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Candyass
Arthur is a young gay man in Montreal at a crossroads. He gets lost in a blizzard of boys and endless possibilities—looking to fall in love and to experience devotion—but he finds himself increasingly immersed in a world of hedonism and deception, especially as he deals with the messy remains of his relationship with Jeremy, his chimerical ex-boyfriend and first love. He moves to New York in search of something more, but due to a lack of foresight and chaotic romantic entanglements, he finds he still yearns for authentic connections with others. In a world that celebrates youth and extended adolescence, what does it mean to grow up? Candyass is a coming-of-age novel with hard edges and a soft a striking debut work about what it means to be young, queer, and urban today; a radical chronicle of queer love and desire among millennials, whose feelings and impulses flicker and fade along with the bright lights of the city at night. Nick Comilla lives in Brooklyn, New York.
176 pages, Paperback
Published October 11, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 14, 2016
This book is a beautiful, almost haphazard collection of intimate memories spanning the delicate years of self-discovery that bridge adolescence and adulthood. In the wholly believeable voice of the novel's narrator, sexually-charged prose is brilliantly juxtaposed against reflective poetry. Having lived in Montreal all my life, I feel even more compelled to recommend this novel for its nuanced depiction of the city.
September 18, 2021
nickcomilla wrote a hardcore, true-to-life story of love found, love lost ald heartbreak in its most extreme form…
Growing up, moving to Montreal, Arthus discovers a world of fun and sex in the many gay bars of the city. Boys come and go until he meets Jeremy. He becomes Arthurs first real love and they start a passionate relationship but soon cracks appear and both loose each other in a world of prostitution, drugs and booze… for Arthur these themes seem to be coming back, leading him straight into a toxic relationship with Jason… can we really talk of love?
With a clear voice, Nick shows us around the (a?) world of modern day gay scene. Having all been through the motions, we all had ‘that one that slipped away’ and ‘the one you wished you’d never met’… and I can’t shake the feeling, Nick wrote from his own experiences. I know I could discover some elements I encountered in my days of searching, having casual encounters and having deeper feelings (not always answered the way I liked)!
I truly loved reading this, I felt at times the same vibes of A Little Life in there. When you’re in your early twenties, we think mostly with certain lower body parts… but there’s always a heart and a mind that hangs onto these parts, something we should all reckon with, keep in account!
Growing up, moving to Montreal, Arthus discovers a world of fun and sex in the many gay bars of the city. Boys come and go until he meets Jeremy. He becomes Arthurs first real love and they start a passionate relationship but soon cracks appear and both loose each other in a world of prostitution, drugs and booze… for Arthur these themes seem to be coming back, leading him straight into a toxic relationship with Jason… can we really talk of love?
With a clear voice, Nick shows us around the (a?) world of modern day gay scene. Having all been through the motions, we all had ‘that one that slipped away’ and ‘the one you wished you’d never met’… and I can’t shake the feeling, Nick wrote from his own experiences. I know I could discover some elements I encountered in my days of searching, having casual encounters and having deeper feelings (not always answered the way I liked)!
I truly loved reading this, I felt at times the same vibes of A Little Life in there. When you’re in your early twenties, we think mostly with certain lower body parts… but there’s always a heart and a mind that hangs onto these parts, something we should all reckon with, keep in account!
January 6, 2017
Every gay generation, I suppose, must have their own book encapsulating what it's like for them, so I guess this is the millennial's version of that, as it was Holleran's "Dancer From the Dance' or Kramer's 'Faggots' for the boomers. And all I can say is this made me very sad that post-Stonewall/marriage equality gay life is so repetitiously boring and enervating - to read about, if not also to experience. I almost abandoned this 2/3 of the way through, as it just seemed to be the same mind-numbing scenes repeating themselves over and over, with all of the characters inanely stupid and never learning anything through their experiences. The incredibly jejune poetry interspersed throughout didn't help matters any either. It all ends, of course, with the expected heroin overdose, but given the rampant unsafe sex on virtually every page, at least we were mercifully spared AIDS also rearing its ugly head.
March 6, 2018
Candyass is like the love child of Dennis Cooper and J.T Leroy, it’s complete filth and I loved it!
It’s short, sexy, emotional and brutally honest, many gay men will see themselves in this book. Gay hookup culture and experiencing sex for the first time has never felt so real.
Excellent. I want more books from Nick Comilla.
It’s short, sexy, emotional and brutally honest, many gay men will see themselves in this book. Gay hookup culture and experiencing sex for the first time has never felt so real.
Excellent. I want more books from Nick Comilla.
February 26, 2017
YAAAAASSSSSS
December 31, 2018
I never thought that at any point in my life I'd give a glowing review about a book that revolves around eating ass but, well, here we are.
Bitterly sweet and gut-wrenchingly honest, Candyass tells the story of a new college freshman (up until his later 20s) navigating the gay scene in Montreal and NYC. Comilla paints dizzying pictures of coked-out late nights out on the town, deep and dark abusive relationships, and how it feels to love and lose, over and over again.
The desperation our main character feels for love and belonging (though he never outright says as much) permeates through every page and every destructive relationship (if you can call them that) that spills across the book's pages.
Idk, you guys, I just really liked it.
Bitterly sweet and gut-wrenchingly honest, Candyass tells the story of a new college freshman (up until his later 20s) navigating the gay scene in Montreal and NYC. Comilla paints dizzying pictures of coked-out late nights out on the town, deep and dark abusive relationships, and how it feels to love and lose, over and over again.
The desperation our main character feels for love and belonging (though he never outright says as much) permeates through every page and every destructive relationship (if you can call them that) that spills across the book's pages.
Idk, you guys, I just really liked it.
November 2, 2018
I purchased this book in a store in Chicago attracted to the notion that it is set in two of my favourite cities - Montreal and New York (both of which I have visited recently). The story is raw and confronting and the prose is a mixture of narrative and poetry in both English and French. I enjoyed the refreshing honesty and realism the author put forward - this novel is a timely reminder there are no guarantees in life and that not all stories have a happy ending.
March 25, 2019
I stumbled upon this book at Unabridged, a book store near me. I picked it up solely on the recommendation of an employee who took time to write out a review on a card. It’s not a major work or anything but it spoke to me. Keenly. I saw a lot of myself (younger, of course) in Arthur, the book’s tres intense main character who’s discovering himself and what love is all about (and having boatloads of sex in the process). It’s poignant. Comilla’s writing is good; he’s got a sensitive touch that I find to be an asset but he’s not all mamby about it. This is a quick and satisfying read.
March 29, 2017
So repetitive with endless drugs, manipulation and meaningless sex- so pointless- there was nothing to this book and sets back gay guys even further that we are all shallow fucktards on a deathwish - pointless book - god give me back those hrs !
January 19, 2019
Raw, dream-like, kind of like if a Gregg Araki film was a short novel. you'll notice that all the people leaving bad reviews are, well, old fat guys. It's really young-ish. But if you give 5 stars to books like "love, simon" it's not for you. it's kind of beat-generation-esque.
July 29, 2017
A narcissistic, shallow and immature young man finds the world to be a mirror to him in which everyone he meets is also vapid, selfish and hollow. It's more than a bit depressing. The book captures well a familiar cycle for some gay men of substance abuse, anonymous sex, difficulties in achieving intimacy and an obsession with rapid-fire sex as an alternative to more meaningful human connections.
The format of the book is a collection of diary-like parts separated by section breaks (*****). Some are short, like a single sentence or utterance, scraps of teenage poetry or longer diary entries of a page or two. While the occasional one begins with, "Back in New York," or "Six weeks after returning to Montreal," there isn't much narrative flow or context connecting the parts. The sections are pretty much interchangeable. You could shuffle the sections like a deck of cards and it would read the same.
Arthur, the main character, keeps having the same conversations with different guys he hooks up with, has the same type of sex (rimming mostly, like it says on the cover) and self-obsesses about where he can get more sex. Perhaps as a reflection of the main character's narcissism there's no space given to what other characters might be thinking or feeling. I carried on reading hoping that there would be some crisis of meaning, some collapse or some event where Arthur would be forced to look at bit deeper into his life, make some changes and grow as a human being into a happier version of himself. But that didn't happen—the last sections read pretty much like the first one. I don't enjoy books with anti-heroes. It's boring when you don't care what happens to the protagonist.
By contrast, at the same time, I was also reading Oliver Sack's autobiography and Insomniac City by his lover, Bill Hays. Both books uncover their passions for life, their gentle intimacy and the joy and richness of living that they shared. Their lives together were filled with laughter, love, joy and a fascination with the world and those in it. I felt deeply enriched reading them describe their lives together and the wonder they experienced in relationship with others. I hope there are more gay men living fulfilled lives like Oliver and Bill and fewer like the fictional Arthur.
The format of the book is a collection of diary-like parts separated by section breaks (*****). Some are short, like a single sentence or utterance, scraps of teenage poetry or longer diary entries of a page or two. While the occasional one begins with, "Back in New York," or "Six weeks after returning to Montreal," there isn't much narrative flow or context connecting the parts. The sections are pretty much interchangeable. You could shuffle the sections like a deck of cards and it would read the same.
Arthur, the main character, keeps having the same conversations with different guys he hooks up with, has the same type of sex (rimming mostly, like it says on the cover) and self-obsesses about where he can get more sex. Perhaps as a reflection of the main character's narcissism there's no space given to what other characters might be thinking or feeling. I carried on reading hoping that there would be some crisis of meaning, some collapse or some event where Arthur would be forced to look at bit deeper into his life, make some changes and grow as a human being into a happier version of himself. But that didn't happen—the last sections read pretty much like the first one. I don't enjoy books with anti-heroes. It's boring when you don't care what happens to the protagonist.
By contrast, at the same time, I was also reading Oliver Sack's autobiography and Insomniac City by his lover, Bill Hays. Both books uncover their passions for life, their gentle intimacy and the joy and richness of living that they shared. Their lives together were filled with laughter, love, joy and a fascination with the world and those in it. I felt deeply enriched reading them describe their lives together and the wonder they experienced in relationship with others. I hope there are more gay men living fulfilled lives like Oliver and Bill and fewer like the fictional Arthur.
January 19, 2024
An elongated, simplistic short story that has no real plot, zero chapters, caricatures instead of fleshed-out characterizations, and a whole lot of poor writing that only covers 147 small pages. If you are into graphic gay sex scenes that involve enjoying ass smell then you might want to read it, otherwise stay away.
The lead guy in the novel starts in his teen years wanting butt sex (mostly rimming and topping), falls in love quickly with any asshole (literally and figuratively), cheats, does drugs, and soon has a bunch of broken exes. Along the way he is violently abused in and out of bed by one of the two main lovers with no remorse or consequences. There are also scenes with underage boys and escorts but no understanding of moral or legal consequences. And the big "ending" won't shock anyone.
The author is so insecure and uncreative that he basically takes the same mini-plot elements and repeats them five or six times throughout the booklet. Either that or he believes gay men have no ability to do anything other than go to a bar, pick up a random boy, and take him home to stay up all night screwing. The picture painted here of the homosexual community is not flattering and this would be a great book for those to use that want to prove how shallow and stupid gay men can be in pursuit of getting laid.
The whole thing is trashy and laughable. Comilla tries to make the narrator hip with his socialist politics and rants against capitalism. Not just a big yawn but ridiculous since the lead leaves Canada for New York City, loving the big city but complaining about people's financial success. There are many Canadian sections where untranslated French being spoken and the author is so out of touch with thinking about how the book will read that he doesn't care you don't know what's on its pages. Then inserted every once in a while are poems that the lead character supposedly makes money off of as a profession. You won't believe a moment of it or even care since none of the characters are concerned about anything other than the number of orgasms they have or drugs they get high on.
In the end this Candyass stinks.
The lead guy in the novel starts in his teen years wanting butt sex (mostly rimming and topping), falls in love quickly with any asshole (literally and figuratively), cheats, does drugs, and soon has a bunch of broken exes. Along the way he is violently abused in and out of bed by one of the two main lovers with no remorse or consequences. There are also scenes with underage boys and escorts but no understanding of moral or legal consequences. And the big "ending" won't shock anyone.
The author is so insecure and uncreative that he basically takes the same mini-plot elements and repeats them five or six times throughout the booklet. Either that or he believes gay men have no ability to do anything other than go to a bar, pick up a random boy, and take him home to stay up all night screwing. The picture painted here of the homosexual community is not flattering and this would be a great book for those to use that want to prove how shallow and stupid gay men can be in pursuit of getting laid.
The whole thing is trashy and laughable. Comilla tries to make the narrator hip with his socialist politics and rants against capitalism. Not just a big yawn but ridiculous since the lead leaves Canada for New York City, loving the big city but complaining about people's financial success. There are many Canadian sections where untranslated French being spoken and the author is so out of touch with thinking about how the book will read that he doesn't care you don't know what's on its pages. Then inserted every once in a while are poems that the lead character supposedly makes money off of as a profession. You won't believe a moment of it or even care since none of the characters are concerned about anything other than the number of orgasms they have or drugs they get high on.
In the end this Candyass stinks.
January 3, 2020
This reads like the diaries of any number of gay guys in their 20s. There are some bits that read like me. I’ve dated some of the same types of guys. I’ve had the same strange, conflicted feelings. Luckily, I’ve largely avoided the drug culture.
The narrator is pretentious in the way that only a university student can be. I’ve been that. He peppers the narrative with bits of naive philosophy and quotations memorized from favourite professors. It made me smile to myself.
I think a lot of people can probably relate to this novel, but I don’t think it’s breaking any new ground. Maybe I’m just getting too old...
The narrator is pretentious in the way that only a university student can be. I’ve been that. He peppers the narrative with bits of naive philosophy and quotations memorized from favourite professors. It made me smile to myself.
I think a lot of people can probably relate to this novel, but I don’t think it’s breaking any new ground. Maybe I’m just getting too old...
November 24, 2019
bro idk
May 4, 2024
Lovely gay porn in writing. Love it.
February 12, 2021
This book was entertaining. But it’s literally about a guy eating ass and describing it in detail to every guy he meets.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews