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Shameless
Martin is kind, decent, not bad on the eyes... and look where that's got him. His boyfriend of four years has run off with a male prostitute, and his friends John and Caroline both have enough excess baggage to fill a Louis Vuitton window display. What's a nice gay man to do? With no one to turn to, Martin decides to relive the wild youth he never had and, at the ripe old age of 32, jumps head-first into hedonism. But soon the nights of drugs, muscle-hard bodies, and even harder music take their toll, and Martin, John, and Caroline find that as fun as being absolutely shameless is (and girl, can it be fun!), it also has a price, one which they may not ultimately be able to pay.
288 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 7, 2023
Lol Goodreads crashas ku kirjotin tätä
Hauskaa, perus-viihdyttävää chick-littiä 2000-luvun alusta. Telekommunikaation aikaa kauhistellaan ja Spice-girlsejä hypetetään. (Ja tietenkin Brad Pittiä ja Tom Cruisea XDDD so dreamy..)
Tekee välillä hyvää laittaa aivot narikkaan. Burston kuvaa Lontoon pinnallista homo-klubi-skeneä keveästi ja melko inhimillisesti. Huumeita vedetään ja vieraista sängyistä herätään.
Nykyisten poliittisen korrektiuden standardien mukainen kirja ei tietenkään ole. Mm. kehopositiivisuutta ei ilmeisesti oltu vielä vuonna 2000 keksitty. Drag queenit, "meikkaavat homot", biseksuaalit ja trans-sukupuoliset ihmiset ovat myös poikkeuksetta vitsin aiheita. On hienoa, miten lyhyessä ajassa maailma on muuttunut melko paljon kivempaan suuntaan.
Hauskaa, perus-viihdyttävää chick-littiä 2000-luvun alusta. Telekommunikaation aikaa kauhistellaan ja Spice-girlsejä hypetetään. (Ja tietenkin Brad Pittiä ja Tom Cruisea XDDD so dreamy..)
Tekee välillä hyvää laittaa aivot narikkaan. Burston kuvaa Lontoon pinnallista homo-klubi-skeneä keveästi ja melko inhimillisesti. Huumeita vedetään ja vieraista sängyistä herätään.
Nykyisten poliittisen korrektiuden standardien mukainen kirja ei tietenkään ole. Mm. kehopositiivisuutta ei ilmeisesti oltu vielä vuonna 2000 keksitty. Drag queenit, "meikkaavat homot", biseksuaalit ja trans-sukupuoliset ihmiset ovat myös poikkeuksetta vitsin aiheita. On hienoa, miten lyhyessä ajassa maailma on muuttunut melko paljon kivempaan suuntaan.
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September 14, 2016This is a real Marmite of a book. You either love it or you hate it. I first read Shameless several years ago and I laughed out loud many times while reading it. The book is like Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City - except with far more drugs and gay bitchiness.
Paul Burston was a well-known writer on gay topics for the London-based Time Out magazine by the time Shameless, his first novel, came out in 2001. He has published three novels since, and several short stories.
Thirty-two year old Martin works in advertising. He is kind and decent, unsuited to the cut and thrust of corporate life. At the start of the book, his boyfriend of four years has run off with a male prostitute. His friends John and Caroline are far too distracted by their drug-use and egotistical problems to be of any use to Martin. With no one to turn to, he decides to throw himself into a wild, hedonistic lifestyle. One that he feels he missed out on in his youth.
This is when Burston exposes Martin to the full on, and potentially destructive world of late 1990s gay London. The caricatures of gym bunnies, leather men, twinks and cocaine clubbers are brilliantly drawn. Martin is drawn into the excesses of a shameless, self-obsessed, cliquey world. Because Burston writes this as a morality tale, Martin ultimately finds that there is a price to pay.
Paul Burston’s style of writing is fresh and easy to read. His observations are shockingly accurate. I cannot tell you how I know this. Trust me, they are.
Shameless is witty, bitchy, trashy, camp, sweet and frothy, but always lots of fun. The characters of Martin, John and Caroline are fully formed and true to life. The essence of the London club-scene jumps from the pages. Paul Burston's books are accessible and unpretentious. His stories rocket along, like an express train. They are filled with humour, pathos and occasional insight.
I strongly recommend this book, unless you are of a nervous disposition. If you are, I would simply say, you should get out more.
Paul Burston was a well-known writer on gay topics for the London-based Time Out magazine by the time Shameless, his first novel, came out in 2001. He has published three novels since, and several short stories.
Thirty-two year old Martin works in advertising. He is kind and decent, unsuited to the cut and thrust of corporate life. At the start of the book, his boyfriend of four years has run off with a male prostitute. His friends John and Caroline are far too distracted by their drug-use and egotistical problems to be of any use to Martin. With no one to turn to, he decides to throw himself into a wild, hedonistic lifestyle. One that he feels he missed out on in his youth.
This is when Burston exposes Martin to the full on, and potentially destructive world of late 1990s gay London. The caricatures of gym bunnies, leather men, twinks and cocaine clubbers are brilliantly drawn. Martin is drawn into the excesses of a shameless, self-obsessed, cliquey world. Because Burston writes this as a morality tale, Martin ultimately finds that there is a price to pay.
Paul Burston’s style of writing is fresh and easy to read. His observations are shockingly accurate. I cannot tell you how I know this. Trust me, they are.
Shameless is witty, bitchy, trashy, camp, sweet and frothy, but always lots of fun. The characters of Martin, John and Caroline are fully formed and true to life. The essence of the London club-scene jumps from the pages. Paul Burston's books are accessible and unpretentious. His stories rocket along, like an express train. They are filled with humour, pathos and occasional insight.
I strongly recommend this book, unless you are of a nervous disposition. If you are, I would simply say, you should get out more.
September 28, 2007
I read this on a plane trip (and a LOOOOOOONG layover) one summer and to be honest I cant really remember that much about it. I remember laughing out loud at times because I remember people in the terminal looking at me. I also know I enjoyed the book because I remember the feeling from looking at the cover on my bookshelf, but I dont remember much about the story. I guess that means I will have to read it again. Oh, darn. :b
October 25, 2007
The book is a light read and would recommend it to anyone who likes gay humor.
April 3, 2008
Nothing spectacular, quick and easy read about the party scene in London. Drugs, sex, and London…
October 16, 2011
Light and entertaining, just had came back from London, so I enjoyed reading about the city too...
September 9, 2025
Not shameless. Only hateful.
No. Just no. No likable characters. The men are all sex crazed drug addicts. The only female character is a scheming drug addict. No plot. Page after page after page of characters complaining inside their own heads.
There is no love in this book. There is no joy. There is no happiness. LGBT people are pathetic, sad, and lonely. The author seems to have a deep rooted self hatred. Or at least self dislike. Don't bother.
No. Just no. No likable characters. The men are all sex crazed drug addicts. The only female character is a scheming drug addict. No plot. Page after page after page of characters complaining inside their own heads.
There is no love in this book. There is no joy. There is no happiness. LGBT people are pathetic, sad, and lonely. The author seems to have a deep rooted self hatred. Or at least self dislike. Don't bother.
October 7, 2019
Lots of fun! Sympathetic, if frustrating (!) characters and a great plot line. An enjoyable read.
October 13, 2023
Awkward, pointless, embarrassing and made me feel dirty
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March 25, 2018This is one of the very worst novels I have EVER read; flat"characters", no imagery; tropes and stereotypes(and, even if you argue that he is satirising 1999 gay male culture, it is not even funny). Not sure what target audience is: other than gay male drug users/chemsex addicts of this era, who in any case, are ridiculed and stereotyped. A cynical piece of market placing: the authors recommending it(good authors: Self and Jonathan Harvey etc- cannot really have believed it this good and/or funny). I am not one for just representing positive happyclapy images of gay men- let us read, like in all fiction, re the horrors too!-but this is enough to send you, reeling, back in the closet! Our book group ALL (7 people) strongly disliked it.
If you want a cruelly satiric, but well-written expose of the longeurs of gay male life, read "Faggots" (Kramer), which is genuinely biting AND funny.
If you want a cruelly satiric, but well-written expose of the longeurs of gay male life, read "Faggots" (Kramer), which is genuinely biting AND funny.
January 25, 2009
7/10 Kind of amateurish...I don't know how people can survive taking all different kinds of drugs every single night. It was hard to get attached to the characters since they were very cliché and pathetic, but I did laugh a few times. Would probably make a better movie than a book.
October 9, 2012
Paul Burston is smart; I really love his top 10 list of gay novels. But this book is just too slight and repetitive to be worth reading. The narrative voice is appealingly frothy but it begins to sag after about 50 pages. There's just not enough substance here.
November 4, 2011
Delightful, witty, funny! A great book to read on a rainy night or summer vacation!
July 20, 2014
The whole story was terrible and totally dull. It was like those novels that fancy magazine company workers write in Hungary. It was pretty lame.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews