Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Running in Bed by Jeffrey Sharlach

Title: Running in Bed
Author: Jeffrey Sharlach
Publication Date: May 5, 2012
Length: 291 pages

Running in Bed tells the story of a gay man living in New York City in the 70s. This was definitely a promising premise, as that was a setting in which the gay pride movement was really gaining momentum, but HIV/AIDS was also appearing. The story follows Josh, a successful young advertising exec, as he comes to accept himself as a gay man, and tries to find his Prince Charming. He becomes rather obsessed (in quite an unhealthy way, I think) with a guy named Tommy, seemingly just from seeing him once at the beach.

What I liked: Seeing the major events in the gay community unfold from the point of view of someone who was living through them, and therefore not realising how historically significant they would be, was really interesting. I learned a lot about the history of AIDS (like that it was originally known as GRID: Gay Related Immune Deficiency. Can you imagine?).

What I didn't care for: The book reads like a diary. There were major events in the story, and in between were long stretches of Josh going out to the bar, Josh pining over Tommy and wishing Tommy would call (also an element I didn't care for), Josh hanging out at Fire Island, and in general just Josh going about his daily life. So, it was a bit slow. And I spent a lot of time wishing that Josh would find a guy who was nice and would actually give a rat's butt about him.

3 stars.

Full disclosure: Free e-book copy received from the publisher through NetGalley.

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