The public loved the book, but many reviewers were condescending and treated the author as some idiot-savant, denying the book a true literary value that comes from careful consideration, or even straight-out denying the existence of John Rechy. The character’s journey of wanting love but fearing it and running away from it wasn’t maybe as ground-breaking but his circumstances must’ve been a novelty for a 1960s reader (obviously those readers who didn’t live those circumstances themselves). Published in 1963, it’s a picture of the underground gay culture pre-Stonewall, filled with excellent sociological observation and a cast of colourful characters (even if some of them become a little on the nose – I’m looking at you, Nazi masochist with daddy issues). Though, the latter became apparent as I read. This is a most humbling and liberating achievement.I stumbled upon this gay cult classic accidentally and went into it without knowing its status or significance. He tells the truth, and tells it with such passion that we are forced to share in the life he conveys. "Rechy's tone rings absolutely true, is absolutely his own, and he has the kind of discipline which allows him a rare and beautiful recklessness. This is a most humbling and liberating achievement." -James Baldwin As the narrator moves from El Paso to Times Square, from Pershing Square to the French Quarter, and through the lives of an extraordinary collection of characters who dwell in this clandestine world, Rechy delivers a portrait of the edges of America that has lost none of its power to move and exhilarate. More than fifty years later, it remains a classic.īold and inventive in style, Rechy is unflinching in his portrayal of one anonymous "youngman" and his search for self-knowledge and love within a furtive, neon-lit world of male hustlers, drag queens, closeted cops, and fetishists. Nevertheless, City of Night became an international bestseller and ushered in a new era of fiction. It earned comparisons to Jean Genet and Jack Kerouac, even as Rechy-who had based the novel on his own life-was personally attacked by scandalized reviewers. When John Rechy's explosive first book appeared in 1963, it marked a radical departure from all other stories of its kind, and gave voice to a subculture that had never before been revealed with such acuity. The cult classic novel from "one of the few major American writers whose life is as interesting, and meaningful, as his work" (Michael Cunningham).
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