Summary: Jeanette is the adopted daughter of an protestant mother, who is evangelical and deamed odd by the standards by the rest of the community. Nonetheless, Jeanette is raised in the church and is destined to become a missionary. She feels this is her calling, until her relationship blooms with a close church friend Melanie, which has her mother and Pastor Finch saying prayers and casting out her demons.

Evaluation: The novel incorporates GLBT subjects and appears to be autobiographical, but the plot is centered around a girls conservative, quirky upbringing by a strange, overly religious and controlling mother. The setting and time period, as well as the integration of protestant ideas, make the story interesting and engrossing. What sold short was the emotions that Jeanette had for the other women in her life, which was expected in a book presented as a 'queer' novel. It itself, Jeanette stirs up in her readers, emotions of bitterness for those who try to control her and liberation when she succumbs to her true identity.

Read-a-likes: Art & Lies by Jeannette Winterson
Wayward Girls and Wicked Women: An Anthology of Subversive Stories by Various and Angela Carter
Essential Acker: the selected writings of Kathy Acker

TV Series Information (1989)

Interesting fact about the novel via Interview with Jeanette Winterson:
Do you think of Oranges as a lesbian novel?

No. It's for anyone interested in what happens at the frontiers of common-sense. Do you stay safe or do you follow your heart? I've never understood why straight fiction is supposed to be for everyone, but anything with a gay character or that includes gay experience is only for queers. That said, I'm really glad the book has made a difference to so many young women.