What do you think?
Rate this book
A Gay and Melancholy Sound
The first book in nationally renowned librarian Nancy Pearl's new Book Lust Rediscoveries series, this lost literary classic is available for the first time in decades. As funny and entertaining as it is captivating and heartrending, A Gay and Melancholy Sound is a shattering depiction of modern disconnection and the tragic consequences of a life bereft of love.
Joshua Bland has lived the kind of life many would define as extraordinary. Born in a small Iowa town to a controlling, delusional mother who had always wanted a daughter rather than a son, her anger at him colors his life. His father, a compassionate drinker incapable of dealing with Joshua's mother, walks out on his wife and son, leaving a vacuum in the family that is damagingly filled by his tutor-cum-stepfather Petrarch Pavan, scion of a wealthy New York family who has secrets of his own. Playing on Joshua's brilliance, Petrarch trains him to win a nationwide knowledge competition, but Joshua's disappointing results in the finals are met with anger and disbelief by both his mother and stepfather. If Petrarch was unsuccessful in teaching Joshua the information he needed to win the contest, he had more success in instilling Joshua with the cynicism, self-doubt, and self-hatred that fill his own soul.
Enlisting in the army during World War II, he serves first as an infantryman, where his irreverent letters home turn him into a best-selling author. Then, as a paratrooper, he meets the physical challenges he thought were beyond his reach and helps free the concentration camps before being wounded as the Allied forces free Buchenwald. Back home after the war, he becomes a wildly successful producer — and all of this by the age of thirty-seven. But when his production company flounders amid critical and financial woes, the reality of who he is becomes perfectly, depressingly clear: he has had a lifetime of extraordinary experiences — and no emotional connection to any of it.
Joshua Bland has lived the kind of life many would define as extraordinary. Born in a small Iowa town to a controlling, delusional mother who had always wanted a daughter rather than a son, her anger at him colors his life. His father, a compassionate drinker incapable of dealing with Joshua's mother, walks out on his wife and son, leaving a vacuum in the family that is damagingly filled by his tutor-cum-stepfather Petrarch Pavan, scion of a wealthy New York family who has secrets of his own. Playing on Joshua's brilliance, Petrarch trains him to win a nationwide knowledge competition, but Joshua's disappointing results in the finals are met with anger and disbelief by both his mother and stepfather. If Petrarch was unsuccessful in teaching Joshua the information he needed to win the contest, he had more success in instilling Joshua with the cynicism, self-doubt, and self-hatred that fill his own soul.
Enlisting in the army during World War II, he serves first as an infantryman, where his irreverent letters home turn him into a best-selling author. Then, as a paratrooper, he meets the physical challenges he thought were beyond his reach and helps free the concentration camps before being wounded as the Allied forces free Buchenwald. Back home after the war, he becomes a wildly successful producer — and all of this by the age of thirty-seven. But when his production company flounders amid critical and financial woes, the reality of who he is becomes perfectly, depressingly clear: he has had a lifetime of extraordinary experiences — and no emotional connection to any of it.
583 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1961
40 people are currently reading
892 people want to read
About the author
Merle Miller
43 books26 followersMerle Miller, born in Montour, Iowa, wrote almost a dozen books, including more than half a dozen novels. His first, ''That Winter'' (1948), was considered one of the best novels about the postwar readjustment of World War II veterans. His other novels included ''A Day in Late September,'' set in suburban Connecticut on a Sunday in September 1960, ''The Sure Thing,'' ''Reunion,'' and his masterwork, the monumental "A Gay and Melancholy Sound" (1960).
Oral biographies accounted for his greatest success. The first of them, ''Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman,'' was published in 1974. It was adapted from an abortive television series for which the former President spent many hours in the early 1960's talking with Miller, the researcher and writer for the project.
His Johnson biography, a book for which he conducted 180 interviews and consulted almost 400 oral histories, was a best seller in 1980. Although he said he began the biography disliking the former President, in part because Miller was an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, he ended up appreciating Mr. Johnson's parliamentary achievements and calling him ''one of the most complex, fascinating Presidents of all time.''
In 1971, Miller wrote a widely discussed essay for The New York Times Magazine, ''What It Means to Be a Homosexual,'' which, he said, brought him more than 2,000 letters, many of them from other homosexuals thanking him for helping to restore their self-respect. This article, and the enlarged book published from it, "On Being Different," made Miller the first nationally-known advocate for gay rights. He closely followed that famous essay with the novel "What Happened," fictionalizing some of his own horrific life experiences which lay behind the NYT essay.
Miller attended the University of Iowa and spent a year at the London School of Economics. He joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 and served as an editor of Yank magazine, in both the Pacific and in Europe, until his discharge in September 1945. He worked briefly as an editor at Time and Harper's magazines.
Oral biographies accounted for his greatest success. The first of them, ''Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman,'' was published in 1974. It was adapted from an abortive television series for which the former President spent many hours in the early 1960's talking with Miller, the researcher and writer for the project.
His Johnson biography, a book for which he conducted 180 interviews and consulted almost 400 oral histories, was a best seller in 1980. Although he said he began the biography disliking the former President, in part because Miller was an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, he ended up appreciating Mr. Johnson's parliamentary achievements and calling him ''one of the most complex, fascinating Presidents of all time.''
