Alvin Orloff
Teoksen Disasterama!: Adventures in the Queer Underground 1977 to 1997 tekijä
Tietoja tekijästä
Image credit: via author's website
Tekijän teokset
Associated Works
Pills, Thrills, Chills, and Heartache: Adventures in the First Person (2004) — Avustaja — 67 kappaletta
Merkitty avainsanalla
Yleistieto
- Syntymäaika
- 1961
- Kansalaisuus
- USA
- Maa (karttaa varten)
- USA
- Asuinpaikat
- San Francisco, California, USA
- Ammatit
- writer
proprietor, Fabulosa Books
Jäseniä
Kirja-arvosteluja
Tämä arvostelu kirjoitettiin LibraryThingin Varhaisia arvostelijoita varten.This was really a treat! Effervescent, witty, and very evocative of time and place, "Vulgarian Rhapsody" follows a loose network of queer bohemians in late 90s San Francisco. Orloff's voice is supremely confident as he expertly evokes the foibles and flaws of his characters, whose misanthropy and hang-ups ensure that the reader laughs at the absurdities of their misfortunes without losing a sense of affection and sympathy. I would have happily spent twice as long with this breezy novel.
1 
wevans | 8 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Nov 16, 2023 |
wevans | 8 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Nov 16, 2023 | Tämä arvostelu kirjoitettiin LibraryThingin Varhaisia arvostelijoita varten.Couldn't finish. The story seems to lack a cohesive structure and there are too many characters. Love the topic and the potential, but it just doesn't land.
Tämä arvostelu kirjoitettiin LibraryThingin Varhaisia arvostelijoita varten.I knew when I started Vulgarian Rhapsody, by Alvin Orloff that it was going to be different. The back cover says “A whirlwind tour of San Francisco’s fabled queer Bohemia in the waning days of the 20th century”. I was interested in reading it because some decades earlier than that I would cross the Bay Bridge to wander around The City, to hang out in an exciting place, and maybe to bump into people I knew who lived that life there.
Different times, what can I say.
The story follows Harris, an unsettled, unhappy, and unrealistic person who, in the end, never changes. He says he must get away because the people around him are monsters, but he will never leave and his friends are not the problem. Harris is his own problem. Orloff writes convincingly, capturing the personalities, the quirks, the voices, the concerns and delights, and the unique feel of that time and place. But more than anything else, he conveys a sense of end of times that permeates the whole story, through the person of Harris, who has not aged well and who only survives by leaching off of his friends.
As the lyrics to the Queen song go, “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” The short answer is yes. The longer answer is, for Harris, that “Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth” will never happen. For me Vulgarian Rhapsody started out as great fun, but ended up a sad tale, indeed. "Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters" is Harris' story.
… (lisätietoja)
The story follows Harris, an unsettled, unhappy, and unrealistic person who, in the end, never changes. He says he must get away because the people around him are monsters, but he will never leave and his friends are not the problem. Harris is his own problem. Orloff writes convincingly, capturing the personalities, the quirks, the voices, the concerns and delights, and the unique feel of that time and place. But more than anything else, he conveys a sense of end of times that permeates the whole story, through the person of Harris, who has not aged well and who only survives by leaching off of his friends.
As the lyrics to the Queen song go, “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” The short answer is yes. The longer answer is, for Harris, that “Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth” will never happen. For me Vulgarian Rhapsody started out as great fun, but ended up a sad tale, indeed. "Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters" is Harris' story.
… (lisätietoja)
1 fasterhorses | 8 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Nov 11, 2023 |
fasterhorses | 8 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Nov 11, 2023 | Listat
Palkinnot
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The book is zippy and funny, with a touch of Austen pastiche to the narrative voice. It's firmly in the school of comedy where the point is to watch terrible and somewhat pathetic people be hoist by their own petards, but it's not without a certain wistful affection for its now-vanished milieu. It has no plot to speak of, and its sense of humor won't be for everybody, but it's an enjoyable afternoon's worth of reading for anyone who does enjoy watching self-absorbed people self-sabotage, especially if you also have an interest in recent LGBTQ history.… (lisätietoja)