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"Two People" is about a love affair in Rome between a middle-aged American and a much younger Italian, but the word "people" in the title is both singular and plural, dealing with two cultures as well as with two individuals. First published in 1965, "Two People" anticipated many novels about same-sex relationships that followed. But Windham's gentle story was forgotten, in part because of the propriety of its manner and in part because it is as much a meditation on love and friendship as it is a recounting of the affair between Forrest and Marcello.
217 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1965
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396 people want to read
About the author
Donald Windham
51 books12 followersHis obituary-of-record here has a good summary of his personal and creative life.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
October 10, 2022
Donald Windham's Two People, a somewhat forgotten tale of an older American man and his younger Italian lover, leaves an impact that cannot be forgotten.
Forrest's wife takes their children and leaves him in Rome, the two of them trying to decipher what has gone wrong in their marriage. As Forrest wanders around the city by himself, he stumbles upon 17-year-old Marcello, a young boy with a tumultuous and yet typical father-son relationship at home. The two spend much time together as lovers, Forrest showering Marcello with gifts and money after each encounter. Both need each other as they struggle through their own person tumults and through each other grow and overcome the pressures placed on them by their family ties.
Written decades ago at a time when queer stories were unacceptable, Two People is striking for its refusal to hide clear queer romance. Though the sex scenes are tame and fade out before the scenes can smolder, the book itself does not shy away from discussing queer love. In a lot of ways, Two People is the original Call Me By Your Name but better because it was written by a gay man and so gives life to the internal struggles of the character in ways a book written by a straight man cannot. All in all, a fantastic book that deserves to be remembered.
Forrest's wife takes their children and leaves him in Rome, the two of them trying to decipher what has gone wrong in their marriage. As Forrest wanders around the city by himself, he stumbles upon 17-year-old Marcello, a young boy with a tumultuous and yet typical father-son relationship at home. The two spend much time together as lovers, Forrest showering Marcello with gifts and money after each encounter. Both need each other as they struggle through their own person tumults and through each other grow and overcome the pressures placed on them by their family ties.
Written decades ago at a time when queer stories were unacceptable, Two People is striking for its refusal to hide clear queer romance. Though the sex scenes are tame and fade out before the scenes can smolder, the book itself does not shy away from discussing queer love. In a lot of ways, Two People is the original Call Me By Your Name but better because it was written by a gay man and so gives life to the internal struggles of the character in ways a book written by a straight man cannot. All in all, a fantastic book that deserves to be remembered.
December 21, 2008
Two People By Donald Windham
Neglected for over forty years, this moving novel has been epublished in a more tolerant climate.
Forest and his wife are two Americans traveling through Europe on an extended vacation. The longer they travel, the more they bicker over the smallest issues, and by the time they arrive in Rome, their frustrations with each other have reached the breaking point. The wife decides to fly back to New York, leaving Forest to share an apartment with a long-time friend, Robert, who happens to be gay.
Robert has a taste for young Roman boys and frequently picks up hustlers who hang out at the Spanish Steps. Robert explains to Forest that the hustlers are not gay, but have no qualms about earning a little spending money in bed -- a harmless pastime that proves fun for the man and profitable for the boys. Forest is intrigued by the idea, and it is at the Spanish Steps, while accompanying Robert on one of his boy hunts, that Forest first sees a dark-haired beauty, Marcello.
Marcello is forced to work for his father without pay, which means he has no money to properly entertain the girl he has a crush on. He becomes desperate not only to earn money, but also to somehow get out from under his dominating father and be his own man.
Much to his surprise, Forest finds himself attracted to Marcello, and begins to pay him to come to his bed on a weekly basis. As the two face their growing attraction, they must also keep their business arrangement secret, not only from Marcello’s family, but also from his girlfriend’s family.
The deeper Forest falls in love with the young Roman, the more frequent their meetings become, and the more money Marcello earns. Thus, the boy is able to spend more time and money wooing his girl, which allows the young couple to fall deeply in love. Forest and Marcello become dependant on each other, and the more they do, the more Forest pulls away from his wife, and the more Marcello pulls away from his father. But of course, there is no way to resolve this kind of relationship without someone losing what he most cherishes.
Two People is a beautiful novel. It is about passion, healing, trust, finding love in unexpected places, and the value of family. And the title, Two People, not only refers to the two main characters, but also indicates the two different cultures and the cultural differences these lovers must overcome.
Donald Windham writes characters that are richly drawn. Forest’s loneliness is revealed slowly through letters and phone conversations with his wife. He's a broken man haunted by a new and fresh kind of love that he never thought possible. He cannot even call it love, but he also cannot stand the time he is separated from the young man.
Marcello is a sensitive, caring soul, not at all like the other slick hustlers who are out to take whatever they can get, and although he has no deep romantic feelings for Forest, he loves spending time with the man, who treats him so well.
Just as important as the human characters is the city in which the story is set, Rome. I have spent much time in this magical city, and Windham’s descriptions took me right back to the narrow winding alleys, the colorful piazzas, the sidewalk cafes and crumbling monuments. He goes beyond a mere travelogue and really captures the spirit of the city and the culture.
The story very much reminds me of Tomas Mann’s Death In Venice, both in terms of story and style of writing, however, in Windham’s tale the lover’s relationship becomes much more intimate, and of course, the ending is much more satisfying. I was completely enchanted by this novel, and I look forward to reading more from Donald Windham.
Neglected for over forty years, this moving novel has been epublished in a more tolerant climate.
Forest and his wife are two Americans traveling through Europe on an extended vacation. The longer they travel, the more they bicker over the smallest issues, and by the time they arrive in Rome, their frustrations with each other have reached the breaking point. The wife decides to fly back to New York, leaving Forest to share an apartment with a long-time friend, Robert, who happens to be gay.
Robert has a taste for young Roman boys and frequently picks up hustlers who hang out at the Spanish Steps. Robert explains to Forest that the hustlers are not gay, but have no qualms about earning a little spending money in bed -- a harmless pastime that proves fun for the man and profitable for the boys. Forest is intrigued by the idea, and it is at the Spanish Steps, while accompanying Robert on one of his boy hunts, that Forest first sees a dark-haired beauty, Marcello.
Marcello is forced to work for his father without pay, which means he has no money to properly entertain the girl he has a crush on. He becomes desperate not only to earn money, but also to somehow get out from under his dominating father and be his own man.
Much to his surprise, Forest finds himself attracted to Marcello, and begins to pay him to come to his bed on a weekly basis. As the two face their growing attraction, they must also keep their business arrangement secret, not only from Marcello’s family, but also from his girlfriend’s family.
The deeper Forest falls in love with the young Roman, the more frequent their meetings become, and the more money Marcello earns. Thus, the boy is able to spend more time and money wooing his girl, which allows the young couple to fall deeply in love. Forest and Marcello become dependant on each other, and the more they do, the more Forest pulls away from his wife, and the more Marcello pulls away from his father. But of course, there is no way to resolve this kind of relationship without someone losing what he most cherishes.
Two People is a beautiful novel. It is about passion, healing, trust, finding love in unexpected places, and the value of family. And the title, Two People, not only refers to the two main characters, but also indicates the two different cultures and the cultural differences these lovers must overcome.
Donald Windham writes characters that are richly drawn. Forest’s loneliness is revealed slowly through letters and phone conversations with his wife. He's a broken man haunted by a new and fresh kind of love that he never thought possible. He cannot even call it love, but he also cannot stand the time he is separated from the young man.
Marcello is a sensitive, caring soul, not at all like the other slick hustlers who are out to take whatever they can get, and although he has no deep romantic feelings for Forest, he loves spending time with the man, who treats him so well.
Just as important as the human characters is the city in which the story is set, Rome. I have spent much time in this magical city, and Windham’s descriptions took me right back to the narrow winding alleys, the colorful piazzas, the sidewalk cafes and crumbling monuments. He goes beyond a mere travelogue and really captures the spirit of the city and the culture.
The story very much reminds me of Tomas Mann’s Death In Venice, both in terms of story and style of writing, however, in Windham’s tale the lover’s relationship becomes much more intimate, and of course, the ending is much more satisfying. I was completely enchanted by this novel, and I look forward to reading more from Donald Windham.
December 6, 2018
Dieses Buch ist wahrlich ein kleiner Schatz. Es ist so friedlich und so angenehm zu lesen, man wird ganz froh davon.
February 22, 2017
This was a light and enjoyable read, a gay Neapolitan (well, Roman, but it had a Ferrante-ness to it) novel. I gather that some people disliked the coy omission of the sex romp that this story adumbrated, but there's something classy and maybe even erotic to leaving such details up to the imagination.
August 5, 2025
(slightly altered, but not changed, review from 2022).
This superb, and for a long time almost completely forgotten novel (the same can be said of all Mr. Windham's fiction), is a masterpiece of subtle and intelligent story telling. It is most remarkable, as a 'gay' novel published in 1965, that it does not bother to try and explain, justify, excuses, make a cause for, or in any way treat the subject as something other than as something totally unexceptional, almost natural and inevitable, that happened but doesn't mean anything beyond itself. To say it treats events as normal is to disfigure the novel because it is putting a moral dimension on what happens and this only confuses what the novel does which is simply to describe what happens without any moral perspective. There are lots of insights into what is important and it is at heart a novel that cares a great deal about people and honesty but it just doesn't think a particular sexual act is of itself of any importance - which is pretty amazing for the year this novel was published - 1965.
This is a fantastic, little read and little appreciated novel and Donald Windham is a novelist whose work deserves to be better known. I would rank him as a priority for anyone planning out their reading of authors new to them. I promise you will discover an absolute treat.
This superb, and for a long time almost completely forgotten novel (the same can be said of all Mr. Windham's fiction), is a masterpiece of subtle and intelligent story telling. It is most remarkable, as a 'gay' novel published in 1965, that it does not bother to try and explain, justify, excuses, make a cause for, or in any way treat the subject as something other than as something totally unexceptional, almost natural and inevitable, that happened but doesn't mean anything beyond itself. To say it treats events as normal is to disfigure the novel because it is putting a moral dimension on what happens and this only confuses what the novel does which is simply to describe what happens without any moral perspective. There are lots of insights into what is important and it is at heart a novel that cares a great deal about people and honesty but it just doesn't think a particular sexual act is of itself of any importance - which is pretty amazing for the year this novel was published - 1965.
This is a fantastic, little read and little appreciated novel and Donald Windham is a novelist whose work deserves to be better known. I would rank him as a priority for anyone planning out their reading of authors new to them. I promise you will discover an absolute treat.
August 8, 2018
For a book originally released in 1965 the story does not disappoint. It might seem dated by today's freedom of expression, but taken in its contemporary context it is most enjoyable. Because it is so well told and all the necessary details are laid out, the ending does not have the long lingering sadness one feels at the end of say Aciman's Call Me by Your Name, a story it has much in common with.
Enjoyed it much, not least of which, is the likability of most of the characters.
Enjoyed it much, not least of which, is the likability of most of the characters.
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July 25, 2024 "He wished that he dared to turn around and go to Forrest's apartment. He wanted to be near someone who cared for him, to be made love to, and to drive away his premonition that the more things he learned and the more people he encountered the less significance everything would have."
"The shape of his face, the line of his nose and jaw, were not exceptional...It is ordinary to love the marvelous; it is marvelous to love the ordinary."
"The shape of his face, the line of his nose and jaw, were not exceptional...It is ordinary to love the marvelous; it is marvelous to love the ordinary."
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December 17, 2022Nessuna valutazione perché banalmente nemmeno io so cosa penso o provo. L'ho divorato senza potermi staccare dalle pagine, seguendo Forrest e Marcello in una Roma estranea e familiare.
Forrest uno sconosciuto a se stesso e Marcello fin troppo immerso nella sua vita e nella città che lui, al contrario dell'americano, quasi non sembra notare.
Forrest uno sconosciuto a se stesso e Marcello fin troppo immerso nella sua vita e nella città che lui, al contrario dell'americano, quasi non sembra notare.
November 26, 2021
Originally released in 1965, Two People is a forgotten gay classic by Donald Windham. I stumbled across the author and his book while reading Leading Men which described the lives of Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, and John Horne Burns. I wasn’t familiar with Windham at all and I’m so glad I picked up this book which I devoured in day. Forrest, an 34 year old American living in Rome, recently separated from his wife, encounters a 17 year old young man, Marcello, on the Spanish Steps. Alternating chapters between Forrest and Marcello describe this love affair, obsession, and family lives.
This book is not for everyone. While there is a definite power balance in the relationship, and the age difference was disturbing, the story felt very honest and true. I was most intrigued by Marcello’s home life and I got lost in his story. When I stopped reading I was surprised how well Rome and Italian culture were so fully realized by an American writer. I couldn’t put this book down and I wanted to know what would happen. Though the nature of their relationship is confirmed in the first chapter, the book is never prurient. It doesn’t fall into a glorification of their relationship, but describes two people who meet at different points in their lives, and help each other grow.
Thought the subject is unnerving for a modern audience, I thought the writing in this book was beautiful. The prose was straight forward, without a gimmick, or overly stylistic. Windham rendered Rome and the relationship of the main characters in such a compelling way.▪️
⚠️ Relationship between a 17 year old and 34 year old
This book is not for everyone. While there is a definite power balance in the relationship, and the age difference was disturbing, the story felt very honest and true. I was most intrigued by Marcello’s home life and I got lost in his story. When I stopped reading I was surprised how well Rome and Italian culture were so fully realized by an American writer. I couldn’t put this book down and I wanted to know what would happen. Though the nature of their relationship is confirmed in the first chapter, the book is never prurient. It doesn’t fall into a glorification of their relationship, but describes two people who meet at different points in their lives, and help each other grow.
Thought the subject is unnerving for a modern audience, I thought the writing in this book was beautiful. The prose was straight forward, without a gimmick, or overly stylistic. Windham rendered Rome and the relationship of the main characters in such a compelling way.▪️
⚠️ Relationship between a 17 year old and 34 year old
June 27, 2020
When I was a young teen growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, I loved to read. I would take whatever spare cash I had to The Book Cache bookstore and buy as many cheap paperbacks as I could find that had an interesting cover. I discovered great books by Louis L’Amour, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, and many more. I also found more obscure books that would never be found in a library, such as this one, “Two People.” Its gay theme was both confusing and fascinating to me, since that was my first exposure to the concept. I found the young character compelling, and even if not relatable to me, he expanded my understanding of the spectrum of human experiences. It is telling that I remembered the title to this little obscure paperback read once over four decades ago! I just saw the movie, “Love, Simon,” which got me thinking about gay literature. I googled the words “two people” with no expectations that I remembered the title of this book correctly — but there it was! I should probably have been older when I read this (no one was monitoring my bookstore purchases!), but I’m glad I did.
February 13, 2023
Living in Rome this year and reading this the past two weeks has been a true treat. Windham has a way of capturing how a city's psychology can invade that of his characters', as well as Rome in a specific moment (1960s) and yet her universality, her ability to make similar impressions across time. I almost found myself liking this more than Call Me By Your Name, too, in terms of the gay romance within, though the perspective of the older Forrest is more dominant than that of the much younger Marcello. There were also some moments of dull anxiety--mostly around the character of Forrest feeling in but not a part of the city; and it would have been helpful to understand Forrest's particular relationship to homosexuality, prior to coming to Rome. Marcello's too. Windham seems to assume a normality around it, which may well have been the case for him and his set of friends... either way, there are sparkling moments of prose in this novel that I will return to time again, I suspect. This book should be more widely read as a pre-AIDs era gay novel.
June 2, 2025
A readable 1965 novel about a brief love affair between Forrest, an American who is hanging around Rome after his wife leaves him there, and Marcello, an Italian youth he meets on the Spanish Steps. Surprisingly (given Windham is American), Marcello is a more interesting and fully-realized character than Forrest, who is frankly boring.
The back cover quotes Tennessee Williams and E.M. Forster, both expressing admiration for Windham's descriptions of Rome - praise that is well deserved.
Two People is a modest achievement, which I mostly enjoyed despite its shortcomings. The stakes are pretty low and the plot doesn't go anywhere all that interesting. It's more a character study; but the trouble is that one of the two main characters is an extremely bland middle-class American everyman, who is difficult to care about. Not as good as similar-themed novels by Christopher Isherwood, John Rechy, James Baldwin, that were published around the same time.
The back cover quotes Tennessee Williams and E.M. Forster, both expressing admiration for Windham's descriptions of Rome - praise that is well deserved.
Two People is a modest achievement, which I mostly enjoyed despite its shortcomings. The stakes are pretty low and the plot doesn't go anywhere all that interesting. It's more a character study; but the trouble is that one of the two main characters is an extremely bland middle-class American everyman, who is difficult to care about. Not as good as similar-themed novels by Christopher Isherwood, John Rechy, James Baldwin, that were published around the same time.
August 19, 2025
This book is a about the relationship of a male visitor to Rome and a 17 year old boy who have an affair. The sex is anodyne rather than sensational but the two main characters have strongly delineated personalities. The man is currently separated from his wife and children back in the NYC and the youth has a very conflicted relationship with his difficult father and is also negotiating a relationship with a young woman. The city of Rome with all its' splendors serves as a third character. The book is a little slow in its pacing and the character of the boy in regard to his older lover is quite inscrutable. However, the entire mise en scene is quite enjoyable .
The original 1965 edition is a joy to read with thick pages and wonderful binding with a lovely mid-century illustration of the Spanish Steps on its cover. Highly recommended for people who enjoy LGTB books before Stonewall.
The original 1965 edition is a joy to read with thick pages and wonderful binding with a lovely mid-century illustration of the Spanish Steps on its cover. Highly recommended for people who enjoy LGTB books before Stonewall.
November 15, 2019
This was a quiet book. Events happened to these two men that were not enlightening, but life changing within each of them. They weren't on the same page through most of the book. They found a moment in time, met, made love, and misunderstood their own feelings. Rome was the third character in this story. A Roman-Sicilian boy and his relationship to Rome and an American man's relationship with the city and the people who lived within made the story fascinating in a tour bus sort of way. You were told where you were and maybe what happened in this piazza or not, you spent a few minutes there and then you were off elsewhere.
If you want a 1960's look at Rome through the eyes of a Roman and an American having a fitful, uneven relationship that is like standing on a balcony looking out at beauty and history and renewal while missing the regular life at home - read this book.
If you want a 1960's look at Rome through the eyes of a Roman and an American having a fitful, uneven relationship that is like standing on a balcony looking out at beauty and history and renewal while missing the regular life at home - read this book.
June 27, 2018
I was very frustrated by this book for the first half, but I think it redeemed itself by the end. I felt like Marcello's character was completely the object of Forrest's desire at the beginning, and as a result was quite flat, but he developed a lot as the story progressed and by the end I found him much more interesting. It had a twinge of Call Me By Your Name to it, but probably less romantic.
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July 8, 2018This gay-themed novella is a “quiet” book in the best sense— the feelings understated, not a grand dramatic love, but real affection between a thirty-something American man and a young (male) student in Rome. The boy’s almost a prostitute, but not quite, not yet — and it’s to the author’s credit that we hope he won’t be.
July 12, 2018
I so wanted to fall in love with this book. I love quiet novels but this novel might have been a little too quiet even for my tastes (especially from Forrest's pov). Marcello's pov was far more interesting to me. There was also that age difference and the part about Marcello being barely 17 that made me uncomfortable.
August 16, 2022
Subtle in 2022, probably scandalous in 1965.
July 7, 2024
Two people who compartmentalized their sexual selves from everything and everyone else in their world. A very 1950s kind of gay connection that every reader knows must come to an end.
August 28, 2025
A perfect book. You start it thinking the it will be about the American, and it is; but soon it is about the Italian, as well, and you are so, so glad.
March 3, 2011
In some ways, books are like people: there are the popular ones, the ones everyone talks about, and when you meet them it's at a crowded party, and it's hard getting to know them properly. There are the weirdos you learn about mostly by accident, or because you know someone who knows them and they end up introducing you to each other. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn't.
And there are books like this one: you meet them and there's this pull of attraction, but for some reason you never get around doing something about it, until finally, you do, and then you read it and it's a bit like falling in love and wonderful because it's every bit like that initial moment promised.
Enough of the poetic waxing: I loved this book. I discovered it months ago when I unpacked it and I knew it was the kind of book I liked. Together with my colleague, I read the first sentence and it was great. But it wasn't the right time and so I put reading it off for a bit. Then, the other day, when I had a moment, I picked it up again and opened the first page and couldn't stop, so I took it home with me.
Forrest is an American staying in Rome. His wife has just left him - only temporarily, but she's gone, and he is lost. That's when he meets Marcello, a 17 year old Roman. The two of them start sleeping together - and while Forrest is paying him, it's not exactly just business.
This is not a typical love story. Both Forrest and Marcello do love each other, in their way, but it's a love that is completely separate from their other lives. It helps to remember that the book was first published in 1965, so that is why the idea of these separate identities is such a prominent theme in this book. And while that is something that is true for a lot of queer people, I believe it's something almost everybody can relate to, because after all, aren't we different people with our friends than we are with our families? And, like Marcello, the only thing that connects these experiences, these completely different aspects of us, is us, our being ourselves.
There are many things I loved about this book. There's no big discussion of right and wrong - Marcello is the first man Forrest sleeps with, but there's no crisis of identity (apart from the one that's already happening, of course) or hairpulling. Windham writes with a certain matter-of-factness that's wonderfully refreshing to read, and his writing has a quiet beauty that is quite breathtaking. There were a lot of sentences that stood out, one of them this one (I'm quoting the translation because, well, that's what I read):
"Es ist normal, das Wunderbare zu lieben; aber wirklich wunderbar wird es erst, wenn wir das Normale lieben."
Which brings me to the quality of the translation: it's very, very good, and yes, you can tell that sort of thing even without knowing the original.
Last, but not least, I shouldn't forget to mention the other one of the two main reasons why I loved this book. I mean, sure, I do like love stories between two men (or two women), so this would have been lovely as such. But what made this stand out was the setting: the way Windham writes about Rome makes the city come alive. I'm going to visit Rome in two months, and knowing that made reading this book all the more wonderful.
And yes, I'm going to have to get my hands on my own copy, in the original :)
And there are books like this one: you meet them and there's this pull of attraction, but for some reason you never get around doing something about it, until finally, you do, and then you read it and it's a bit like falling in love and wonderful because it's every bit like that initial moment promised.
Enough of the poetic waxing: I loved this book. I discovered it months ago when I unpacked it and I knew it was the kind of book I liked. Together with my colleague, I read the first sentence and it was great. But it wasn't the right time and so I put reading it off for a bit. Then, the other day, when I had a moment, I picked it up again and opened the first page and couldn't stop, so I took it home with me.
Forrest is an American staying in Rome. His wife has just left him - only temporarily, but she's gone, and he is lost. That's when he meets Marcello, a 17 year old Roman. The two of them start sleeping together - and while Forrest is paying him, it's not exactly just business.
This is not a typical love story. Both Forrest and Marcello do love each other, in their way, but it's a love that is completely separate from their other lives. It helps to remember that the book was first published in 1965, so that is why the idea of these separate identities is such a prominent theme in this book. And while that is something that is true for a lot of queer people, I believe it's something almost everybody can relate to, because after all, aren't we different people with our friends than we are with our families? And, like Marcello, the only thing that connects these experiences, these completely different aspects of us, is us, our being ourselves.
There are many things I loved about this book. There's no big discussion of right and wrong - Marcello is the first man Forrest sleeps with, but there's no crisis of identity (apart from the one that's already happening, of course) or hairpulling. Windham writes with a certain matter-of-factness that's wonderfully refreshing to read, and his writing has a quiet beauty that is quite breathtaking. There were a lot of sentences that stood out, one of them this one (I'm quoting the translation because, well, that's what I read):
"Es ist normal, das Wunderbare zu lieben; aber wirklich wunderbar wird es erst, wenn wir das Normale lieben."
Which brings me to the quality of the translation: it's very, very good, and yes, you can tell that sort of thing even without knowing the original.
Last, but not least, I shouldn't forget to mention the other one of the two main reasons why I loved this book. I mean, sure, I do like love stories between two men (or two women), so this would have been lovely as such. But what made this stand out was the setting: the way Windham writes about Rome makes the city come alive. I'm going to visit Rome in two months, and knowing that made reading this book all the more wonderful.
And yes, I'm going to have to get my hands on my own copy, in the original :)
July 25, 2016
Two people meet in Rome, strangers happening to be both on the Spanish Steps at the same time – a coincidence that carries on “the naturally extraordinary order of things”. One has an American background and a wife who just went back to the other side of the ocean; the other is Italian and dealing with the drama of his Italian family. Forrest is 34 and Marcello is 17.
The gentle story of this encounter is written beautifully and meandering through Rome page after page is pure pleasure. The pen of Donald Windham is delicate and unpretentious, moving through the events without disturbing them, suggesting and never forcing a sense of unwritten (or unsaid) that encompasses the peculiar relationship of these two people and the “note of infinite longing” that characterizes them. While doing so, the simple prose, concise and evocative (and recalling to my mind the grandeur of T. Mann’s or I. Calvino’s writing), slips up on the topics of the self-imposed complicacies of relationships, the loneliness of human condition (which Rome seems to amplify) and the bitter-sweet understanding that often life comprises many one world, without them being necessarily part of each other, or part of life itself – never trying to impose a supreme wisdom though, always simply spreading seeds for further thinking. And till the last line the reader breathes pleasantly this air “not of perfection but of all things being possible”.
The gentle story of this encounter is written beautifully and meandering through Rome page after page is pure pleasure. The pen of Donald Windham is delicate and unpretentious, moving through the events without disturbing them, suggesting and never forcing a sense of unwritten (or unsaid) that encompasses the peculiar relationship of these two people and the “note of infinite longing” that characterizes them. While doing so, the simple prose, concise and evocative (and recalling to my mind the grandeur of T. Mann’s or I. Calvino’s writing), slips up on the topics of the self-imposed complicacies of relationships, the loneliness of human condition (which Rome seems to amplify) and the bitter-sweet understanding that often life comprises many one world, without them being necessarily part of each other, or part of life itself – never trying to impose a supreme wisdom though, always simply spreading seeds for further thinking. And till the last line the reader breathes pleasantly this air “not of perfection but of all things being possible”.
March 31, 2012
There is some beautiful writing in this book, and yes, Windham's method seems clear: he is using the middle-aged American character's love of Rome as a kind of stand-in for, or commentary on, his love for an Italian teenaged boy. Alas, the concept is too thin. There's not enough of a human relationship here, it's all piazzas and fountains.
We would expect that Windham would have a grasp on a middle-aged American traveler's daily life, and so he does. He is equally astute and convincing when writing from the point of view of the boy. But we have such a limited access to the characters' inner lives that it's impossible to tell whether their affair "means anything" to them. (It's not a spoiler to reveal that the American goes back to his wife and the Italian stays with his girlfriend. These are both foregone conclusions.)
When Forrest and Marcello go to bed, a curtain is drawn across the page. The next thing we know, it's later that same day, or the next day. All right, perhaps we don't need to know the details of their sexual activity. But we can't become enthralled by a narrative in which everything adds up to nothing.
We would expect that Windham would have a grasp on a middle-aged American traveler's daily life, and so he does. He is equally astute and convincing when writing from the point of view of the boy. But we have such a limited access to the characters' inner lives that it's impossible to tell whether their affair "means anything" to them. (It's not a spoiler to reveal that the American goes back to his wife and the Italian stays with his girlfriend. These are both foregone conclusions.)
When Forrest and Marcello go to bed, a curtain is drawn across the page. The next thing we know, it's later that same day, or the next day. All right, perhaps we don't need to know the details of their sexual activity. But we can't become enthralled by a narrative in which everything adds up to nothing.
August 6, 2011
Although this was billed as a gay classic, it falls short of that. Having first been published in the 60s, it had been out of print until a recent re-publishing. The story focuses on a married American man living in Rome. He sublets from an Italian who is gay. The American sort of "ends up" in bed with an Italian teenager. Neither of them actually identifies as gay and each has a woman too though they do seem to care for each other and look forward to their secret encounters. Not badly written but disappointing.
January 12, 2011
I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not this was a sad story. Two People certainly is a vignette of Rome, of love between an older man and a younger boy in a very different time. Forrest and Marcello's love certainly grows and both the eternal city and the ever-evolving relationship between the characters is beautifully depicted by Windham in tight and impressive prose.
September 21, 2011
A bit dull. Too much description: He went here. He did this. Not enough about the relationship between Forrest and Marcello.
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