Mates

by Tom Wakefield

Cyril and Len meet up doing National Service in the 1950s. So begins their life together, reflecting the ups and downs, changes and continuities in the position of gay men over a quarter of a century. Comic and sad, tender and fierce by turns, Mates affirms just how extraordinary the lives of ordinary gays can be. A story of survival, sensitively told by a novelist with a well established reputation.

Genres: Fiction

141 pages, Hardcover

First published October 27, 1983

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great novel from one of the most disgracefully overlooked British novelist of the 20th century. This lack of recognition and appreciation was not confined to the mainstream press the 'gay' press was almost equally bad; although Wakefield was one the pioneering early authors published by Gay Men's Press, and a great supporter of many young and struggling gay writers, by the time the mainstream media in the UK decided to recognise gay writing and authors they ignored all home grown product, publishers and writers and concentrated almost completely on American writers and works. It was only with the advent of writers like Andrew Hollinghurst that UK gay writers were acknowledge by the UK literary establishment. By then a whole generation of writers like Wakefield had been consigned to obscurity. It was wrong and very, very cruel. I am passionately determined to praise writers such as Wakefield.

This is a grand, moving, very true novel. That like all Wakefield's work it is out of print since it was published in 1983 by GMP says everything about how unreliable popularity is. This is very fine novel.

[Nicolas Chinardet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mates comprises of 11 chapters that almost work as independent short stories. Together, spanning 29 years, they create the sketchy portrait of two lives.

Len Ransome (unprepossessing and reserved) and Cyril Wiles (good looking and mercurial) meet during their National Service. An unspoken bond is formed and the two men become the two sides of a same coin, virtually inseparable yet oddly cold and unexpansive with each other.

The book relates a series of mostly innocuous and superficial episodes in their ensuing lives and it is only in the last couple of chapters that Wakerfield delivers the emotional blow.

Throughout the writing is sparse and a little stilted, just like the lives it describes that seem unlived due to the external social pressures faced by the men, as well as their own internal emotional walls.

This is a very ambitious book, trying as it does to present two human lives and how they mostly fail to interact over several decades. I'm not sure Wakefield is entirely successful. Just as in the relationship, such as it seems to be, there is, I think, too much that is left unsaid and undeveloped.

As repressed as they are, the protagonists are however fully formed characters and the book is a poignant reminder of the deleterious effects of social edicts on those that do not fit their norms.

[Amélie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really happy I read this book as I felt like learning more about the history of my community. Both characters are well written and have good and bad sides. Love the fact that we were getting small moments of their life together.
Still feel like sometimes their relationship was lacking emotion.

[Gi Reina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy interesante conocer la historia de una pareja del mismo sexo desde los años 50 hasta los 80 en Inglaterra. Es un libro que se publica en 1983. El autor expresa muy bien las injusticias humanas, legales y sociales ante la diferencia. Es grato darnos cuenta que el escenario político-social ha cambiado aunque todavía haya mucho que defender no solo a través de las leyes sino también a través de la normalización. Es vital hacerse presente en la vida de todo y de todos, participando con transparencia y activamente en la ciudad, en el barrio, en el centro de trabajo, en el país, en Europa, en el mundo, sin necesitar la aprobación del resto aunque siempre presentes, guste o no guste.

[Mark Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely hated this at first but it certainly improved over the course of the book and I kinda liked it a little in the end.