Don Juan in the Village

by Jane DeLynn

From the lesbian bars of New York City to the back streets of Fez, from the S&M scene in Los Angeles to the calm ocean depths off a Caribbean island, the heroine of Don Juan in the Village is ever on the prowl. In search of the longed-for, idealized lover, she finds instead a series of wrenching, sometimes hilarious encounters with an array of women, among them a movie star, a moroccan prostitute, and a high school dropout who works as a grocery store clerk. Hip, sardonic, yet painfully self-conscious and often deluded, she is convinced that no matter where she goes or whom she is with, she is doomed to perpetual solitude and estrangement.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Lesbian, Queer, Short Stories, Gay, American

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Jane DeLynn is the author of the novels Leash, Don Juan in the Village, Real Estate (a New York Times Book Review “Notable Book of the Year”), In Thrall, Some Do, as well as the collection Bad Sex Is Good. Authors she’s been compared to include Proust, Salinger, Jane Austen, Rabelais, Swift, Oscar Wilde, Proust, Helene Cixious, and Edgar Allan Poe, Aristophanes, Euripedes, & Woody Allen. She was a correspondent in Saudi Arabia for Mirabella and Rolling Stone during the Gulf War, and has published articles, essays & stories in a number of anthologies & magazines in the US & abroad, including The New York Times, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, The Paris Review, and The New York Observer. Her musical theater works have been performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Encompass Music Theater, and Theater for the New City. . Her work has been translated into German, Norwegian, Spanish, Japanese, and French. She splits her time between New York City and Long Island.

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls]

From one sapphic sexual encounter to another, the unnamed narrator of this sizzling novel is a wonderful waspish companion in a thoughtful and hilarious examination of the ties and lies that bind and unbind.

[Sorcha Wylde]

Back when every city had two lesbian bars.

[Ammie]

I read "Leash" a while ago and it fucked with my mind in many ways. "Don Juan" was, if you can apply these terms to a book like this, a kind of gentler version of the same basic idea. The narrator details her sexual (and some partially nonsexual) exploits in locals ranging from NYC to Morocco, chronicling her reactions and reasonings with a lack of passion that makes her very explicit encounters with a variety of women not anywhere near as sexy as one would suppose. "Leash" was fascinating in its plot in a way that this couldn't really compare to, but both offered shocking looks into the minds of their narrators. This narrator comes of mostly as a bit crazy, thinking of herself as the most fabulous person in the world; most of her encounters fail in part because she believes the women she's sleeping with are not worthy of her notice. This isn't so interesting, but every once in a while she breaks out with a statement that makes you empathize strongly with her, which is uncomfortable to say the least. By the end, it seems almost like she's just a lot more truthful about what we all secretly think anyway.

[Mia Bauer]

I have often complained that it is difficult to find female protagonists who are straight-up terrible people the way that so many male protagonists are straight-up terrible people… but never mind! I found one

[ira]

I thought I didn’t like this that much until the last chapter . Probably a weird delynn to start with. Made me think about how few lesbian novels I’ve read are haunted by aids in the way this one is

[Marc Rosen]

The isolation of lesbian horniness & I loved the last paragraph

[Naomi]

rating: 2.5/5.00 stars

[Jason]

I agree with another reviewer who said that Don Juan is a version of Leash in the sense that it examines a lot of the same themes. Don Juan has a more contained scope though. Leash is an explosion of these themes into the realm of satire-sci fi. Don Juan was perfect for completely different reasons. Also the narration was funnier to me this time around - Leash was a bit more drab and desperate, still hilarious but Don Juan was easier on the eyes. Read Iowa, read Key West, this is classical beauty shrouded in a hint of tacky, self-loathing, self-aggrandizement...

[Nora Chatchoomsai]

The novel is witty written in a Picaresque form, each having its own psychologically poignant, existential moment. It is not afraid to "go there" beyond the expectation of gender role, even within the LGBT community. It gives an subjective even consciously egotistical view of human sexuality, which involves self-disgust, self-love, emotional or/and physical pain and addiction. Delyn's narrator takes me through the journey of these emotions and teach me about acceptance of these social conditions that impact our interactions with ourselves and other human beings. I love it!

[Josephine]

i think she hates women

[Marlla]

4.5*

[Roof Beam Reader (Adam)]

Thoughts: https://roofbeamreader.com/2019/06/30...

[Joey Diamond]

There is something so weird about the voice in this book, it's kind of like 90s lesbian fiction voice ... reminding me of other stuff I've read but I can't put my finger on it exactly. Eileen Myles? Not Michelle Tea exactly... more arrogant.

Anyway also the conceit of an entirely unlikeable narrator having lots of bad sex and weird encounters seems pretty 90s, like the shock value would have worked better then. The cover quote is from Brett Easton Ellis for g-dsakes.

There are funny and good stories here. But there's so much gross fatphobia and just meanness in this, I guess it's good for holding a mirror up to the yuck bits inside us but mostly it's just yuck.

[Ivy Bernadette]

The first book that I read about lesbianism, and it's good. Although most things are vague, the stories realistically portrayed the lifestyle of a homosexual woman in search for love, acceptance, compassion, friendship. It demonstrates a woman's--whether straight or not--struggle to find her place in the society. I wish I'd find a copy of this, because I only borrowed that from a friend.

[Masha]

I got all into Jane De Lynn. Not as ambitious as her novel, "Real Estate", this book is a bunch of gem-like stories united by the theme of women, drinking, travel, alienation, and sex. Crisp and a little cold - with a frisson of cruelty.

[Cheska Lorraine]

kasama ko si Stephene nung binili ko ito kaso hanggang ngayon di nya pa sinosoli sa akin yung book.
nung first year nahilig kami sa gay oriented books. haha and para maiba naman lesbian oriented (?) book naman daw try namin. kaya ibinili ko to.

haha. shocked.
dami ko nalaman. haha

[Elizabeth J.]

I needed this book when I was 19. A must for young dykes. And anyone who enjoys honesty about casual (and not-so casual) sex written well.