Author Thomas Mallon

[+ Lucky]

For all I know, Thomas Mallon posts here too! After all, we do get some gay, libertarian republicans. He describes himself as the two latter adjectives, but reading his novel Fellow Travelers I have little doubt that he is gay too. I discovered the book late as it was published in 2007. In reading a review of his new novel, Watergate, I learned that he had written this story about closeted gays in Washington D.C. during the McCarthy heyday. In short, it is a fascinating book, although perhaps a little dry by some standards. Instead of dry, I would call it intelligent, and by that I mean he relies on the story and its characters more than he relies on lots of sex and turgid displays, although there is sex in the novel. For those of us who escaped the closeted life prevalent before the 70's, it is pretty educational, and, I assume, true.

 

The novel centers on the innocent young Timothy Laughlin, "a recent Fordham graduate and devout Catholic eager to join the crusade against communism." He meets the worldly Hawkins Fuller, a handsome, confident lady's man who is secretly gay, and seduces young Timothy. Their affair, if it can be called that, is the heart of the story. How closeted gays lived in that period is something I am glad that I missed, but perhaps Washington in that time frame was something to miss in its entirety, at least if you were a gay man. McCarthy himself may have been gay; at least the author thinks so. (Did I punctuate that correctly?)

 

I enjoyed the novel on a flight down to Rio, and then read Watergate on the way back. Watergate as we know it is fictionalized to allow the author to flesh out the story with behind the scenes action and the thinking, surmised, of the major figures. I didn't like it as much as Fellow Travelers, but if you are dying to know more about Howard Hunt, you might take a look.

[operalover21]

For all I know, Thomas Mallon posts here too! After all, we do get some gay, libertarian republicans. He describes himself as the two latter adjectives, but reading his novel Fellow Travelers I have little doubt that he is gay too. I discovered the book late as it was published in 2007. In reading a review of his new novel, Watergate, I learned that he had written this story about closeted gays in Washington D.C. during the McCarthy heyday. In short, it is a fascinating book, although perhaps a little dry by some standards. Instead of dry, I would call it intelligent, and by that I mean he relies on the story and its characters more than he relies on lots of sex and turgid displays, although there is sex in the novel. For those of us who escaped the closeted life prevalent before the 70's, it is pretty educational, and, I assume, true.

 

The novel centers on the innocent young Timothy Laughlin, "a recent Fordham graduate and devout Catholic eager to join the crusade against communism." He meets the worldly Hawkins Fuller, a handsome, confident lady's man who is secretly gay, and seduces young Timothy. Their affair, if it can be called that, is the heart of the story. How closeted gays lived in that period is something I am glad that I missed, but perhaps Washington in that time frame was something to miss in its entirety, at least if you were a gay man. McCarthy himself may have been gay; at least the author thinks so. (Did I punctuate that correctly?)

 

I enjoyed the novel on a flight down to Rio, and then read Watergate on the way back. Watergate as we know it is fictionalized to allow the author to flesh out the story with behind the scenes action and the thinking, surmised, of the major figures. I didn't like it as much as Fellow Travelers, but if you are dying to know more about Howard Hunt, you might take a look.

 

Thomas Mallon is one of my favorite fiction writers. His finest novel, by far, is DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN. I thought WATERGATE was his weakest to date and a bit of a disappointment but I like his style so even his lesser stuff to me is interesting.

 

If you like him try William Boyd (who is terrific and prolific) and the always wonderful Alan Hollingshurst.