Edmund White: Jack Holmes And His Friend

[+ Lucky]

This novel centers on, obviously, Jack Holmes, a gay man, and his friend Will, a straight man. In the Sixties, Jack is madly in love with Will, who is not interested. Over the next 20 or so years, their lives intertwine at numerous points, even with a nine year absence and a later one of more than ten years, at least by my math. Essentially the novel is about friendship, as Will discovers that his only true friend is a gay man, and Jack realizes what he is missing by being a "libertine." At about 390 pages, it covers a great deal of activity, much of it sexual, and much of that graphic.

 

But, before the friend gets greatly involved, Jack dates Peter, a ballet dancer. When Peter returns from 2 weeks of touring, he gets a massage by Jack, who uses patchouli-scented oil. So he massages Peter, and then this passage struck my attention:

 

"Then Jack's big, octave-and-a-half hands fanned out over Peter's high buttocks and molded them into Silly Putty shapes. But from time to time Jack was forced to stop and sit back and look at what God and the individual will and institutional discipline had wrought. He remembered that a philosophy professor in Ann Arbor had said that vision was the most spiritual sense and smelling the most animal; Jack went back and forth from gazing at Peter's ass with angelic indifference to spreading his cheeks and grazing his hole with his thumb and bringing it up to his nose with canine rapture. He thought that this blend of patchouli and boy mud was the most intoxicating scent, the true smell of modernity. Jack knew nothing about hippies,incense or drugs, but he suspected that dozens of skinny, bearded guys on the Lower East Side were stretching out their male friends at this very moment, burning doss sticks and working their thumbs into unwashed curry-chutes. He could picture the imprint of an oily body on the bedticking thrown unto the floor...the smell of the sixties: ass and incense.

 

Jack told himself that he wasn't really gay."

 

I am still deciding how much I liked the book, but as it settles in my mind, I think I liked it a lot. There are plenty of discussions in it on topics of interest to gay men, young and old. If you are interested, here is the NY Times book review:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/books/review/jack-holmes-and-his-friend-by-edmund-white-book-review.html?_r=1&ref=bookreviews

[+ WilliamM]

Edmund White is doing a reading here in Philadelphia with Christopher Bram tonight; White will be back next week on his own. I do not expect to have a chance to talk to him tonight, perhaps next week at a small local GLBT book store (Giovanni's Room).

 

I just finished "Jack Holmes & His Friend," and probably read it too quickly. I agree, there is a lot to talk about. My immediate reaction is the following: I wish I could have liked the major characters more. Is that really how White sees friendships between gay and straight men? I do not. Even Will's wife, who is the most likable, is often presented as a comical character---although she's in on the joke as well.

 

Could I have more time to think? In the meantime, perhaps others have read this book, or Christopher Bram's new non-fiction book. If so, I would love to know what the reaction is here.

[+ WilliamM]

Edmund White reads "Jack Holnes & His Friend"

 

Edmund White gave a long and masterful reading from "Jack Holmes & His Friends" on Thursday night. I am ashamed for missed so much of the humor in the book. Several people suggested to White that he record the entire book. White had mentioned early on about recovering from a stroke in November (although there were few clues that anything was wrong).

 

White seemed very pleased and surprised that so many were amused and touched by the way he read "Jack Holmes & His Friends." I am unsure about reading the book again myself. For those who have not read the book, be aware that it is more comic than serious, something I missed (except for Alex, Jack's friend's wife).

[+ Lucky]

Perhaps he read from a more amusing section of the book? I thought it was a serious work.

Here is an interview he did after his stroke, which is described as minor:

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/interview-edmund-white-20120202-1qtvc.html