In 1971, Miller wrote a widely discussed essay for The New York Times Magazine, ''What It Means to Be a Homosexual,'' which, he said, brought him more than 2,000 letters, many of them from other homosexuals thanking him for helping to restore their self-respect. This article, and the enlarged book published from it, "On Being Different," made Miller the first nationally-known advocate for gay rights. He closely followed that famous essay with the novel "What Happened," fictionalizing some of his own horrific life experiences which lay behind the NYT essay.
Miller attended the University of Iowa and spent a year at the London School of Economics. He joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 and served as an editor of Yank magazine, in both the Pacific and in Europe, until his discharge in September 1945. He worked briefly as an editor at Time and Harper's magazines.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
August 13, 2012
This was an unusual book for me. I didn't quite know how to take it at first. Then, all of the sudden, and quite by surprise, I was thoroughly drawn in and hooked - and I mean HOOKED. Like completely invested in the narrator, who is not exactly the kid next door, nor someone who you wish would live next door.... at least, at first. Then, with time, and with multiple chronological flashbacks and presages, I realized that I CARED for this guy. And that continued. Until the final pages. This was a totally satisfying read - maybe not for everybody (anybody from Iowa??? - kidding!!!) but it spoke to me, resonated with me, made me want to shrink and climb in between the letters on the page and interact with the characters portrayed. That hasn't happened since "Special Topics in Calamity Physics", "The Secret History", and "The Hotel New Hampshire". So this was quite a find. Bravo!
June 14, 2012
A powerful read. Written in 1961 and just now back in print, it is the self-told story of a man's life from childhood (born in the early 1920s) through the then present day (late 1950s), where he is in his late 30s. Beginning as a child prodigy with loads of self-doubt, family problems, etc., we see his life evolve through WW II and the 1950s. He can't love himself or others, and knows this. He realizes that he peaked as a teenager. The main character is very insightful about himself, but can't change. The book is serious, yet at the same time full of wit, humor, and sarcasm. It is not at all dated and reads like a novel that could have been written last year. If you want a meaty, thought-provoking story that is at the same time funny and sarcastic, read this book.
May 30, 2012
In a certain sense, this book is the equivalent of listening to a sad song that brings great joy nonetheless - in my case that would be listening to a Janis Joplin tune such as "Ball and Chain," or "Turtle Blues." Miller is one of those artists who mines unimaginable pain and sadness and hones it into something idiosyncratically and strangely beautiful.
I did not expect to like this book - I am one of those unfortunate creatures who judges books by their titles, and this one sounded a bit too 'flowery' and 'Hallmarky'; thus, I was (happily) surprised and bowled over to discover that this book was the opposite of what it sounded like based on the title. I was immediately struck by the remarkably truthful aspects of the narrator; Joshua Bland is, to paraphrase and rephrase a well-known phrase: a stranger in a strange land that he didn't make, but is trying to understand. This book is riveting throughout, and the last few pages are shattering - I feel that I need to reread the last part, because it requires serious attention and contemplation.
This book reminded me of John Irving's sprawling novels, specifically "A Prayer for Owen Meany." I was also reminded of another author, Christopher Isherwood, who's book "A Single Man" was published around the same time.
At any rate, "A Gay and Melancholy Sound" is one of those books that was a gripping reading experience, and I am planning on rereading this book in the near future, and I am excited to read more of Mr. Miller's works, because I have not been as excited about a book probably since I was very young and discovered "Escape to Witch Mountain" - which is, of course, an entirely different kind of book and different sort of reading experience.
I did not expect to like this book - I am one of those unfortunate creatures who judges books by their titles, and this one sounded a bit too 'flowery' and 'Hallmarky'; thus, I was (happily) surprised and bowled over to discover that this book was the opposite of what it sounded like based on the title. I was immediately struck by the remarkably truthful aspects of the narrator; Joshua Bland is, to paraphrase and rephrase a well-known phrase: a stranger in a strange land that he didn't make, but is trying to understand. This book is riveting throughout, and the last few pages are shattering - I feel that I need to reread the last part, because it requires serious attention and contemplation.
This book reminded me of John Irving's sprawling novels, specifically "A Prayer for Owen Meany." I was also reminded of another author, Christopher Isherwood, who's book "A Single Man" was published around the same time.
At any rate, "A Gay and Melancholy Sound" is one of those books that was a gripping reading experience, and I am planning on rereading this book in the near future, and I am excited to read more of Mr. Miller's works, because I have not been as excited about a book probably since I was very young and discovered "Escape to Witch Mountain" - which is, of course, an entirely different kind of book and different sort of reading experience.
May 8, 2014
I can't believe that I hadn't ever heard of this author considering he is from my hometown, a town of twenty-five thousand people in the middle of Iowa. I probably hadn't heard of him because he was a gay rights activist and a McCarthy trial victim when a town in Iowa might be ashamed of such a thing. Who knows, they might still be ashamed of such a thing. That's one of the reasons I haven't lived there since I graduated from high school.
This book is dark in a lovely way. At first I felt like I was listening to a bitchy queen dishing on all of the crappy things that had happened in his life. I was distracted by the clever one liners and obviously mommy issues. But then the book grabbed my imagination and went deeper, examining the intense self hatred the author harbored about a millimeter under his skin. I also couldn't help looking for echoes of my family in the book since my grandmother grew up across the street from the author in Marshalltown (New Athens in the book).
I can see why Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl recommended this book. I can't, however, imagine reading it as a young person like she did! I understand the allure of bitterness and self hatred that the author pours into every pore of his main character but am happy that I didn't take that route in my own life.
Recommended.
This book is dark in a lovely way. At first I felt like I was listening to a bitchy queen dishing on all of the crappy things that had happened in his life. I was distracted by the clever one liners and obviously mommy issues. But then the book grabbed my imagination and went deeper, examining the intense self hatred the author harbored about a millimeter under his skin. I also couldn't help looking for echoes of my family in the book since my grandmother grew up across the street from the author in Marshalltown (New Athens in the book).
I can see why Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl recommended this book. I can't, however, imagine reading it as a young person like she did! I understand the allure of bitterness and self hatred that the author pours into every pore of his main character but am happy that I didn't take that route in my own life.
Recommended.
September 12, 2012
What an amazing book. This is NOT for everyone, believe me. It spoke to me profoundly. Such a beautiful multi-layered protagonist. The reviews I have read all emphasize his inability to love. Funnily enough, he loves people in a sadly poignant way throughout the book. He is incapable of resisting his base instincts to destroy.
Beautiful, sad, funny as hell, I had a difficult time putting it down. I loved it. The end is quite a tour de force.
Beautiful, sad, funny as hell, I had a difficult time putting it down. I loved it. The end is quite a tour de force.
January 11, 2020
It took me awhile to get through this book. My daughter loved it and highly recommended it as one of Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust Rediscoveries. Published in 1961, I can’t help but think how true was Merle’s commentary on a materialistic and wealth obsessed society. Superficially happy without depth or soul. But I also keep thinking about how different the outcome of his struggles might have changed in our more modern era.
This is a semi-autobiographical story of one man’s life. He is considered a genius in his Iowa boyhood and is trooped around by the quintessential stage mother trying to recreate her own dreams of greatness through him. So he has a painfully loveless childhood.
Yet he leads a pretty extraordinary life, coming up with “insouciant” (his word) ways to please people with his sarcastic wit, but hindered always with self loathing and pain when he admits he cannot love.
He runs back and forth between significant moments in his life adding insightful thoughts on a wide range of social inequities. There are times you actually hate this character, yet his underbelly longing for love and a meaningful life also make him, if not endearing, at least fully human.
There is a strong subtext that he struggles with his apparent homosexuality, yet denies seeing his true self. I understand the author came out 10 years after the book’s publication and became a gay activist. One hopes that if this is an autobiographical memoir, that he finally found mutual love and a meaningful life.
This is a semi-autobiographical story of one man’s life. He is considered a genius in his Iowa boyhood and is trooped around by the quintessential stage mother trying to recreate her own dreams of greatness through him. So he has a painfully loveless childhood.
Yet he leads a pretty extraordinary life, coming up with “insouciant” (his word) ways to please people with his sarcastic wit, but hindered always with self loathing and pain when he admits he cannot love.
He runs back and forth between significant moments in his life adding insightful thoughts on a wide range of social inequities. There are times you actually hate this character, yet his underbelly longing for love and a meaningful life also make him, if not endearing, at least fully human.
There is a strong subtext that he struggles with his apparent homosexuality, yet denies seeing his true self. I understand the author came out 10 years after the book’s publication and became a gay activist. One hopes that if this is an autobiographical memoir, that he finally found mutual love and a meaningful life.
August 10, 2013
Merle Miller, who is best known as a presidential biographer, wrote this semi-autobiographical diary in 1961, ten years before his very public "coming out" in a NY Times Magazine article entitled "What it means to be a homosexual." That said, the word "gay" in the title does not refer to homosexuality. It is alluded to on two or three occasions in the book. The most revealing statement comes when describing another man, "the actor had seen something in me that I did not dare to see in myself". The first person narrator begins by revealing that the divorce is final (his second as it turns out). He states that at age 37, he wants to end it all. In preparation, he wants to chronicle his life from his childhood in Iowa to his rise as an important New York producer. He was a brilliant child prodigy who was ostracized by kids his own age naturally. His relationship with his parents was difficult. While he seems an altogether unlikable person, the reader is still drawn into his fascinating experiences. Toward the end of the 550 pages, it became a little tedious, but otherwise very compelling.
July 22, 2014
This book intrigued me because it was the first reprint in the Nancy Pearl A Book Lust Rediscovery series. I’m so glad I took a chance on it. What could be considered maudlin, self-indulgent and depressing turned into a very good read for me. I didn’t remember the name “Merle Miller” before, but had heard of his 1971 “Time” article, “What It Means to Be Homosexual.” While somewhat autobiographical, it’s not quite as I don’t believe Mr. Miller committed suicide. The novel is rather sweeping, taking us through the first 60 years of the Twentieth Century. On some level, it did remind me of Wolfe’s “Look Homeward Angel,” or Lewis’s “Babbitt,” but I think I enjoyed this one more. What shows Miller’s skill as an author is how one really feels sorry for our protagonist, who just wouldn’t be that likable in real person. Yet he’s believable and honest and just plain tragic. A very good read.
July 5, 2012
Merle Miller's book was chosen by Book Lust Rediscoveries, a “series devoted to reprinting some of the best (and now out of print) novels originally published between 1960-2000. Each book is personally selected by Nancy Pearl and includes an introduction by her, as well as discussion questions for book groups and a list of recommended further reading.”
I thoroughly enjoyed the author's sense of humor and character development. The main character is named Joshua Bland, but his life was anything but bland. Bland has come to a time in his life when he comes to the realization that he was never able to love or feel any emotional connection to anyone. Hence, his comments on humanity are quite interesting and honest and witty.
I would have given the book 5 stars except for the ending...far too much rambling!
I thoroughly enjoyed the author's sense of humor and character development. The main character is named Joshua Bland, but his life was anything but bland. Bland has come to a time in his life when he comes to the realization that he was never able to love or feel any emotional connection to anyone. Hence, his comments on humanity are quite interesting and honest and witty.
I would have given the book 5 stars except for the ending...far too much rambling!
June 18, 2012
Very smart...i felt as if i were being challenged to keep up with this witty and somber tale. I also felt it was autobiographical in some respects. Going up different, feeling alienated from the "Out There" rang true to his life I think... He was a wounded from birth but not all bright kids get exploited. More people should be careful about what they hold as their ideals..and not sell out for greed, fame or prestige. How can you say a man cannot love who cries at tender moments. I don't buy that couldn't love part. I believe he didn't feel he deserved love or happiness but that came from his feeling of being a non-person, a commodity and by not being the girl his mother wanted.
July 11, 2013
I found this book through something called "Nancy Pearl's Book Lust Rediscoveries" (she's an author and librarian in the U.S.)It's written in an autobiographical first-person style, which sometimes made me uncomfortable, but I actually like that. The author's done well in creating a character who is generally awful but frequently relatable as well. He's all the worst parts of yourself, particularly if you've ever thought you were smarter than everyone around you or been worried about living up to your "potential". When he talks about "always wanting to be invited everywhere but never wanting to go anywhere" I laughed because it was so like me.
January 17, 2013
This novel as autobiography of a child prodigy and WWII veteran was heavy-hearted reading; poignant, opinionated, farcical, smart-assed. Merle Miller did an amazing job of creeping around the miserable, web-laced catacombs of Joshua Bland's life, one leaden step at a time. Thank you, Nancy Pearl, for bringing this 1961 work back to reading lamp life. And thanks to Jeanette in Seattle for introducing me to Nancy Pearl.
October 13, 2019
Simply a spectacular work of fiction. Very grateful for Nancy Pearl's Book Lust Rediscovery Series for bringing this novel into my life. A particularly special aspect of the book is how the author skillfully balances MANY poignant insights about life with a razor sharp wit. This book is laugh-out-loud funny. Master work. Highest recommend.
May 20, 2012
I have not enjoyed a book as much as this in quite awhile. The writing is not overdone and it flows.
Want to read
April 1, 2012Book Description (from Amazon)
Publication Date: April 3, 2012
The first book in nationally renowned librarian Nancy Pearl’s new Book Lust Rediscoveries series, this lost literary classic is available for the first time in decades. As funny and entertaining as it is captivating and heartrending, A Gay and Melancholy Sound is a shattering depiction of modern disconnection and the tragic consequences of a life bereft of love.
Joshua Bland has lived the kind of life many would define as extraordinary. Born in a small Iowa town to a controlling, delusional mother who had always wanted a daughter rather than a son, her anger at him colors his life. His father, a compassionate drinker incapable of dealing with Joshua’s mother, walks out on his wife and son, leaving a vacuum in the family that is damagingly filled by his tutor-cum-stepfather Petrarch Pavan, scion of a wealthy New York family who has secrets of his own. Playing on Joshua’s brilliance, Petrarch trains him to win a nationwide knowledge competition, but Joshua’s disappointing results in the finals are met with anger and disbelief by both his mother and stepfather. If Petrarch was unsuccessful in teaching Joshua the information he needed to win the contest, he had more success in instilling Joshua with the cynicism, self-doubt, and self-hatred that fill his own soul.
Enlisting in the army during World War II, he serves first as an infantryman, where his irreverent letters home turn him into a best-selling author. Then, as a paratrooper, he meets the physical challenges he thought were beyond his reach and helps free the concentration camps before being wounded as the Allied forces free Buchenwald. Back home after the war, he becomes a wildly successful producer—and all of this by the age of thirty-seven. But when his production company flounders amid critical and financial woes, the reality of who he is becomes perfectly, depressingly clear: he has had a lifetime of extraordinary experiences—and no emotional connection to any of it.
Publication Date: April 3, 2012
The first book in nationally renowned librarian Nancy Pearl’s new Book Lust Rediscoveries series, this lost literary classic is available for the first time in decades. As funny and entertaining as it is captivating and heartrending, A Gay and Melancholy Sound is a shattering depiction of modern disconnection and the tragic consequences of a life bereft of love.
Joshua Bland has lived the kind of life many would define as extraordinary. Born in a small Iowa town to a controlling, delusional mother who had always wanted a daughter rather than a son, her anger at him colors his life. His father, a compassionate drinker incapable of dealing with Joshua’s mother, walks out on his wife and son, leaving a vacuum in the family that is damagingly filled by his tutor-cum-stepfather Petrarch Pavan, scion of a wealthy New York family who has secrets of his own. Playing on Joshua’s brilliance, Petrarch trains him to win a nationwide knowledge competition, but Joshua’s disappointing results in the finals are met with anger and disbelief by both his mother and stepfather. If Petrarch was unsuccessful in teaching Joshua the information he needed to win the contest, he had more success in instilling Joshua with the cynicism, self-doubt, and self-hatred that fill his own soul.
Enlisting in the army during World War II, he serves first as an infantryman, where his irreverent letters home turn him into a best-selling author. Then, as a paratrooper, he meets the physical challenges he thought were beyond his reach and helps free the concentration camps before being wounded as the Allied forces free Buchenwald. Back home after the war, he becomes a wildly successful producer—and all of this by the age of thirty-seven. But when his production company flounders amid critical and financial woes, the reality of who he is becomes perfectly, depressingly clear: he has had a lifetime of extraordinary experiences—and no emotional connection to any of it.
March 26, 2020
Devastating. At first it feels like a slightly less whimsical version of things like the Robertson Davies’ Bildungsromans but it soon takes the reader into far darker, stranger and agonisingly melancholy territory.
I’ve read a couple of reviews that described the narrator as unlikeable and the narrative as constantly flitting about, and to that I ask how readers would suggest a book about a man who intensely hates himself and is beginning the slow process of killing himself would read? It’s agonisingly forensic in how detailed Miller goes into Bland’s narrative. It genuinely feels like a confessional - flailing in anger and frustration and loss like it does - and the more whimsical moments are definitely deliberately there because Bland is kidding himself about his past. Miller’s not that dumb a writer. And by the time the narrative begins to unravel into strange paranoid and almost surreal vignettes, which interestingly don’t fit into the narrative Bland is trying to control, the effect absolutely wipes you out
It’s also a book about PTSD, about nature versus nurture and - as Pearl wisely points out in her introduction- about self loathing covering someone’s real personality. Miller’s homosexuality doesn’t fully chime in with Bland’s narrative, but there are moments where the implications are very direct. It’s possibly the most awful evocation of self hatred within depression I have ever read. Every word feels true and particularly feels like Miller must have suffered every word, every sentence of this. I was horrified in a way I can truly say I haven’t been by a book in living memory. It’s a brutal masterpiece but I’m not entirely sure a book I could or can ever revisit
It’s astonishing. It’s horrible. It’s horrifying. It’s gut wrenching. It deserves to be a modern classic
I’ve read a couple of reviews that described the narrator as unlikeable and the narrative as constantly flitting about, and to that I ask how readers would suggest a book about a man who intensely hates himself and is beginning the slow process of killing himself would read? It’s agonisingly forensic in how detailed Miller goes into Bland’s narrative. It genuinely feels like a confessional - flailing in anger and frustration and loss like it does - and the more whimsical moments are definitely deliberately there because Bland is kidding himself about his past. Miller’s not that dumb a writer. And by the time the narrative begins to unravel into strange paranoid and almost surreal vignettes, which interestingly don’t fit into the narrative Bland is trying to control, the effect absolutely wipes you out
It’s also a book about PTSD, about nature versus nurture and - as Pearl wisely points out in her introduction- about self loathing covering someone’s real personality. Miller’s homosexuality doesn’t fully chime in with Bland’s narrative, but there are moments where the implications are very direct. It’s possibly the most awful evocation of self hatred within depression I have ever read. Every word feels true and particularly feels like Miller must have suffered every word, every sentence of this. I was horrified in a way I can truly say I haven’t been by a book in living memory. It’s a brutal masterpiece but I’m not entirely sure a book I could or can ever revisit
It’s astonishing. It’s horrible. It’s horrifying. It’s gut wrenching. It deserves to be a modern classic
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 18, 2012
I liked , then hated, then liked, then hated again, Joshua Bland ( the narrator of this book). The book, told in the first person, traces the life of Joshua Bland from being a child prodigy in the 1920's to the 1960's. I was sympathetic with Joshua as a child but as he ages and depressingly goes on and on about his inability to love and penchant for hurting everyone around him, I became less sympathetic. As the book goes on ( and it does for over 500 pages!) and he starts to deteriorate clearly into psychosis, some of the sympathy returned. But in the end, he has even managed to push any interest the reader had in him away. Am I glad I read this book? Possibly. Would I read it again? Probably not.
By the way, this is the first of a reissue of out of print novels by Booklust author Nancy Pearl. I think that this is a great idea and I can borrow them for free on my Kindle!
By the way, this is the first of a reissue of out of print novels by Booklust author Nancy Pearl. I think that this is a great idea and I can borrow them for free on my Kindle!
September 11, 2013
I have always liked Merle Miller's books; "Plain Speaking" made President Truman a personal hero of mine, his book on LBJ made this tragic man real for me. But when I read Nancy Pearl's intro to this book, I nearly didn't read it at all. Who wants to read a novel about an unloved, depressed PTSD driven alcoholic of uncertain sexuality who is contemplating suicide. But not reading this book would have been a mistake. Every glowing word in Nancy Pearl's introduction was deserved. For all of its sadness, this book is also filled with warm humor and it says things about the human condition that need to be said. Once again, thank you Nancy Pearl.
Want to read
October 25, 2008I was half through this book when it was recalled by the library, with a long waiting list there is no extending the checkout. Apparently out-of-print, I haven't been able to find a copy except in the rare collections of used book stores ($$). I was really enjoying the dry, dark wit of the book and the unfolding, self-inflicted circumstance of an unhappy man's life. No stars though till I pony up the cash and finish the book.
February 10, 2013
This is definitely one of the best books I have read since the end of March 2012. Have bought a copy for my son.
Funny, acerbic, and very cleverly written I am telling everyone it is worth a go.
You won't like any of the characters but you will believe in them all, and the prose is yummy.
Funny, acerbic, and very cleverly written I am telling everyone it is worth a go.
You won't like any of the characters but you will believe in them all, and the prose is yummy.
January 16, 2019
Probably like others, I became aware of Merle Miller’s 1961 novel, “A Gay and Melancholy Sound” through librarian Nancy Pearl and her Book Lust Rediscovery series. In the novel, Joshua Bland (born in 1921) narrates the story of his life in flashbacks that move back and forth in time as he dictates events into a tape recorder. Josh is either a former child prodigy with an IQ of 186 (when tested as a child) or perhaps merely highly gifted with an IQ of 132 (when tested at Fort Dix on entering military service during World War II). Regardless, Mr. Bland is a highly cynical man who is critical of most people he encounters in his career as a successful theatrical producer. Beyond merely being cynical, he has a pathologic inability to give or receive love. What’s worse, he has an inexplicable need to hurt those who try to love him. Whereas Joshua’s superior intellect may have predisposed him to cynicism, his inability to love seems to have had its roots in his childhood relationship with his mother and stepfather Pavan. His mother is primarily interested in capitalizing on Josh’s intellect for her own vanity and financial gain. She is exasperated when he fails to win the $10,000 first prize in the Harvey Jordan O’Conner “cranium derby,” and shows no sympathy for him when he is hospitalized for nervous exhaustion. Her next step is to market him as a contestant on a quiz show called “Can You Top Them?” when Josh is 11 years old. Josh is befriended by his philosophy teacher, Orion Bernstein, while a student in the experimental school at Pegasus College in 1936. In a betrayal of this friendship, Josh forges a letter of recommendation for a scholarship in London.
While relating his story, Mr. Bland refers to people in four households where he witnessed love: neighbor and childhood friend Hughie Larrabee, two lesbian teachers (Miss Parkinson and Miss Auerbach) who take a personal interest in his early education, his Aunt Mettabel and Uncle Dick who own a farm where Josh works one summer, and Professor Hollis Lindsay and his wife Kathyrn in London. Josh experiences some happiness while picking strawberries, grooming horses and keeping the books on Uncle Dick’s farm one summer. However he is despondent when Uncle Dick and Aunt Mettabel explain that they cannot simply “adopt” him, and he must return to his mother and stepfather at the end of the summer. In two other situations, Josh’s inability to accept love results in tragic consequences. He argues with his friend Hughie (accusing him of jealously) just before leaving for London to study and the two never see each other again after Hughie enlists and is shot down over the Pacific near Gaudalcanal. While Josh is in England, Orion Bernstein volunteers for the Spanish civil war and is killed. Hollis and Kathyrn Lindsay take Josh into their own home and show him the kind of love they felt for their own son Ronnie, who died many years ago. They leave for a trip to Greece and Josh is to follow, but he receives word that his mother and Pavan have died in a house fire and he prepares to leave for home. On his way out, he smashes a treasured Chinese statue of Kathyrn’s and takes Ronnie’s picture and treasured butterfly collection (inspiration for the cover photo on the Book Lust Rediscoveries edition of the novel). On the boat back to New York, Josh rips the photo to pieces and scatters it on the ocean and then he dumps the butterfly collection overboard.
Josh’s first wife Letty comes from poverty and is determined to become successful and wealthy whatever it takes. Their relationship ends in divorce and Letty makes sure that Josh and their daughter Taffy remain estranged until the end. Letty submits Josh’s fictionalized war letters to a publisher, and Josh achieves fame as the author of “Prodigy as Private.” He becomes a celebrity soldier and is paraded around the country on tours promoting the sale of army bonds until his drunkenness at one event results in his being reassigned to combat, an outcome he secretly wanted. Josh’s war experience with his friend Nick Contino is reminiscent of what happens to Yossarian with the B25 turret gunner Snowden in “Catch 22” (also published in 1961). Nick is decapitated by a German 88 mm anti-tank artillery gun at the siege of Bastogne in Belgium while Josh is running from enemy fire.
Josh’s final attempt to find love with Charley, a woman who is moved by his anti-war speech at a party, as expected, also doesn’t work out. On leaving, she says: “I’m sorry you never had a childhood. I’m sorry for all the hurts you felt and feel. I’m sorry that when somebody reaches out to caress you, you hit them before they can. I thought maybe I could help you, but I can’t. Nobody ever will.” Overall, the book is bleak, and it is hard to sympathize with Bland’s cynicism and self-hatred. It is well-written and kept my interest for the full 570 pages, but I wouldn’t count it among my “top 10” favorite novels.
While relating his story, Mr. Bland refers to people in four households where he witnessed love: neighbor and childhood friend Hughie Larrabee, two lesbian teachers (Miss Parkinson and Miss Auerbach) who take a personal interest in his early education, his Aunt Mettabel and Uncle Dick who own a farm where Josh works one summer, and Professor Hollis Lindsay and his wife Kathyrn in London. Josh experiences some happiness while picking strawberries, grooming horses and keeping the books on Uncle Dick’s farm one summer. However he is despondent when Uncle Dick and Aunt Mettabel explain that they cannot simply “adopt” him, and he must return to his mother and stepfather at the end of the summer. In two other situations, Josh’s inability to accept love results in tragic consequences. He argues with his friend Hughie (accusing him of jealously) just before leaving for London to study and the two never see each other again after Hughie enlists and is shot down over the Pacific near Gaudalcanal. While Josh is in England, Orion Bernstein volunteers for the Spanish civil war and is killed. Hollis and Kathyrn Lindsay take Josh into their own home and show him the kind of love they felt for their own son Ronnie, who died many years ago. They leave for a trip to Greece and Josh is to follow, but he receives word that his mother and Pavan have died in a house fire and he prepares to leave for home. On his way out, he smashes a treasured Chinese statue of Kathyrn’s and takes Ronnie’s picture and treasured butterfly collection (inspiration for the cover photo on the Book Lust Rediscoveries edition of the novel). On the boat back to New York, Josh rips the photo to pieces and scatters it on the ocean and then he dumps the butterfly collection overboard.
Josh’s first wife Letty comes from poverty and is determined to become successful and wealthy whatever it takes. Their relationship ends in divorce and Letty makes sure that Josh and their daughter Taffy remain estranged until the end. Letty submits Josh’s fictionalized war letters to a publisher, and Josh achieves fame as the author of “Prodigy as Private.” He becomes a celebrity soldier and is paraded around the country on tours promoting the sale of army bonds until his drunkenness at one event results in his being reassigned to combat, an outcome he secretly wanted. Josh’s war experience with his friend Nick Contino is reminiscent of what happens to Yossarian with the B25 turret gunner Snowden in “Catch 22” (also published in 1961). Nick is decapitated by a German 88 mm anti-tank artillery gun at the siege of Bastogne in Belgium while Josh is running from enemy fire.
Josh’s final attempt to find love with Charley, a woman who is moved by his anti-war speech at a party, as expected, also doesn’t work out. On leaving, she says: “I’m sorry you never had a childhood. I’m sorry for all the hurts you felt and feel. I’m sorry that when somebody reaches out to caress you, you hit them before they can. I thought maybe I could help you, but I can’t. Nobody ever will.” Overall, the book is bleak, and it is hard to sympathize with Bland’s cynicism and self-hatred. It is well-written and kept my interest for the full 570 pages, but I wouldn’t count it among my “top 10” favorite novels.
December 12, 2023
Former child prodigy Joshua Bland dictates his life story to a tape recorder in the days before he commits suicide. Yeah, not an uplifting premise. He narrates about his family and the people he encounters along the way. It’s not linear and it’s very anecdotal. At times I found it Irving-esque except not as clever or funny. Bland will introduce a character and how that individual influenced a particular aspect of his life. Some are inspiring, some are infuriating.
50 pages in, I was unsure whether I would like the book, so I decided to give it 50 more pages. Sure enough, by the time I was 75 pages in, I was intrigued enough to find out what made Bland so exceptional. By the time I was halfway through, I was too vested to abandon it.
Bland is a former quiz show wiz kid, attended college early, studied in England, tried teaching, became a paratrooper during WWII, and is currently a theater producer. He is also a self-loathing SOB who hurts everyone in his wake. His mother was an overbearing narcissist, he and his ex-wives were miserable people who made each other miserable, and his daughter was insufferable. I really hoped that after page 500, Bland would redeem himself, but the book crashed and burned.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.
50 pages in, I was unsure whether I would like the book, so I decided to give it 50 more pages. Sure enough, by the time I was 75 pages in, I was intrigued enough to find out what made Bland so exceptional. By the time I was halfway through, I was too vested to abandon it.
Bland is a former quiz show wiz kid, attended college early, studied in England, tried teaching, became a paratrooper during WWII, and is currently a theater producer. He is also a self-loathing SOB who hurts everyone in his wake. His mother was an overbearing narcissist, he and his ex-wives were miserable people who made each other miserable, and his daughter was insufferable. I really hoped that after page 500, Bland would redeem himself, but the book crashed and burned.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.
October 8, 2023
I must have read this highly dramatic novel around 1962. Teenage me, I was so eager to learn all about life.
Of course, Goodreaders, I aimed to accomplish as much of my learning as possible simply by reading. Haha.
My mother found this book meaningful (although we never discussed it in detail) so of course I wanted to read every word as part of my Preparation for Life.
As noted by our Goodreads Blurber here, themes of this fiction included "modern disconnection and the tragic consequences of a life bereft of love."
Having no concept of "modern" at the time, let alone "modern disconnection" or facing a "life bereft of love" -- this intrepid reader assumed that Merle Miller was describing what adult life would likely become for me: What I could look forward to when I was all grown up.
I'll give this book FIVE STARS because it enthralled me at the time. Sadly, it didn't come with any kind of disclaimer, that it was a spicy, mass-market novel, and not necessarily relevant to what I would wind up experiencing as a post-post-postmodern adult at age 75.
Of course, Goodreaders, I aimed to accomplish as much of my learning as possible simply by reading. Haha.
My mother found this book meaningful (although we never discussed it in detail) so of course I wanted to read every word as part of my Preparation for Life.
As noted by our Goodreads Blurber here, themes of this fiction included "modern disconnection and the tragic consequences of a life bereft of love."
Having no concept of "modern" at the time, let alone "modern disconnection" or facing a "life bereft of love" -- this intrepid reader assumed that Merle Miller was describing what adult life would likely become for me: What I could look forward to when I was all grown up.
I'll give this book FIVE STARS because it enthralled me at the time. Sadly, it didn't come with any kind of disclaimer, that it was a spicy, mass-market novel, and not necessarily relevant to what I would wind up experiencing as a post-post-postmodern adult at age 75.
February 3, 2024
4-4.5 This was quite a ride. I’d never heard if it but I saw that Nancy Pearl originally had it in the “best left to memory” section of her book and then thought about it so much she changed it and promoted the book. I was 100% riveted most of the time. The narrative jumps around quite a bit but it wasn’t too confusing after a bit. I really like books that cover an entire life - such interesting character development.
December 17, 2019
Both the subject (and the ending) of this novel are tragic, yet I found myself laughing through most of it. Miller's narrator speaks with the cynical wit of a jaded intellectual, which makes for an entertaining read!
April 7, 2020
This book was sad, intriguing and humourous all in one. Joshua Bland is an interesting being,and I was fully invested in seeing how his life panned out. Even-though the writing at times was a bit confusing or scatterbrained, somehow it works. Definitely needs re-read in the future
April 8, 2020
I was sucked in. The ending of the book was... dissatisfying? But you saw it coming so maybe I was just hoping for something different. But it was a book I couldnt put down.
August 25, 2024
Rounded up - Can definitely see why Nancy Pearl brought it back to print - incredible writing - laugh out loud in parts - but the protagonist is so self destructive hard to read
April 27, 2013
Recommended by NPR:
"Joshua Bland was born and raised in a small Iowa town where, unloved by his mother and stepfather, he grew up with a lacerating self-hatred. Once acclaimed as a child prodigy, he has always believed that he was never quite smart enough. Throughout his life, Joshua has systematically destroyed whatever happiness could be his, knowing exactly what he was doing as he did it, but unable to stop himself. While A Gay and Melancholy Sound is certainly grounded in the great historical events of the mid-20th century — World War II and McCarthyism, to name two — Miller's novel never feels dated or awkward: There's no strong whiff of the long-dead past emanating from its pages. Indeed, there's enough snark, emotional pain and irony to satisfy even the most demanding 21st-century reader."
There were references to poems such as A.E. Housman..."...On every road I wandered by, Trod beside me, close and dear, The beautiful and death-struck year..." and Robert Frost's "One Step Backward Taken".
The main character's dog is named Absalom, meaning "father of peace". However the name is biblically associated with "terrible grief".
Interesting phrase on p. 124 not found in internet search - "Hughie came into my room ABOVE five in the afternoon I'm telling about."
Error - page 315 Miranda Greene, page 327 Miranda Green.
There are many, many thought-provoking lines from this book that I have noted in my journal. Page 493, “Well, like happiness, for one thing,” I said. “Saint Augustine said that that was the great purpose of a man’s life. I hope very much that you achieve it. Or come close to it. Or at the very least have an interesting search for it. It can be very interesting, you know.”
Page 547 - "Is your brain softening faster than your arteries are hardening?"
Page 510 - Who's Theresa?
"Joshua Bland was born and raised in a small Iowa town where, unloved by his mother and stepfather, he grew up with a lacerating self-hatred. Once acclaimed as a child prodigy, he has always believed that he was never quite smart enough. Throughout his life, Joshua has systematically destroyed whatever happiness could be his, knowing exactly what he was doing as he did it, but unable to stop himself. While A Gay and Melancholy Sound is certainly grounded in the great historical events of the mid-20th century — World War II and McCarthyism, to name two — Miller's novel never feels dated or awkward: There's no strong whiff of the long-dead past emanating from its pages. Indeed, there's enough snark, emotional pain and irony to satisfy even the most demanding 21st-century reader."
There were references to poems such as A.E. Housman..."...On every road I wandered by, Trod beside me, close and dear, The beautiful and death-struck year..." and Robert Frost's "One Step Backward Taken".
The main character's dog is named Absalom, meaning "father of peace". However the name is biblically associated with "terrible grief".
Interesting phrase on p. 124 not found in internet search - "Hughie came into my room ABOVE five in the afternoon I'm telling about."
Error - page 315 Miranda Greene, page 327 Miranda Green.
There are many, many thought-provoking lines from this book that I have noted in my journal. Page 493, “Well, like happiness, for one thing,” I said. “Saint Augustine said that that was the great purpose of a man’s life. I hope very much that you achieve it. Or come close to it. Or at the very least have an interesting search for it. It can be very interesting, you know.”
Page 547 - "Is your brain softening faster than your arteries are hardening?"
Page 510 - Who's Theresa?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews