After the Blue Hour

by John Rechy

The “shocking, erotic, and suspenseful” winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Fiction from the author of City of Night (Out Magazine).   John Rechy’s first novel, City of Night, an international bestseller, is considered a modern classic. Subsequent work asserts his place among America’s most important writers. The author’s most daring work, After the Blue Hour is narrated by a twenty-four-year-old writer named John Rechy.   Fleeing a turbulent life in Los Angeles, John accepts an invitation to a private island from an admirer of his work. There, he joins Paul, his imposing host in his late thirties, his beautiful mistress, and his precocious teenage son. Browsing Paul’s library and conversing together on the deck about literature and film during the spell of evening’s “blue hour,” John feels surcease, until, with unabashed candor, Paul shares intimate details of his life. Through cunning seductive charm, he married and divorced an ambassador’s daughter and the heiress to a vast fortune. Avoiding identifying his son’s mother, he reveals an affinity for erotic “dangerous games.” With intimations of past decadence and menace, an abandoned island nearby arouses tense fascination in the group. As “games” veer toward violence, secrets surface in startling twists and turns. Explosive confrontation becomes inevitable.   “A beach read for those who prefer to thumb Genet rather than Grisham on the deckside chaise.” —Los Angeles Review of Books   “Mysterious, intriguing, and brashly amatory, Rechy’s take on gamesmanship, power, domination, and deception is a welcome return to form for the author and a wild ride indeed.” —The Bay Area Reporter   “Steamy . . . with a kind of Gatsby-by-way-of-Henry James subplot. Beautifully written.” —Kirkus Reviews

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Gay, Queer, Classics, Literature, Novels

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2017

About the author

John Rechy is an American author, the child of a Scottish father and a Mexican-American mother. In his novels he has written extensively about homosexual culture in Los Angeles and wider America, and is among the pioneers of modern LGBT literature. Drawing on his own background, he has also contributed to Chicano literature, especially with his novel The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez, which is taught in several Chicano literature courses in the United States. His work has often faced censorship due to its sexual content, particularly (but not solely) in the 1960s and 1970s, but books such as City of Night have been best sellers, and he has many literary admirers.

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well....The book cover is gorgeous, isn't it? :)

This is 'not' a novel for everyone....BE WARNED!!!
There is a derogatory-sex scene....so intense --that my mind stopped cold.
However, I feel that this book is for readers who can withhold judgements at a distance - can appreciate a book with conniving, competitive, untrustworthy, and unlikable characters. And...look further....at this psychologically taut novel about secrets we all carry. Look at breaking points in relationships and the complexity of inner lives of others.
This is a searing - suspenseful story of intimacy and emotional chaos.

In "After the Blue Hour", John Rechy, author, age 24 in 1960, receives an invitation from a fan named Paul Wagner, to join him for the summer on this private island.
John spends the summer with Paul ( mid 30's), his mistress, Sonya, and Paul's son
named Stanty who just turned fourteen. Stanty's real name is Constantine..( a name which Stanty thinks is ugly).
Right away - we know Stanty is a devious-cocky-smart aleck. His has an annoying
plastered ingratiating smile on his face. Paul, enables his disturbing rudeness.

Sonya is the "beautiful woman" with an "astonishing sensational body".

Paul has been married twice before -- but I wondered from the very start of this book if part of his invitation of John was to have sex with him. We are clear John is gay...
but less so 'at first' if Paul is.
Paul can be immorally degrading - a shameful - unprincipled -vile human being....
with a big cheery smile and a cigarette in one hand, and a drink in the other.

From violent kisses to erotic violence ---a house of elegant rustic quality facing the lake--the ongoing games -the pangs of competition- the beautiful Sonya who seems to be an "exhibition" -the ongoing HEAT--swimming - boat rowing- reading in the library- ordinary conversations: books, movies, personal backgrounds, casual inquiries into each other's sex lives -drinks on the deck after dinner...."hints of blue radiance soon to come"--a deep blue glow loomed over the water....The Blue Hour".
"Some people claim that's when everything reveals itself as it is".
"They say everything is both clearest and most obscure – – a light that challenges perception, revealing and hiding".
"Dark and Light at the same time".
"mysterious ambiguity"!

This novel takes you into a dark twisted raw-uncomfortable world. I'm not sure how
else to say it any other way.....AND I WAS GLUED to it.

Thank You Grove Atlantic, Netgalley, and John Rechy ( brace - bold -brilliant)

[Althea Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Rechy's 'City of Night' sort of by accident when I was sixteen (It was on the same library shelf as Anne Rice.) So, Rice's sadomasochistic fantasies, Anais Nin's erotica (not on the same shelf, but read around the same time) and this all got intertwined in my head. Rechy was by far the most shockingly eye-opening; the most gritty - but at the same time, his writing shares a certain overwrought drama with the other two.
I never really followed his writing after that - tried to get a hold of his memoir that came out a few years ago; but never got my hands on a copy. When I was offered a review copy of this book, I accepted it eagerly.
Reading this, I had to wonder how factual the memoir is. The main character here is a young man called, coincidentally, John Rechy, and there are plenty of metafictional musings about the nature of identity and the 'truth' of narratives. This, however, is definitely not a memoir. I cannot say how closely the character matches the author, or if any parallel incidents occurred in his life, but the structure here is that of a novel.
It's much less sexually explicit than I expected. I recall 'City of Night' as being blatantly pornographic, but this is almost understated - sizzling and brooding with tension; putting the reader on constant edge about what *might* happen.
John Rechy (the character) is a promising young writer known for his treatment of edgy subjects (the gay underground scene, of course) who is invited by an unknown man to visit his private island. We expect a sexual assignation; but the man actually seems to possibly be interested in his writing, perhaps in acting as a kind of patron. Also on the island are the man's beautiful mistress, his teenage son, and two odd and silent household staff. And overlaying all of it is a mass of secrets. Soon, the man's ex-wife may be coming for a visit - and then certain things may be revealed.
I think the book, although published in 2017, has a decidedly 60's-70's vibe to not just the setting, but the writing. It's an interpersonal drama about a troubled family relationship, into which a disinterested party is dragged... but the whole thing teeters right on the verge of crossing over into horror, the way the tension is maintained and developed.
I really liked it.

Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the opportunity to read. As always, my opinions are unaffected by the source of the book.

[Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly can't justify rating this book any higher than a three. I didn't see the "mind games," just selfish, narcissist people, who took advantage of others, period. It wasn't even for pleasure, it was evil and boring. The Book is billed as "true fiction." So. does that mean it's based on a foggy memory, or an embellished truth. It could have happened. However, I wish I didn't read about it.
John Rechy - author, and main character at age 24 in 1960.
Paul - the man with the island, wormed his way up to money through marriage and divorce. Late thirties, handsome, in shape, an evil bastard.
Stanty - nickname for Constantine, Paul's 14 year old son, by wife number one. Socially awkward, maybe intelligent, possibly mentally delayed or disturbed. We don't know, and they don't tell us. But not a normal kid.
Sophia - stunning beautiful, simply described as Paul's mistress.
They all spend the summer in the "relentless heat" under the "white blazing sun" watching for "the blue hour" right before sunset. They drink chilled, expensive wines, are served wonderful food, and toy with each other's sensual emotions while never really having the sex they might want, or not. Until the end. It's not pretty, more like cruel or degrading. Judge for yourself.


Thank you Netgalley.

[LenaRibka · Rating 2 out of 5]

Update 06-05-2018:


I'm a bit sad, because I found this year were really great books in the category and this one I liked less of all. I know I should congratulate the author and be quiet, but it is difficult. The worst book has won. IMO.




30th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalist - Gay Fiction


Gay Fiction:

After the Blue Hour Grove Press
The Clothesline Swing, Nightwood Editions
The End of Eddy, Straus and Giroux
Fimi Sile Forever: Heaven Gave It to Me, Team Angelica
The Heart's Invisible Furies, Hogarth
Less, Lee Boudreaux Books
Outside Is the Ocean, University of Iowa Press
This Is How It Begins, She Writes Press

Obviously it is enough to wander to and fro between a sundeck and a bar, with a little suspense and intrigue in a background, share hateful memories about your ex (women), swing by to a house library and mention some intellectual books to be considered as a masterpiece of sexual exploration sophisticated and psychological novel. Obviously I didn't notice it behind intensively used vulgar language and pretentious prose. Not a single likable character. I HATE Paul.

Obviously it is good written, but I am not sure I want to read more by the author.

[Michael Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be Rechy's best book, an exciting, suspenseful novel that boldly explores mounting tensions among four fascinating characters trapped in a web of secrets and buried conflicts. Paul is the wealthy owner of the luxurious private island on which the action is set. Deadly charm has allowed him to marry and divorce two notable women, threatening presences who may or may not appear. The others on the island now are the narrator with a tawdry past--significantly named "John Rechy"-- Paul's beautiful and enigmatic mistress, and his precocious, perhaps dangerous teenage son. Mysteriously threatening, and developed skillfully by Rechy, are the unseasonal summer heat ("under a frozen sun") and an abandoned island that fascinates the group with dark rumors about its past.
There are unexpected pleasures in this book. The competition between Paul and the narrator leads to provocative discussions about the untruthfulness of autobiography, the truthfulness of fiction. They roam over elements of suspense as exemplified in literature and films, from Hitchcock to old movie-serials, from comic books to Henry James.
The author calls his book "a true fiction," an apt description, part discernible autobiography, part dramatic fictionalizing.
The book is very graphic. Its explosive ending, as inevitable as it is startling, may shock. But graphic scenes, like the rest of this exceptional book, are expertly written, never gratuitous.
This book is a triumph for this still-controversial author.

[Brian Rothbart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first time I have read anything by John Rechy, who is probably best know for his book "City of Night". Interesting that this book, a pseudo-memoir as "City of Night" may have been, deals with a character. John Rechy, who was/is a hustler. I really like the feel of this book. It reminded me of Patricia Highsmith or Paul Auster or even a David Lynch movie. It is very sexually graphic, so if you aren't into that or are a little "prudish" you should probably stay away from this book. However, I really enjoyed it and it was a perfect read during the hot summer months. Some may find the pacing a little slow and the characters a little off putting, but it works. This book basically is about how one cannot run away from one's self. I really enjoyed it.

[The Literary Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about the revelations of truths. Where things may or may not be what they appear until the explosive climax.
The book takes its name from The Blue Hour, those moments of twilight that are described as the time where things are clearest yet most mysterious. 24 year old John Rechy is invited by a fan, Paul Wagner, to spend time on his private island with him after reading two of Rechy’s stories, Mardi Gras and The Fabulous Wedding of Miss Destiny, which later were included in Rechy’s acclaimed real life book, City of Night. Paul is particularly taken with the fascination and horror Rechy expressed in those stories at what he called the leering clowns and demonic angels during the height of Mardi Gras carnival in New Orleans. Also on the island are Paul’s exquisitely sensual mistress, and his rather precocious and challenging 14 year old son, Stanty (Constantine),
An under currant of tension runs throughout the story, intensified by the feelings of isolation in the recurring call of Father and Son of “Island, Island” stressing that they are entering a world that is solely theirs. Books play a large part in the story as much is made of the books in Paul's vast library, including Gide’s The Counterfeiters and Robbe-Grillet’s Le Voyeur. Several books seemingly selected by Wagner for John Rechy, as the son continually calls him throughout the story, are left for him in his room while others, including The Origins of Evil, are deliberately left out in the library designed to catch his attention.
The book is a labyrinthine puzzle with clues being the books scattered about, the odd interactions and conversations between the few people on the island (including the will o’ the wisp servant couple), and what Paul, Sonia, and even his oddly ambivalent son who seesaws between childish behavior and adult perceptions and sudden violent actions.
There is a peculiar feeling of sadomasochism in the relationship of the host, Paul and his mistress Sonia. While Paul is drawn to her beauty and sexuality, those very things seem to make him despise her for exercising power over him, manifesting itself in his verbal cruelty and exhibitionistic and vicious, sometimes bloody kisses.
Paul continually tries to draw Rechy out in discussions of the nature of evil and cruelty, as he repeated refers to the descriptions of the “costumed revelers turned into angels, angels into demons, demons into clowning angels” fighting for beads in New Orleans so the bodies tangled and the “beads fell on splattered blood like dirty tears” in his story Mardi Gras. Paul seems to be trying to draw Rechy into admitting his own inherent cruelty from deriving joy in the exercising of sexual power over others. He is determined to draw similarities between himself and Rechy in that beneath the veneer of charm that both exude lies evil. The novel then turns even darker as the mind games become darker and more erotic. And nothing is what it seems.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read quite a few of Rechy's early semi-autobiographical works (his classic 'City of Night', 'Numbers', 'Rushes' and 'The Sexual Outlaw') back in the early 70's, and was somewhat surprised to learn he's not only still alive (he's almost 86, despite an incorrect birthdate on GR!), but still publishing controversial work. He bills this as a 'true fiction', and indeed, the narrator is a young 24 year old writer/hustler named .... John Rechy! Supposing, then, that this is based on an actual incident lends the story even more intrigue, and if it weren't for the sexually graphic climax (no pun intended!), would make an excellent film in the right hands. Short and concentrated, the book gains power as it goes along - but one thing that drove me crazy is the affectation that both Paul and John call each other 'man' incessantly, which although a 60's 'thing', gives their dialogue a slightly camp and fusty air.

[Gerhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry James is not a writer one would normally associate with John Rechy, due to the latter’s predilection for cum-spattered sex scenes that push the boundaries of torridness, not to mention what is physically possible between human bodies (rarely less than two; Rechy is a true disciple of polymorphous perversity).

And yet this latest novel from the 86-year-old author is very Jamesian in its subtle and discerning focus on the inter-dynamics of a group of people on an island retreat. The one, a wealthy patron of the arts, has invited a ‘struggling writer’ (by the name of John Rechy) to partake of a lifestyle he has only read about … And yet what are the true motives behind the invitation, given the patron’s fraught relationship with women in particular?

Susan Straight writes in The LA Times:

Rechy, the writer, has since the earliest in his long career given readers that hour, the dusk and twilight and melding when people change their natures, and I marvel that he continues to write with such elegance and lyricism, descending into raw scenes of human longing and violence.

Make no mistake about it, this is no typical Jamesian foray into mores and morals. There is a running riff about the nature and dichotomy of evil, interwoven with complex speculation about the (un)reliability of memory versus ‘truth’, and the subsequent impact this has on the autobiographical enterprise (the book is subtitled ‘A True Fiction’, which is a fitting epitaph to the magnificence of Rechy’s philosophical enquiry here).

Rechy was one of the first gay writers I ever read … mainly for the graphic sex scenes, I blush to admit. However, this latest fiercely intelligent and intellectually daring book from such an iconic writer, in the ‘blue hour’ of his own life and career, is a superb testament to his skill as a writer.

[Roger Hyttinen]

THE STORY

Set in the 1960's, the story follows a 24-year-old writer named John Rechy who is received a letter from a fan -- Paul Wagner - who, after having read some of Rechy's work, invites him to spend the summer on his private island along with his sensual mistress Sophia and his very strange -- if not creepy -- 14-year-old son Stanty (who's real name is Constantine).

A good part of the book revolves exploring the sexual dynamics between John and Paul via conversation. These intellectual discussions often devolve into the retelling of past sexual encounters (mostly consisting of Paul sharing hateful memories about his exes). T

The conversations take some strange turns especially when Paul attempts to draw John out into discussions of the inherent nature of evil and cruelty and seems to try to get John to admit his own innate cruelty and the pleasure he receives from exercising his power over others.

It doesn’t take us too long to figure out that Paul is not only a master manipulator who wormed his way into money through marriage and divorce. It’s also clear that he loves to indulge in power plays and mind games, especially darker ones, and that he may also be a very dangerous man.

The story is told from Rechy's point of view and throughout these conversations, we learn of the protagonist's contempt for both Paul and his potentially mentally unhinged son, which only increases as the days pass on the island. The only positive portrayals are found in descriptions of Sonya's beauty and as with the others on the island, there is more to Sonya than meets the eye as well.


WHAT I LIKED

This book really tickled my bibliophile bone as books play a large part in the story. John spends the majority of his time Paul's vast library browsing through books by classical authors, and much of the discussion the two men have on the deck revolves around literature.

There was also the mystery surrounding a book entitled “The Origins of Evil” which was deliberately left out in the library for John to find, but then subsequently disappeared, only to reappear again later on in John’s room.

I also liked the device the author uses of blurring the lines between fiction and nonfiction, by using his own name — John Rechy — as the main character and including his own biographical data.

In fact, Rechy refers to the book as “A True Fiction” and I believed at one point in the book he referred to his writing as autobiographical fiction. Whether it means that the story is fiction with a few autobiographical elements thrown in, or whether the novel is autobiography but some overly exaggerated truths is up to the reader to determine.

If I recall, Rechy also says something to the fact that: all fiction is autobiographical, and all autobiographies are fiction.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

Though Stanty was a bit strange, the reader also got the feeling of possible neglect and abuse as the hands of his distant, manipulating father, which may explain some of the boy's strange behavior.

I disliked the extreme misogynistic views of Paul, and his excessively vulgar misogynistic rants became tiresome and offensive after awhile.

The first time he let loose with one of his rants it succeeded in providing shock value and adding a grittiness to the story. But these repeated tirades lost their effectiveness and provoked disgust at the continued usage of his hate speech.

Because of the bitter feelings of the Island’s owner toward woman (including his mistress) and our protagonist’s ever-growing dislike for his hosts, I found the atmosphere of the novel growing more and more toxic as I progressed through it.

There was a feeling of seediness to it that kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.

Truth be told, I didn’t like any of the characters, including the protagonist John Rechy, so it’s difficult to have positive feelings about a novel when I felt that none of the characters where deserving of those feelings. They were not only damaged and messy, but I found them wholly unlikeable and completely unrelatable. Especially Paul — I him to be a vile human being.

I was only about 50 pages from the end of it and I thought about throwing in the towel and bailing on it. But I figured I was so close to the end and had stuck it out this far, I needed to finish it. Plus I was hoping that this “huge climax” which was promised at the end of the book would be worth it. It wasn’t. The big event was more cruel and degrading, rather than climatic and explosive, in my humble opinion.


FINAL VERDICT

There is no doubt that Rechy is a master at turning a phrase and this novel was no exception. It was beautiful written and evocative in places — and excessively vulgar and graphic in others.

That being said, it did contain elements of suspense, intrigue, love, desire mystery, and human relationships but most of this was presented through the guise of conversation between the sundeck and the bar.

In other words, not a whole heck of a lot happens in the book. The characters were interesting, especially once their backgrounds were revealed and so was the setting, but I don’t feel that there was a lot here that will stick with me now that I’ve closed the last page.

Additionally, the novel does take the reader into some pretty dark, gritty and uncomfortable places, which may be difficult for some people. And because of the continued hate speech and near pornographic actions of the characters, I found the novel difficult to read as I related less and less to the characters and to the story.

So I would have to say that this book was not for me and I ended up giving it 2 stars.

This review was originally posted on my blog at rogerhyttinen.com.

[Ronie Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was like any minute now a vengeful ghost would reveal all secrets.

Well dude bode better than the priest

[Chris Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating authorial perspective. Set in the time just before the author/protagonist's first and career launching book City of Night was published, and layered with autobiographical fragments both psychologically intriguing, this true fiction is informed by a lifetime of reading and writing and observing human nature. The structure is tight the language perhaps arcane to contemporary readers and the sexual dynamics turn Freud on his provincial head. This is a sophisticated and spooky book. Some have compared it to Patricia Highsmith. It's pure John Rechy. Provocative rebel forever.

[John Bates · Rating 5 out of 5]

In After The Blue Hour John Rechy has given us yet another masterpiece of sexual exploration. No one has ever journeyed so deeply and so nakedly into the inferno of desire in all its brutal insatiability, and conveyed that world to the reader in such lucid, silken prose. What begins as an almost genteel ‘memoir’ of the newly published narrator’s visit to an admirer—a handsome fortune-hunter, living with his latest mistress and an adolescent son on a private island—inevitably explodes into a sometimes frightening but always dazzling depiction of the power—attractive and repulsive-- of physical beauty in collision. What seems monstrous in the host (who maintains that his victims are 'willing') appears about to be replicated in his son—the genesis of misogyny? Nothing is that simple, here, and the effect is stunning.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the Blue Hour is a weird, unsettling reading experience. I wouldn't really say it has a "plot" in any way shape or form, but is mostly just a set of really interesting characters interacting with each other in increasingly bizarre and menacing ways. Atmospherically mysterious and somewhat surreal, the setting plays a huge part in the novel, and I felt was leveraged very well.

This novel is also very, very literary, so beware if that is not your cup of tea. Referencing many historical works of literature, art, and music is another way that Rechy sets mood and context.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this, even if at the end I wasn't really sure what I had just experienced.

[Natalie-ct · Rating 5 out of 5]

"After The Blue Hour" is one of the most extraordinary books I've ever read. The exquisite prose, the blending of passion and psychology, the erotic and the profoundly mysterious is haunting and utterly compelling. I can't get these images out of my mind or the lives of these characters. This is a book I will read over many times.
Most highly recommended.

Natalie Bernstein Bates
Playwright, Author

[Sean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad. Really bad. The dialogue is among the worst I’ve ever seen in a published work. The premise was laughable. The characters were thinner than paper. I read the first half of the book and stopped because it was too painful to continue.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part autobiography, part fiction, this well-written but ultimately inconsequential novel, tells the story of a young writer, called, like the author, John Rechy, who is invited to stay on a private island by one of his admirers. Paul is a slightly older man, and is on holiday with his beautiful mistress and teenage son. It soon becomes clear that Paul is a manipulative and perhaps dangerous man, who loves to indulge in power games, and the atmosphere on the island becomes sinister and toxic. All the characters are somewhat strange, and I couldn’t relate to any of them, not even to John Rechy himself, and so I remained unengaged by the narrative. Seedy, decadent and mildly pornographic, it wasn’t a pleasant read and felt ultimately empty and pretentious – especially with the frequent references to literature and music, which, whilst fun to see how many names the reader can recognise, seemed to be a sort of cultural showing-off. The writing, however, is admittedly, good, as is the pacing and slow reveal of the characters’ backgrounds, which all contributes to the building tension, but in the end this wasn’t really one for me.

[William Miles · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Rechy is one of the most renowned gay author of what can be called gay fiction. Unlike most current writers, he cannot be as appropriately described as an author whose fiction happens to include gay fiction. In this novel, the protagonist (whose name also happens to be John Rechy) is becoming a successful gay author, and he is invited to spend time on the isolated island of a rich family, whose father apparently enjoys courting successful artists. The author successfully captures the creepy atmosphere of the island and the strained family dynamics, and the protagonist's being drawn into the "fun."

[Paige Fletcher]

i simply would not stay at this insane man’s house

[Arja Salafranca · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the premise of this novel was intriguing - games played on an island, bringing John Fowles's The Magus to mind - the execution was astonishingly disappointing. The story is set in the early 1960s – when a young writer, also called John Rechy, accepts an invitation to sojourn on a private island with Paul, an admirer of his work. Rechy is a new writer with two stories published, his personal life one of messy couplings with other men found on the streets.
Also present on the island are Paul’s girlfriend, Sonya and very strange teenage son, nicknamed Stanty. John finds mired in the strange mirage-like fantasies which mingle with the everyday lives of these characters. Paul is particularly contemptible and Rechy does not attempt to imbue with any characteristics that would endear him to the reader. Stanty equally so, as creepy as his father. The only redeemable features are to be found in descriptions of Sonya’s attractiveness. The culmination of erotic violence is not for the faint-hearted, if you’ve made it this far.

[Virditas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is filled with messy, damaged characters, but who somehow stay archetypal. The 'white heat' of the season of summer in the book is in polar contrast to the cool image of the 'blue hour' that recurs. Beautiful.
The antagonist, Paul, is a vessel for all humanities unrepentant and self-cognisant tawdry greed. What is interesting is that despite Paul's very evident brutality, the other humans around him spend most of the time deeply obsessed with or even in love with him. This is a trope in many books that explore desire and the primal-greed of humans (esp. males), but this book is deeper than those that explore this as a trope. Paul is *such* a bad human, and the others love him *so* much that the book becomes itself a contradiction, one artfully written by the narrator, a certain "John Rechy".
There is much more to explore and write about this book, but for now I think I'll leave it at this.

[Iv y · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was totally enthralling, man. this style is so particular and everything feels right - like these funny passages about writers, so specific and pretentious but it feels perfect and real? - i want to recommend it to everybody and my father (“but ignore the intense erotic descriptions, man, that’s not me…”). 2-day page-turner, too: and i’m tense the whole fucken time. every line of dialogue is a declamation; everyone lunges and springs and cries out. ridiculous things (stanty with his trunks down: island! island!) are totally completely serious and dire. very technicolor and very cinematic: dir. robert altman starring alain delon/farley granger/vincent gallo/a little bit of dirk bogarde? second book recently to mention cat people! it’s a sign… man.

[willowdog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rechy creates an atmosphere of sexuality and mystery as the character Rechy accepts an invitation to a mysterious island retreat of a wealthy man, his son, and the mistress. Found the descriptions of the relationships so very sexual that created a mood that leads the reader to the climaxes. Really enjoyed the read. Rechy notes that all autobiography is fiction--this is fiction, therefore, is it autobiographical? Quite a talent.

[Adam Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars for Rechy and his turn of phrase. This book seems another piece in the puzzle of his identity.
Nothing really happens in this book, but looking back I suppose nothing really happens in any of his books, they're all about psychology. Still in previous works we have interesting settings and characters, and here there is few of each.
I was engaged when reading it but now that it's over it will float out of my memory quickly.

[Damian Serbu · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read in a long time. It contains suspense, mystery, love, intrigue, and so much about humans. But it's wild and crazy and a completely different world at the same time. Rechy is an amazing writer - which is not breaking news. But once again he hits it out of the park. I could not put this book down.

[Sydney Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ll admit I picked up this book because the cover was very appealing and it was on sale at my local bookstore. I was very disappointed. It took me forever to finish this book, hoping it would get better. It did not. It was vulgar and wordy to say the least.

[Gail · Rating 1 out of 5]

ugh. only book left from the library stack; sorry I bothered.

[Alex Vogel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review contains spoilers

This turned out to be quite a tedious read. Already the prologue made me think: "Those are some of the most boring first pages I have ever come across." I had to read several passages repeatedly for them to register, because the content was so not engaging. This however, did not deter me, as some books, in fact, do get better. This one did, albeit just briefly.

Rechy competently set the stage, created some suspenseful atmosphere ... mysterious man invites the narrator to a private island, his motivations nebulous, a gloomy island floating in the near distance, deserted ... so far so good. I like straightforward, rather mundane storylines - as long as they are populated by intriguing characters. But this is where this novel sadly fails completely. The main problem is not the slow pace of the narration, it's not the fact that Paul, the 'mysterious man' is unpleasant bordering on repulsive. The main problem is, that all characters, except for the narrator, are flat as a cardboard and utterly boring.

I kept hoping for the narrator to return to his seedy life as a hustler in L.A. because that might have made for an engaging story. The only passages that I found rewarding were the ones where John Rechy shares some of his (most likely truly autobiographical) experiences and thoughts. Island owner Paul's main characteristic is a fervent hate of women, which he goes into at great length (it's pretty much the main topic of the book), including the depiction of several less than intriguing sexual interactions with his ex-wives and his current object of desire, Sonya (young & beautiful, gentle, slightly demure - YAWN).

About half way through the book I realized that I did not enjoy myself at all but was pretty much equally bored to tears and put off. Kept skim reading to find out if John and Paul would get it on at last, perhaps, hoping that my efforts to labour on might be rewarded with a worthwhile (!) sex scene at the end - but ... no such luck.

On top of it all, I never want to read the word 'fucken' in a book ever again. Also, mixing present tense and past tense in one single sentence is a stylistic quirk I could well do without.

[Hal Schrieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Rechy's character's name is John Rechy, and he's a young gay Mexican-American author, and he's been whisked away by the rich, playboy-ish Paul to a quiet, beautiful island with Paul's lover and fourteen-year-old son. If this were a Delany novel, we'd know where this was going, and it isn't outside the realm of possibility-- there are a lot of debauched stories of sexual violence and desire in this book. But Rechy's auto-narrator is, for the most part, just the audience to these tales. Rich, abusive, controlling Paul describes his misogynistic rage and desire for power, and young Rechy (the book is set in the 1960s) quietly absorbs and considers the way that Paul imagines he and Rechy are alike, projecting his own violence and history of abuse against his lovers onto Rechy. Rechy considers the ways that ostensibly straight men use him and his own life as an excuse, or a naturalization, for their own behavior. The best scenes are when Paul speaks at length, making incorrect assumptions about Rechy's beliefs and behaviors, and reveals things about himself that are inescapably pathetic, repulsive, and tragic, and Rechy listens and pretends at a modicum of fraternity, but occasionally surprising Paul with how much sensitivity, desire and knowledge of culture Paul can't see. Young Rechy in this book is just coming to terms with the way his engagement with sexuality is a method to push away longing, intimacy, and vulnerability-- now he sees someone with that problem amplified a thousandfold holding forth on the strategies he possesses for violence and teaching his son to be the same.

This is a melodramatic book (Rechy), and one in which none of the central characters reach a great deal of self reflection, escape their circumstances, or even really confront each other. It feels like a relatively campy, quiet film about rich people, but I enjoy Rechy's joy at exposing the misery of powerful people. It's one note, but it's a good one.

There are a lot of cocktails and beach descriptions in this.

[Calvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

In After the Blue Hour, John Rechy tells the “true fiction” story of how, in 1960 – shortly after publishing some short stories about his life as a gay hustler – he accepts an invitation from a fan named Paul who invites him to spend the summer on a private inland island together with Paul's mistress and his 14-year-old son. The cast of unlikeable characters spends most of their time day-drinking by the water, musing about art, sex and interpersonal power dynamics.

Rechy briefly mentions this island getaway in his quasi-autobiographical debut novel City of Night. I love that he took a throwaway passage and expanded it into its own complete story – written 54 years later! The most notable comparisons I can make between the two books are these: City of Night felt authentic and truthful at its core, albeit slow at times with its meandering Beat storytelling, whereas After the Blue Hour felt completely unrealistic but kept me on the edge of my seat. Both stories feature the same narcissistic narrator.

A central theme I gleaned is the question of morality and who has authority over what is right and wrong in our interactions with others (psychologists? the church? fringe philosophers?). Paul, the man who invites Rechy to the island, is the misogynistic playboy type. He goes on long diatribes about the women in his life, which nearly led me to abandon the book entirely. Now that I’ve finished, I’m not sure if the big reveal toward the end accomplished enough to make up for the time spent reading those disgusting passages. I’d love to hear from others about their thoughts on that point. Maybe I’m missing something.

Much of the dialogue is awful, but Rechy is skilled at building a rich moody atmosphere and plenty of psychological suspense. The premise is intriguing on the surface, but I wish we spent more time digging into the pieces that verged on horror: a mysterious abandoned island nearby, and the “gray,” “zombie” couple who serve as Paul’s faceless island staff.

Overall, After the Blue Hour gripped my attention but left me unsatisfied by the end.