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Desire Lines
Desire Lines is a journey through gay New York in the 1980s—the sex, the drugs, and the trauma of AIDS—from the fresh perspective of a young Black man coming of age. The novel explores African American queer identity in Africa and examines the intensity of relationships between gay men and our female friends. An unflinching and passionate look at a moment in American history marked equally by dramatic devastation and fierce determination, Desire Lines confronts the shame too often associated with our desires and pulls us back from that awful abyss.
Paperback
Published September 6, 2022
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About the author
Cary Alan Johnson
1 book9 followersCary Alan Johnson is an author, activist and Africanist raised in Brooklyn and currently living in Central Africa. He studied writing with Wesley Brown, Jane Copper Alexis DeVeaux, Randall Kenan, Louise Meriwether, and Susan Scarf-Merrell and has a Bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College and a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. A long-time innovator in national and international queer politics and cultural activism, he was a founder of several groundbreaking organizations, including the Blackheart Collective, Gay Men of African Descent, Other Countries, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. A public health and HIV specialist with experience living and working in Guinea, Haiti, Mali, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe, Cary is currently the country director for Population Services International in Burundi.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 1, 2022
A marvelous debut novel from one of the few surviving members of Other Countries - Black gay writers collective, and a true native New Yorker perspective on life in the city.
Gorgeously written, moving, historically evocative, emotionally rich.
Gorgeously written, moving, historically evocative, emotionally rich.
September 5, 2022
‘A rollercoaster journey through gay New York in the 1980s’ - surviving
New York author Cary Alan Johnson earned his bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College, his Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, and has served as a public health and HIV specialist throughout the world. He is an innovator in national and international queer politics and cultural activism, founding the Blackheart Collective, Gay Men of African Descent, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. DESIRE LINES is his debut novel.
On the book’s back cover the following content survey is found: ‘A Black teenager growing up gay in Brooklyn is captivated by a vision of life on the other side of the river, where the sparkle and glitter of Manhattan beckon. Coming into adulthood, he finds himself living in a five-floor walk-up in Hell’s Kitchen just as the AIDS epidemic is hitting the city. We follow him and his group of friends as they experience the first wave of illness and death, and then accompany him on a two-year journey to Zaire, Central Africa, where he must confront corruption and homophobia in new and unexpected ways. Back in New York, he and his bet friend – a biracial straight woman – try to find their place in a rapidly changing and increasingly perilous city that threatens to destroy first their relationship, and then the narrator himself.
Cary’s writing captures the flavorful magic words create when conducted by a master, as is apparent in the opening pages: ‘Tall, beefy, and brown, I give the people what they want. You’d be surprised how many White dudes fantasize about a Mandingo warrior stepping out of the jungle and into their bedrooms and aren’t afraid to tell you. Most Black guys are looking for tops too. They want the Hard Rock brother or the B-boy fantasy that no one would suspect of being gay outside of the bedroom. It’s funny how we all seem to crave the man we would want to be.’
More than impressive, this debut novel ignites sparks of consideration for many aspects of social interaction, all the while providing an immensely entertaining apologue. Very highly recommended.
New York author Cary Alan Johnson earned his bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College, his Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, and has served as a public health and HIV specialist throughout the world. He is an innovator in national and international queer politics and cultural activism, founding the Blackheart Collective, Gay Men of African Descent, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. DESIRE LINES is his debut novel.
On the book’s back cover the following content survey is found: ‘A Black teenager growing up gay in Brooklyn is captivated by a vision of life on the other side of the river, where the sparkle and glitter of Manhattan beckon. Coming into adulthood, he finds himself living in a five-floor walk-up in Hell’s Kitchen just as the AIDS epidemic is hitting the city. We follow him and his group of friends as they experience the first wave of illness and death, and then accompany him on a two-year journey to Zaire, Central Africa, where he must confront corruption and homophobia in new and unexpected ways. Back in New York, he and his bet friend – a biracial straight woman – try to find their place in a rapidly changing and increasingly perilous city that threatens to destroy first their relationship, and then the narrator himself.
Cary’s writing captures the flavorful magic words create when conducted by a master, as is apparent in the opening pages: ‘Tall, beefy, and brown, I give the people what they want. You’d be surprised how many White dudes fantasize about a Mandingo warrior stepping out of the jungle and into their bedrooms and aren’t afraid to tell you. Most Black guys are looking for tops too. They want the Hard Rock brother or the B-boy fantasy that no one would suspect of being gay outside of the bedroom. It’s funny how we all seem to crave the man we would want to be.’
More than impressive, this debut novel ignites sparks of consideration for many aspects of social interaction, all the while providing an immensely entertaining apologue. Very highly recommended.
August 14, 2022
From its opening pages I knew I was on a fantastic ride through the thrills and pains of the past and Cary Alan Johnson proved me right. It takes a skilled author to take you to a place where you can see it, feel it, touch it, and smell it with a few well-chosen words. When Johnson's novel begins with a cruising scene in Central Park followed by a shift to the protagonist's apartment in Hell's Kitchen where we meet his interesting neighbors in concise yet in vivid detail, I knew I was in for a treat. I was pleased my initial impression was true to the end. The only disappointing thing in this novel is it had to end.
I am neither a black man, nor was I out during the AIDS crisis. I have also never explored Africa. During the era the novel takes place, I lived in a southern town where AIDS was a horrible thing, we heard about, but it was happening "out there" somewhere. In addition, I never lived in a major city until I moved to Los Angeles in 2001. And, while I'll never fully grasp the experiences the story entails, I was as close as I can get, and it was both exhilarating and tragic.
Frequent, anonymous sex and the thrills and fears that go with it, in addition to drugs, and the AIDS crisis does not make this a breezy read, but as crafted by Johnson, it's a beautiful one.
I can best say what makes this novel resonate with me is that while the protagonist's journey was different than my own, I share the experience and the perception of who I am shifting with time before I found my true self.
I am neither a black man, nor was I out during the AIDS crisis. I have also never explored Africa. During the era the novel takes place, I lived in a southern town where AIDS was a horrible thing, we heard about, but it was happening "out there" somewhere. In addition, I never lived in a major city until I moved to Los Angeles in 2001. And, while I'll never fully grasp the experiences the story entails, I was as close as I can get, and it was both exhilarating and tragic.
Frequent, anonymous sex and the thrills and fears that go with it, in addition to drugs, and the AIDS crisis does not make this a breezy read, but as crafted by Johnson, it's a beautiful one.
I can best say what makes this novel resonate with me is that while the protagonist's journey was different than my own, I share the experience and the perception of who I am shifting with time before I found my true self.
September 5, 2022
Starting my Labor Day weekend with a copy of galley's sent as a gift from the author was a perfect entry into September 2022. Cary's prose flew me back to our Peace Corps years in Zaire: the plates of goat meat, fufu, and greens, sometimes surreal cultural encounters, and thoughts of home. Cary is a born raconteur, with an unerring ear for those moments of vulnerability, between friends and with parents. The chapter titles are like stepping stones through a lush garden of personalities and places, set amongst the backdrop of the realities of HIV/AIDS and addiction. Desire Lines will leave you with a taste for more of this writer's work.
August 4, 2022
An unflinching look at the glory and horror of a pivotal moment in gay American history.
Johnson has written an ode of love to New York City, depicting the decrepit glamour of the piers and baths, the romps and the bars that were the epitome of black urban gay culture on the cusp of the devastation soon to be wrought by a plague that began to fell the beauties that ruled the night.
Cary takes us into the epicenter of a modern day health crisis, observed with his keen wit through the eyes of a compelling protagonist just stepping into the allure of his burgeoning sexuality. The reader becomes the protagonist. Flush with the new found power of his magnetism to men but terrified of the swath of death tearing through the city, epitomized by the slow death of his best friend, he seeks to protect himself by running to Africa to volunteer for the Peace Corps, where he learns, loves and loses to varying degrees, before returning to New York to face and conquer his demons.
The writing, like our protagonist, is assured and confident, taking the reader through the lifestyles of the affluent African American middle class, the hallowed halls of academia and the bowels of addiction, as he attempts to stave off his fears with the distraction of drug use.
A brave, no-holds-barred look into the African American gay experience.
Johnson has written an ode of love to New York City, depicting the decrepit glamour of the piers and baths, the romps and the bars that were the epitome of black urban gay culture on the cusp of the devastation soon to be wrought by a plague that began to fell the beauties that ruled the night.
Cary takes us into the epicenter of a modern day health crisis, observed with his keen wit through the eyes of a compelling protagonist just stepping into the allure of his burgeoning sexuality. The reader becomes the protagonist. Flush with the new found power of his magnetism to men but terrified of the swath of death tearing through the city, epitomized by the slow death of his best friend, he seeks to protect himself by running to Africa to volunteer for the Peace Corps, where he learns, loves and loses to varying degrees, before returning to New York to face and conquer his demons.
The writing, like our protagonist, is assured and confident, taking the reader through the lifestyles of the affluent African American middle class, the hallowed halls of academia and the bowels of addiction, as he attempts to stave off his fears with the distraction of drug use.
A brave, no-holds-barred look into the African American gay experience.
August 9, 2022
A marvelous read. Gentle and critical, intimate and epic, subtle and bold.
The momentum was graceful, at times pushing ahead with force then a moment to sit back, reflect, take it in.
Washes of emotions that were so vivid. I was rooting for this character from go. I won't go into specific scenes but I was aware of the title and how it applied to so many situations the protagonist found himself in. The desire to be desired; the desire for family, for community, for commitment, for justice, for love, for adventure - and running away, in one way or another, from it all. The depths of loss and losing oneself and the climb back.
A n action full story with tender and forgiving self-reflection.
The momentum was graceful, at times pushing ahead with force then a moment to sit back, reflect, take it in.
Washes of emotions that were so vivid. I was rooting for this character from go. I won't go into specific scenes but I was aware of the title and how it applied to so many situations the protagonist found himself in. The desire to be desired; the desire for family, for community, for commitment, for justice, for love, for adventure - and running away, in one way or another, from it all. The depths of loss and losing oneself and the climb back.
A n action full story with tender and forgiving self-reflection.
July 31, 2022
“I have to hand it to her. She’s an observant mofo.”
This line from the novel, I could say about the author - and that’d be a crown of Cary Alan Johnson’s skill. Underneath, we get the wit and heartbreak of characters between continents, cultures - even just down the block, yet we never get pity, or indulgence. We get a rare writer who’s willing to go there - anywhere - for the sake of wisdom and experience, for all of us.
This line from the novel, I could say about the author - and that’d be a crown of Cary Alan Johnson’s skill. Underneath, we get the wit and heartbreak of characters between continents, cultures - even just down the block, yet we never get pity, or indulgence. We get a rare writer who’s willing to go there - anywhere - for the sake of wisdom and experience, for all of us.
September 17, 2022
I couldn’t put this book down, My highlighter came out of retirement, there were so many poignant lines. Experiences from a school bus to clones in the clubs. Cary captured a special, gritty , scary time in NYC beautifully.
October 3, 2022
Refreshingly un-MFA'd prose, evocative and descriptive while staying grounded. Really takes you to the places and times within. And as autobiographical as this novel is, it is also notable for the parts where it doesn't paint a good picture of the protagonist. It's honest and compelling.
November 17, 2023
Absolutely beautiful. It spoke intimately to my experience navigating this crazy life as a Black queer person with history of neglect, pain, love, addiction, and hope. My only critique is that it ended. I cant believe this is Johnson’s first novel. Superb!!!!
January 1, 2026
This feels like an American classic to me. I would have much rather read this in school than the catcher in the rye or the old man and the sea
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews