Good Times/Bad Times

by James Kirkwood Jr.

This coming-of-age novel by young author James Kirkwood tells the tragic and charming story of Peter Kilburn: a young man facing accusations of murdering the headmaster of his New England prep school—the same man with a sexual fixation on Peter.

When his lawyer is caught in another case and asks Peter Kilburn to write down his experiences at Gilford Academy and his interactions with the now-dead headmaster, Mr. Hoyt, Peter begins to pen the letter that makes up the pages of Good Times/Bad Times.

From Peter’s elaborate involvement on campus and meeting the closest friend he’s ever had to the unwelcome sexual advances he received from Mr. Hoyt, this letter tells of the ups and downs of Peter’s time at school.

As the good times give way to bad and a series of compelling incidents steadily heighten the tension of his time as a student at Gilford Academy, readers fall under the spell of the magnificent storyteller Peter exposes himself to be. Good Times/Bad Times pulses with warmth and laughter of the young and still honest, complete with strong and memorable characters.

Genres: Fiction, Coming Of Age, Gay, Boarding School, LGBT, Gay Fiction, Young Adult

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

James Kirkwood, Jr. was an American playwright and author born in Los Angeles, California. His father, James Kirkwood, Sr. was an actor and director in silent films and his mother was actress Lila Lee. He died in 1989 of spinal cancer.

Reviews

[James Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember being tremendously moved by this novel, so much that I looked for more works by James Kirkwood and acquired and read them. The story is told in the form of a letter from Peter Kilburn who is in jail for a crime involving his school headmaster. This, however, is not a typical tale of crime and recrimination. I found it unique in its deep melancholy and sadness of the memory shared in its pages, unlike Kirkwood's lighter, more humorous work. Good Times / Bad Times presents two young men at a New England prep school who are threatened when the disturbed headmaster develops a homoerotic fixation on Peter. His friend Jordan is the novel's voice of wisdom; he tells Peter that what makes the headmaster's attraction so dangerous is the fact that he cannot acknowledge it.

The story is one of friendship that only can be experienced by youth of a certain age, but even that aspect is unique in this telling and that with all the unsureness of young men coming of age, still acting and thinking like boys, makes it more compelling. The novel is suffused with homoeroticism, but homosexuality is nervously (and unconvincingly) disavowed by the narrator, who says at one point, "We threw our arms around one another and we kissed. It was a real kiss, and no matter what anybody might think, a perfectly right and fitting expression of our friendship for that time and place and for us."
The questions of perception and distance between the boys and the headmaster also weigh heavily in the story which is not without lighter moments. However, the tension that pervades the work and the seriousness of the feelings that are not always capable of being expressed overcome these lighter moments. Ultimately it is the adept handling of themes of friendship in a school setting and coming-of-age that stay with your memory and made this book special for me.

[Karl Marx S.T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I start my review, I have the highest hopes that after you’ve read this tattletale of mine, that you look for a copy of this novel anywhere possible.

I read Good Times / Bad Times just because of the fact that it is branded as the best young novel by the best young novelist and is a reminiscent of The Catcher in the Rye. The said classic is a hard act to follow so any title that resembles something existing is either loved or hated. But really, the moment I held myself on this one, I couldn’t stop myself from reading. I know it’s cliché to praise like that but it’s really hard to resist the author’s storytelling. It is narrated with honesty and confusion, with warmth that every incident you’re reading makes you shudder with fear, watched your back and steadily feels the heightening tension.

The novel is about a young student, Peter Kilburn who is involved with a crime concerning his boarding school headmaster. The novel is narrated, diary-like by the main character before waiting for his sentence. Peter enters Gilford Academy which starts his hilarious and exciting journey through his academic life when the headmaster starts to keep his eye on him. With this, Peter is involved in every campus activities and a series of events which concerns the headmaster for the latter wants recognition for the school’s popularity. The novel illustrates that there is no human inquiry without acquiring something in return and how being (too) good is bad. I don’t know if I had ever read a novel before which nearly put tears in my eyes but this one. For the story is filled with strong, convincing and memorable characters, touching incidents and sensitive and heartbreaking narration. Good Times / Bad Times should become a classic of the prep-school genre and Mr. Hoyt stands as the terrifying and deranged headmaster of his class (or any). I have never read something readable for its being terrifying and funny at the same time about the pains and troubles of truly growing up. You’ll hate to reach the end for it means letting go of the story but you’ll also be glad to read its conclusion. That is why I would like any interested reader to find their own copy to experience what I have read, selfish or not, I wouldn’t lend my dog-eared copy. I’m sorry.

Opening Sentence: It was such a short time ago that Jordan and I read in the papers you were going to defend the Wilk girl.

Ending Sentence: Hopefully yours, Peter Kilburn.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t believe I had never heard of this book until quite recently. First published in 1968, the book is well written and the story is really engaging. The author, who died of AIDS in 1989, is well known for ‘A Chorus Line’ but this book is all but forgotten. Deserves to be better known.

[Tesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books ever written and a favorite of mine. One of my favorite accomplishments in life was acquiring a signed, first-edition hardback copy of this book.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Kilburn is a young man in trouble. He's accused of killing the headmaster of his boarding school.

The Clarence Darrow style lawyer who has agreed to take his case is currently tied up with another matter and has asked his young client to write down the circumstances leading up to the event. What emerges is the story of a sad, smart, engaging young man who lost his mother at birth and who's been abandoned by an alcoholic actor of a father. Initially friendless at his new school, Peter soon meets and befriends Jordan, a rich, chronically ill young man with a quirky sense of self and he and Peter become soul-mates.

Mr. Hoyt the headmaster of the school is a deeply troubled man and while the two mockingly refer to him as Reverand Davidson from Rain, they unwisely dismiss the danger that his closeted homosexuality poses to two irrespressible children of the late sixties. Perhaps the two should have paid more attention when they studied the Greek tragedies.

This book written in the late sixties is still fresh and relevant and doesn't show the age that many of its contemporary works of fiction do.

The writing is great and we hear echoes of a more self-aware Holden Caulfield in the prose. The young protagonist and his friend are eminently likable and their adolescent bravado makes you feel that nothing too serious can occur, despite the heavy foreshadowing given by its narrator being in a jail cell at the outset.

This book is well worth the read. The author went on to write much of the dialogue for the Broadway smash A Chorus Line and his talent clearly shows in this earlier work.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this when I was in high school, and was so fond of it, but take my advice, let sleeping dogs lie - it did not live up to my memories. The main character comes off as whiny and annoying, and his "best friend" is such a queen, yet we're supposed to believe they have the purest of platonic relationships. Sometimes you can't go back again.

[Vena {Deceased} · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had nearly forgotten this book that I read in high school about forty years ago. While browsing others' libraries here at GoodReads I ran across it, and now I would like to revisit the story and see if it is still as affecting as what I remember.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kirkwood's novel is a suspenseful tale of boarding school male friendship and its disapproval by authority. This is much in the vein of John Knowles' A Separate Peace and Roger Peyrefitte's Special Friendships, both of which are better, deeper books. Still, if you like rooting for adolescent friendship when threatened by adult jealousy, this book is a quick satisfying read.

[Lauralee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catcher in the Rye meets A Separate Peace meets Brokeback Mountain.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was required reading in high school. I'll have to revisit it to see if it lives up to my fond memories.

[Fjuto Nos · Rating 5 out of 5]

za-chwycajace

[Emily Landram · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book made me so emotional. i related to peter in a lot of ways. he describes himself as being monogamous in his friendships and i’ve never heard it described like that but i related completely. everyone in the story is so easy to picture i felt like i knew every character personally. idk what the genre of this book is? slice of life? is that a genre or just like an idea. idk. i loved peter and jordan’s relationship so much. i feel like you don’t always get close male friendships in media and there’s was so pure and real. the hints about jordan’s failing health almost made it hard for me to finish the book bc i couldn’t bare it. i hate mr hoyt if he would have just gone to therapy literally everyone would be fine rn. imagine the butterfly effect of if he just went to therapy like the book woulda just been fun tomfoolery but no now there’s sexual assault and murder/: it’s not even murder tho manslaughter at the very most but that’s still wrong bc he was definitely acting in self defense. i felt so bad for peter like what the hell i woulda just killed myself that was such a rough day he had. im fortunate to have never yet lost anyone immensely close to me and the way peter describes it haunts me bc it seems so accurate n gut wrenching. i couldn’t stop crying after reading that part. i don’t even wanna think about it bc im mourning jordan now too. mr hoyt is like a tortured soul raper. u can’t help but pity him but also u wanna beat tf outta him bc like get a grip bro face ur sexuality stop wreaking havoc on everyone around u ya nut. poor mrs hoyt fr. i enjoyed the pacing of this especially for a book from this time they can feel a lil drawn out but everything had purpose and kept me interested. let me not ramble. this was a lovely read and journey and i fear i couldn’t find another book like it. very moving. thanks dan for making me read it <3

[Kevin Rainford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book in 1989 and I found my copy in a box recently. When I picked it up, I remembered how much I loved it. So much so, that I searched for a hardcover 1st edition on eBay as I knew it was one that I treasured. This is the edition printed in 1968 that I just devoured.

My memories from 32 years ago proved to be sound. Peter Kilburns tale is one that seems to have faded somewhat and deserves much more recognition. The writer won the Pulitzer Prize for the musical A Chorus Line and like many artists of that generation passed away from AIDS related complications in 1989.

It’s a story that captures growing up and discovery. Peter’s voice has honesty, warmth, humour & compassion. The story itself is dark and this is not a spoiler, it’s evident from the first page that Peter has been accused of murder.

I love this book. Find a copy and read it.

[Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

This 1968 novel is a miracle. I have rarely been that moved by a book. Frankly I’m lacking the words that would do justice to this novel. The only thing I can do is beg everybody I know to read it. Eternally grateful to Dale for shining a light on James Kirkwood.

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eighteen year old Peter Kilburn has been arrested for the murder of his head teacher, Mr Hoyt, and he now starts to recount the events that led up to this predicament in a statement addressed to his defending attorney, which is Good Times Bad Times.

Peter, son of a one time moderately successful Hollywood actor living in California, finds himself courtesy of the benevolence of one of his father's cronies enrolled at Gilford Academy, once a respectable minor New England school but now on the decline. He is looking forward to making new friends, and particularly to finding that one special friend; he likes to be able to relate to one close individual. Things do not look too good until a new boy arrives, the twenty year Jordan. Immediately they connect and soon develop a remarkable close and trusting friendship. Jordan is the youngest son of a wealthy New Orleans family, but if ill health has held him back in several ways it has also made him strongly individual.

Peter's relationship with his headmaster is rather different. After a bad start he eventually wins favour as Hoyt selects him for a reading from Hamlet in a school production. But Hoyt is unpredictable and unbalanced, and his moods swings from friendly to aggressive. He becomes infatuated with Peter, and jealous of his friendship with Jordan, both of which lead to a number of problems, and the tragic outcome mentioned above.

James Kirkwood masterfully conveys the spirit of youth. Both Peter and Jordan come across as likeable and honest characters while their fellow students are an odd assortment of misfits, Hoyt is clearly deranged, and there are plenty more larger than life characters. It all adds up to a funny, at times hilarious, often shocking, but above all very moving story; beautifully written it is to be highly recommended.

[Adam Dunn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Comparisons made to The Catcher in the Rye are over-arching. A better comparison to Catcher would be There Must Be a Pony, Kirkwood's first book.
This follow-up was printed cheaply. I read the first-edition hard cover and the paper is so thin you can see through the other side. It is annoying.
The story is also annoying in that it takes hundreds of pages to get going. The book is about a friendship and it takes 100 pages to even introduce the friend. Then another 200 pages of build up, actually let's say 230, then 10 pages of action and we're out! I'm on page 340 of 346 going "How is he going to wrap this up in six pages and where was this action in the rest of the book?"
Once Jordan comes along the book gets better but Jordan is more like Holden Caulfield than Peter, the narrator. He's unsure of himself, he's trying to please people.
Not enough humour or whimsy, as was found in Kirkwood's first book, not enough action, not enough personality in Peter, not enough anything. Well, at 350 pages there was enough pages, but good luck getting through them.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nostalgic read. I last read Good times, Bad Times 40 years ago when I was a teen, and somehow though I have remembered little of the story, the title stuck. Probably because it was the title to the first track of the first side of the first LP by Led Zeppelin. Go figure. Anyway, I found it a good read. It doesn’t quite have the angst or flippancy of Salinger’s Catcher or the literary heft of John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, still it holds up well, capturing the time and place of a New England boarding school for boys in the 1960s. A tragic triangle between two students and the headmaster dominates the novel.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was in high school. It made me laugh out loud and also sit and sob at other times. I made my daughter read it years later but I don't think she liked it quite as much as I did.

[Lenny Husen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still one of my favorite books ever. Have read it at least 20 times. Super well-written, somewhat autobiographical, timeless and unforgettable main character and best friend. But it is my favorite book because there is so much humour in it.

[Michael Lauro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny, but I don't remember this one as fondly as P.S. Your Cat is Dead

[Sherrie Collinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books, read several times!

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read this because there's a review on the cover that claims this book is similar to the Catcher in the Rye.

My Analysis: It's not.

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter Kilburn, sitting in jail awaiting trial for the murder of his headmaster, writes a 309 page (in my paperback edition, written in small font) letter to his attorney explaining what happened.

Peter, son of a Hollywood actor, explains how he showed up as a senior at a small, isolated, New Hampshire prep school with a declining reputation -- "tacky," as he describes it -- and met the surprising disapproval of his headmaster, Mr. Hoyt. Over the first third of the book, he overcomes this initial disapproval by his grades, his ability as a tennis player, and his desperately reluctant but successful participation in an inter-school variety show competition.

But he's a lonely and unhappy kid.

Then Jordan arrives at the school. The friendship between Peter and Jordan is instantaneous and understandable. They are both considerably more intelligent than their classmates, and have similar senses of humor, of irony, and of the absurd.

Their friendship is so close that Mr. Hoyt concludes it's a sexual relationship. Peter assures his attorney (and us) it was not, and to assume he was lying about this fact (as some readers suggest) would destroy the credibility of the entire story. Yes, high school boys are capable of intense but platonic friendships.

It soon becomes clear that Mr. Hoyt's own feelings toward Peter are not platonic, and that his hatred of Jordan is based on vicious jealousy.

Peter tells us at the outset that Jordan has died, which he does -- of a congenital heart condition -- near the end of the book. The last forty pages or so become a horror thriller, with Peter desperately fighting off Mr. Hoyt's advances, and culminating in the headmaster's death.

The most enjoyable portions of the book, by far, are the scenes between the two boys as their friendship deepens -- their humor, their intimacy, their sophisticated (for their age) knowledge of the world, their ridicule of most of the other students and of the somewhat bizarre faculty. The book also presents an interesting picture of prep school life in the late 1960s, at a somewhat inconsequential school.

In my opinion, the book could have been edited much more carefully. Too many of the scenes drag on interminably, without advancing the plot or developing notably the characterization. As examples, Peter agonizes for page after page, repetitively, at being required to deliver Hamlet's soliloquy on stage. Less would have been more. And the two boys get embarrassingly hysterical while watching a rather pathetic Indian pageant put on by some decidedly non-Indian New Hampshire residents. We don't really need to know their reaction to every absurdity as the pageant progresses.

The verbose padding dilutes the impact of many of the scenes. The conclusion, however, was described vividly -- if melodramatically -- and certainly kept me turning the pages.

[Mesquida Henri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful pages, funny and sometimes disturbing, on the friendship between these two teenagers, on the perversity of a man, whose religion preaches love, but who practices hatred and violence without any embarrassment. A “suspicious” friendship and complicity in the eyes of this man who, over the pages, becomes more and more unhealthy and repugnant.
Here the deranged director develops a homoerotic fixation on the narrator, Peter. His friend Jordan is the novel's voice of wisdom: he tells Peter that "what makes the Headmaster's attraction so dangerous is the fact that he can't recognize it."
The novel is steeped in homoeroticism, but homosexuality is nervously (and unconvincingly) disavowed by the narrator:
“Guys who don't have a problem, if they come into contact with something gay, they can just ignore it,” Jordan says. Who also calls his friend Peter “baby”, as in the following passage:
“Baby, we’re all animals!” Animals, that's what we are. It's a wonder we're not all running around naked, sniffing and peeing everywhere!
The two boys go to an opera and sit in the audience holding hands, tears streaming down the narrator's face: "We threw our arms around each other and kissed .
There are undoubtedly themes resonating with part of the personality of the author James Kirkwood, with his homosexuality which he wanted to hide at all costs, also resonating with the hypocrisy of the time.
Let's not forget that it was not until the end of the 1970s that openly homosexual writers like "Edmund White", "Andrew Holleran" and "Larry Kramer" published openly "gay" novels and as a result this novel by James Kirkwood from 1968, a year before the “Stonewall” riots, is better understood because he remains the product of his time, and from this angle he also has historical interest…
In addition, the author masters both the psychology of his characters and the description of the life of teenagers in colleges, where the increasing psychological violence of the situations...a violence which will find its climax in the last part of the novel with a mind-blowing chase. and the death of 'Franklin Hoyt'...a death known from the first lines! Which shows once again that when a work is well mastered, knowing the ending does not change the pleasure of reading.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh how wonderful to return to an old favorite and find that it withstands the test of time and then some! I found a ragged paperback copy of this in the hall when I was in high school forty-five years ago, and it was so magical for me that I began a several-year compulsive reading stint which continued until I went to college and didn't have time for fiction anymore. I read everything I could find by James Kirkwood (Vonnegut was another favorite at the time) and intend to go back and re-read them all.

The characters in this novel are so vivid I find myself thinking about them throughout the day, as if they are inhabiting my head. Peter is accused of killing his headmaster -- well, he did kill him, and that's not a spoiler because he tells us that on the first page. The book is in the form of a letter to his lawyer who has asked him to lay out the whole story. And what a harrowing story it is! Even through the horror, Peter's growing friendship with Jordan remains the most compelling and commanding part of the story. It is an exquisite relationship. I think I've had a little crush on Jordan all these years.

The book is a bit dated in that it deals with issues of homosexuality in a 1968 kind of way, but for me that took nothing from it. I laughed out loud multiple times when I was 17 and did so again this time through. I cried then, I cried this time. After all, it is called Good Times, Bad Times.

[Emile M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really has so much nostalgia written within the words in both the "good- and bad times" of the book. If I have to be brutally honest, I think the author really hammered on certain parts and sometimes over extended moments but overall the book was filled with the words from a civil and quite normal high school person/kid in reality actually (insert confusion). Liked the questions it raised and the references or possible themes that the book contained.
Will recommend it, was overall a safe book to read and quite enjoyable.

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this. But then I love the claustrophobic atmosphere of prep schools, and the mounting tension when the reader realises something is not quite right at the school. The intense friendship between the narrator and his best friend Jordan, and the undoubtedly sinister behavior of the Headmaster ratchets up the suspense. It was quite a daring novel in its themes, especially when you consider it was published in 1968. A rattling good read.

[Adyson Foster · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnf at 25%

I really tried to power through this book. I do think it is a good read, I just couldn’t handle how slow things seemed to progress. I was honestly getting bored and I could t handle it anymore, so I’m gonna move on to a different book for now. I do really wanna finish and like this book so I’ll probably come back to it another time. I just need something different for now. As of right now I’m just not in the right mindset for this lol

[Eden Brower · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore this book. I read this and P.S. Your Cat is Dead when I was around 15 years old and one made me laugh. The other one made me laugh and cry. That one was Good Times/Bad Times. I won't go over the plot of this novel as so many already have but one of the best novels about friendship I have ever come across. Along with the tragedy.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. It was fun to read about the good times but also heartbreaking about the bad times. As always, when I finish a book I am left wondering what happened next. I am wondering what happened once the attorney received the letter & then after that at the trial. I wish there was a sequel to this book. I am interested in looking at other books by this author.