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Let Me See It: Stories
James Magruder’s collection of linked stories follows two gay cousins, Tom and Elliott, from adolescence in the 1970s to adulthood in the early ’90s. With a rueful blend of comedy and tenderness, Magruder depicts their attempts to navigate the closet and the office and the lessons they learn about libidinous coworkers, résumé boosting, Italian suffixes, and frozen condoms. As Tom and Elliot search for trusting relationships while the AIDS crisis deepens, their paths diverge, leading Tom to a new sense of what matters most. Magruder is especially adept at rendering the moments that reveal unwritten codes of behavior to his characters, who have no way of learning them except through painful experience. Loss is sudden, the fallout portrayed with a powerful economy. In Tom and Elliott, readers come to recognize themselves, driven by the same absurd desires and unconscious impulses, subjected to the same fates.
208 pages, Paperback
First published April 10, 2012
1 person is currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
James Magruder
19 books31 followersA Baltimore resident for thirty years, JAMES MAGRUDER was born in Washington, D.C., and moved with his family five times before settling down in Chicagoland. These early and frequent dislocations, combined with a brutish stepfather, a burgeoning queer identity, and a veeeery late puberty, have provided him with a backlog of humiliating grist and many outstanding scores to settle.
He went off to Cornell University, spent his junior year in Paris, served time as a grad student in the Yale French department, then defected to the Yale School of Drama, where he received his doctorate. His dissertation, THREE FRENCH COMEDIES (Yale University Press), was named an "Outstanding Literary Translation of the Year" by the American Literary Translators Association. Today, his versions of Molière, Marivaux, Lesage, Labiche, Gozzi, Hofmannsthal, Dickens, and Giraudoux have been produced across the country and earn him tens of dollars. He also wrote the book for the Broadway musical TRIUMPH OF LOVE (1997) and co-wrote the recent HEAD OVER HEELS (2018), for which he received a nomination for Outstanding Book of a Musical by the Outer Critics Circle.
He began writing fiction in 2002. His stories have appeared, or are forthcoming, in StoryQuarterly, The Idaho Review, The Hopkins Review, New England Review, The Gettysburg Review, Bloom, Subtropics, The Normal School, and elsewhere, and the anthologies BOY CRAZY and NEW STORIES FROM THE MIDWEST. His debut novel, SUGARLESS, was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, and was shortlisted for both the VCU Cabell First Novelist Prize and the 2010 William Saroyan International Writing Prize. Northwestern University Press published his first collection of stories, LET ME SEE IT, in 2014. LOVE SLAVES OF HELEN HADLEY HALL, nineteen years in the making, was published by a now-defunct indie press in 2016 and reissued in 2017 by Chelsea Station. VAMP UNTIL READY, a summer stock novel set in upstate New York in the 1980's, arrives at the end of September, 2021.
A five-time MacDowell Fellow, Magruder’s work has also been supported by the Maryland State Arts Council, the New Harmony Project, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, the Ucross Foundation, the Blue Mountain Center, and the Jerome Foundation. He teaches dramaturgy at Swarthmore College, adaptation at Yale School of Drama, and fiction at the University of Baltimore.
He went off to Cornell University, spent his junior year in Paris, served time as a grad student in the Yale French department, then defected to the Yale School of Drama, where he received his doctorate. His dissertation, THREE FRENCH COMEDIES (Yale University Press), was named an "Outstanding Literary Translation of the Year" by the American Literary Translators Association. Today, his versions of Molière, Marivaux, Lesage, Labiche, Gozzi, Hofmannsthal, Dickens, and Giraudoux have been produced across the country and earn him tens of dollars. He also wrote the book for the Broadway musical TRIUMPH OF LOVE (1997) and co-wrote the recent HEAD OVER HEELS (2018), for which he received a nomination for Outstanding Book of a Musical by the Outer Critics Circle.
He began writing fiction in 2002. His stories have appeared, or are forthcoming, in StoryQuarterly, The Idaho Review, The Hopkins Review, New England Review, The Gettysburg Review, Bloom, Subtropics, The Normal School, and elsewhere, and the anthologies BOY CRAZY and NEW STORIES FROM THE MIDWEST. His debut novel, SUGARLESS, was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, and was shortlisted for both the VCU Cabell First Novelist Prize and the 2010 William Saroyan International Writing Prize. Northwestern University Press published his first collection of stories, LET ME SEE IT, in 2014. LOVE SLAVES OF HELEN HADLEY HALL, nineteen years in the making, was published by a now-defunct indie press in 2016 and reissued in 2017 by Chelsea Station. VAMP UNTIL READY, a summer stock novel set in upstate New York in the 1980's, arrives at the end of September, 2021.
A five-time MacDowell Fellow, Magruder’s work has also been supported by the Maryland State Arts Council, the New Harmony Project, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, the Ucross Foundation, the Blue Mountain Center, and the Jerome Foundation. He teaches dramaturgy at Swarthmore College, adaptation at Yale School of Drama, and fiction at the University of Baltimore.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 26, 2014
There aren't a lot of short stories that cause me to sit the book down, close it and go, "hmm. Now how do I feel? What has changed inside me?" Let Me See It did that multiple times. I'm now a different person from reading these stories. What does it mean to be a gay man living through the seventies and eighties? I will never know, but through this novel of interlocked stories, I have a better glimpse.
The story, "You've Really Learned How" was exceptionally affecting.
The story, "You've Really Learned How" was exceptionally affecting.
January 17, 2016
This book, Let Me See It, blurs the lines between memoir, short story and fiction; this collection of linked stories about two cousins who barely know one another, and happen to be gay. I enjoyed the premise, and Magruder creates scenes that are both every day moments, but cut a swath of deeper pathos when the scenes allow. Without giving anymore away, I say read this! It feels contemporary, yet the style of the story-telling is in stride with the best of our current writers. I'm now a fan of this cross genre writer: playwright, translator, and novelist!
April 2, 2016
Saw the title of this book, and just had to buy it. I thought to myself, a book with this wonderful a title couldn't possibly be bad, and I was not disappointed. "Let Me See It" (both the title and the book) is immensely evocative. Of childhood, of affinity, of taboo, and most of all, of the nostalgic reflexes of history. For Macgruder, the whiplash is inevitable, and a sore note of loss underscores this text like a kink in the neck. His prose is human to the core; aches and all.
October 29, 2014
Poignant, hilarious, humanizing...
June 25, 2024
Even from a distance, there is an undeniable comfort in knowing there is someone else like you. Tom and Elliott, the narrators of James Magruder's haunting, profound and endearing novel, "Let Me See It," are cousins with nothing much in common except being gay men, which forms an unbreakable bond and an essential level of understanding between them.
Tom, the Midwestern son of a butcher, has his first crush on childhood friend, Jeff, who falls victim to drugs and alcohol abuse, while Tom excels in school and delivers a memorable graduation speech. At an early age, Elliott is drawn to neighbor and classmate Donnie Keller, whose mostly absent father and minority mother make him a charity case for Elliott's widowed mom, Ruth.
These two boys come of age in the late seventies and early eighties, encountering the usual trials and tribulations of gay adolescence, including the first boyfriend or lover, the roommate who may not be trustworthy, whether to remain in the closet at work, and expected albeit unwelcome family drama among parents and siblings.
While Tom and Elliott are aware of the other's existence, they don't become friends and confidantes until their mid twenties when Elliott persuades Tom to move to New York City, just as the AIDS crisis emerges, incidentally.
While their stories are presented chronologically with either Tom or Elliott as the subject, sometimes speaking in first person, the novel reads more like an anthology or catalog of events, almost like a journal, each entry rife with emotion, colorful characters and intricate detail.
Considering how forthcoming the author is with both narrators' personalities (Tom clearly has an affinity for older men, while a promiscuous Elliott never gets over his college boyfriend, Patrick), plenty is left to the reader's imagination. Having to piece together what transpires between the outlined events and wondering what eventually becomes of both men is an asset of this work.
I'm not usually a fan of prologues, but in this case, when I revisited it after reaching the novel's end, I was brought to tears.
"Let Me See It" provides a moving portrait of two genuine, likeable men and reminds us not to take friends or family for granted.
Tom, the Midwestern son of a butcher, has his first crush on childhood friend, Jeff, who falls victim to drugs and alcohol abuse, while Tom excels in school and delivers a memorable graduation speech. At an early age, Elliott is drawn to neighbor and classmate Donnie Keller, whose mostly absent father and minority mother make him a charity case for Elliott's widowed mom, Ruth.
These two boys come of age in the late seventies and early eighties, encountering the usual trials and tribulations of gay adolescence, including the first boyfriend or lover, the roommate who may not be trustworthy, whether to remain in the closet at work, and expected albeit unwelcome family drama among parents and siblings.
While Tom and Elliott are aware of the other's existence, they don't become friends and confidantes until their mid twenties when Elliott persuades Tom to move to New York City, just as the AIDS crisis emerges, incidentally.
While their stories are presented chronologically with either Tom or Elliott as the subject, sometimes speaking in first person, the novel reads more like an anthology or catalog of events, almost like a journal, each entry rife with emotion, colorful characters and intricate detail.
Considering how forthcoming the author is with both narrators' personalities (Tom clearly has an affinity for older men, while a promiscuous Elliott never gets over his college boyfriend, Patrick), plenty is left to the reader's imagination. Having to piece together what transpires between the outlined events and wondering what eventually becomes of both men is an asset of this work.
I'm not usually a fan of prologues, but in this case, when I revisited it after reaching the novel's end, I was brought to tears.
"Let Me See It" provides a moving portrait of two genuine, likeable men and reminds us not to take friends or family for granted.
January 7, 2018
Reading Challenge 2018: Book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist. I love books that are replete with words. Not just a lot of writing, but full of good words, ten dollar words, words that make you love the English language. Mention etymology in a novel, and I am enthralled.
This is the story of two cousins, very different from each other with diverse and full lives. There are alternating chapters of these cousins that tell a story of their lives and how they really lived them to the fullest. It is also a story that begins with safety and ends with a plague. Tom and Elliott had loves and losses as they traveled through life, until they meet again after not seeing each other for 24 years. I say again as there is finally a memory that bubbles up of a time when they were very young that each had nearly forgotten.
Magruder propels the reader through his book with a vocabulary that would make an SAT word list blush. There is also Italian and French to equally spark the polyglot's interest that makes the story so much more memorable. I could not put the book down as I was hooked with the first page.
This is the story of two cousins, very different from each other with diverse and full lives. There are alternating chapters of these cousins that tell a story of their lives and how they really lived them to the fullest. It is also a story that begins with safety and ends with a plague. Tom and Elliott had loves and losses as they traveled through life, until they meet again after not seeing each other for 24 years. I say again as there is finally a memory that bubbles up of a time when they were very young that each had nearly forgotten.
Magruder propels the reader through his book with a vocabulary that would make an SAT word list blush. There is also Italian and French to equally spark the polyglot's interest that makes the story so much more memorable. I could not put the book down as I was hooked with the first page.
August 23, 2020
DNF 20%. I scanned through the rest just to be sure. Nothing really happens in the book. I found it exceedingly boring.
December 18, 2014
This collection of connected stories really didn't work for me. I found something really forced and clunky about the writing style, making it hard for me to really get into each story. There's also something almost pretentious about the writing itself - it's hard to explain, but some of the sentences and descriptions sound really flowery and too try-hard. If the actual stories were better, I might be more forgiving, but I found nothing inspiring or fresh or new about this collection.
After each story, I debated setting the book aside altogether without finishing, but I read on, hoping the next story would be better than the last. Unfortunately, finished the book with great disappointment. It's always a bad sign when reading a book feels more like a chore than a pleasure.
After each story, I debated setting the book aside altogether without finishing, but I read on, hoping the next story would be better than the last. Unfortunately, finished the book with great disappointment. It's always a bad sign when reading a book feels more like a chore than a pleasure.
March 12, 2018
Nothing happens in this book. The title is misleading and doesn't apply to anything until the last page, which comes way too late to share that the two cousins in the book that supposedly had never met in 25 years had actually seen each other naked as kids. Wow, big deal. The chapters go back and forth from the two perspectives of their unrelated lives. The narrative changes from first to third person and makes no sense. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be hip, modern male literature, but when nothing happens and there's no sex and the relationships seem fake and the "stories" are boring then to the average person it's a complete failure. It's a waste of time to read it.
July 16, 2014
This book, Let Me See It, blurs the lines between memoir, short story and fiction; this collection of linked stories about two cousins who barely know one another, and happen to be gay. I enjoyed the premise, and Magruder creates scenes that are both every day moments, but cut a swath of deeper pathos when the scenes allow. Without giving anymore away, I say read this! It feels contemporary, yet the style of the story-telling is in stride with the best of our current writers. I'm now a fan of this cross genre writer: playwright, translator, and novelist!
May 1, 2015
I'm not the target audience for this book, but what struck me is the vulnerability of homosexuals, especially in that time period where there were no "ropes," no supports--older gay role models to protect or offer advice, and plenty of confusing and sometimes dangerous situations a young person can get into. Today's gay youth have a new openness and the internet which offers them a different experience.
October 30, 2014
Interesting collection of short stories that are related to a larger story of two cousins growing up seperate but each gay. It's got the highs. It's got the lows. It's got all that wonderful angst and confusion that's a part of every teenagers life, gay or straight, but does have some uninque twists when you end up falling for the boy next door instead of the girl! :-)
August 13, 2016
Magruder is so adept in making keen observations of the quirks, foibles, triumphs, and regrets that mark a life. These interlinked stories about two cousins finding their adult selves and their destinies are suffused with pathos, humor, and grace. They've echoed with me for months after reading.
October 11, 2022
I thought this collection of stories funny, observant and utterly brilliant when I read them the first time and they stand up to a rereading without any bother. If you want details read some of the other five star reviews - all I'll say is get the book and enjoy it.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews