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In the City of Shy Hunters
Tom Spanbauer is one of the most enchanting writers in America today, and In the City of Shy Hunters, his first novel in ten years, is a "rich and colorful" portrait of New York in the 1980s, told with "raw power" (David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle). Shy, afflicted with a stutter, and struggling with his sexuality, Will Parker comes to New York to escape the provincial western towns where he grew up. In New York, he finds himself surrounded for the first time by people who understand and celebrate his quirks and flaws. He also begins an unforgettable love affair with a volatile, six-foot-five African-American drag queen and performance artist named Rose. But even as he is falling in love with Rose and growing into himself, Will must watch as AIDS escalates from a rumor into a devastating tragedy. When a vicious riot erupts in a local park, Will seizes the chance to repay the city for all it has taught him, in a climax that will leave readers shaken, fulfilled, and changed. "In the City of Shy Hunters is so finely crafted ... you'll think you've been reading a modernist classic." -- Peter Kurth, Salon.com "Spanbauer's genius resides even in the asides ... teas[ing] out the genuine complexity of human love." -- Thomas McGonigle, The Washington Post Book World "Ambitious and compelling ... a mixture of the ghastly, the hilarious, and the curiously touching." -- John Hartl, The Seattle Times "In the City of Shy Hunters has the earmarks of a literary landmark ... Its importance and originality are unmistakable." -- Laura Demanski, The Baltimore Sun
512 pages, Paperback
First published May 31, 2001
30 people are currently reading
1054 people want to read
About the author
Tom Spanbauer
12 books476 followersTom Spanbauer was an American writer whose work often explored issues of sexuality, race, and the ties that bind disparate people together. Raised in Idaho, Spanbauer lived in Kenya and across the United States. He later lived in Portland, Oregon, where he taught a course titled "dangerous writing". He graduated in 1988 from Columbia University with an MFA in Fiction and has written five novels.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
June 17, 2008
After reading this book, I wanted to go back and change my ratings of all the other books I gave five stars to. This is the book I've been waiting for.
To call In the City lyrical is certainly true, but also disappointing, ordinary. I would invent new words for this book, choreograph a 1000-person line dance in Thompkins Square Park, a humble tribute. I want to buy a copy for every rehab and homeless shelter and gay community center in the country. I want to live in this book. I have lived in this book. I am still living in this book.
I'm in love with the characters: William of Heaven, Fiona Yet, Rose and Ruby, Charlie and True Shot. They are my Art Family, hanging out in the basement of my memory, lovely new additions to the swarm under the jumbotron that says "Gotham." How could new people -- fictional characters, even -- insinuate themselves into something so impermeable as my own history? It's magic, but they have done just that.
Speaking of magic: I knew there was a divine tether between the Known Universe and this book, that it is somehow a hologram of the human experience twisted into a raunchy fable. That is magic enough, but here's some more magic: In the City of Shy Hunters was published in the early months of 2001. Here's a quote from p. 437:
"As I lit the cigarette, the World Trade Center was in the rearview mirror, and I turned around to look. The World Trade Center buildings were so beyond human they'd disappeared."
This book is a beautiful example of contemporary urban wisdom, heart, and tragedy, as it truly is -- inseperable from, a celebration of the whole, of Life Cafe: the ouroboros, the peace pipe, and the dog shit.
To call In the City lyrical is certainly true, but also disappointing, ordinary. I would invent new words for this book, choreograph a 1000-person line dance in Thompkins Square Park, a humble tribute. I want to buy a copy for every rehab and homeless shelter and gay community center in the country. I want to live in this book. I have lived in this book. I am still living in this book.
I'm in love with the characters: William of Heaven, Fiona Yet, Rose and Ruby, Charlie and True Shot. They are my Art Family, hanging out in the basement of my memory, lovely new additions to the swarm under the jumbotron that says "Gotham." How could new people -- fictional characters, even -- insinuate themselves into something so impermeable as my own history? It's magic, but they have done just that.
Speaking of magic: I knew there was a divine tether between the Known Universe and this book, that it is somehow a hologram of the human experience twisted into a raunchy fable. That is magic enough, but here's some more magic: In the City of Shy Hunters was published in the early months of 2001. Here's a quote from p. 437:
"As I lit the cigarette, the World Trade Center was in the rearview mirror, and I turned around to look. The World Trade Center buildings were so beyond human they'd disappeared."
This book is a beautiful example of contemporary urban wisdom, heart, and tragedy, as it truly is -- inseperable from, a celebration of the whole, of Life Cafe: the ouroboros, the peace pipe, and the dog shit.
July 22, 2008
I should probably give this book four stars, but I can't.
I started volunteering with people living with HIV/AIDS when I got to college. It seemed like the right thing to do. It was a show a gratitude to those who'd come before to make my gay life easier. It was a promise that my generation would learn our lessons; keep ourselves healthy.
In the five years I volunteered, I watched young men grow horribly old and die. I discovered how strong the will to live can be. I learned to smile in the face of death; to pretend it wasn't waiting on the couch to take someone else away. And I learned how to say goodbye to beautiful people who didn't get a chance to fulfill their potential. The specter was always close.
After college, I volunteered elsewhere, and learned different things. That the drugs were getting better. People were dying at a more reasonable rate. That life didn't have to end, and that healthy was an option. And I got to stop saying so many goodbyes. And there was talk of a vaccine; a hope that maybe this would end.
And then it didn't. People are still healthy, the drugs work, and sometimes they don't. People get sick, and sometimes they get better. Sometimes they die and I have to remember to say goodbye.
But it's worse now. Now, those young men (and women) are my friends. I knew them before, and now I have to know them after. Watch the struggle. Count the pills. Know about the medical appointments; the tests. Know the counts and the stats and the treatments and the services and the struggle.
And I still can smile. And offer support and advice. I still know which support groups meet when, and I make referrals to service providers. And I make a mean chicken soup.
But I'm tired, and I don't want to do it anymore. I want it to be over, and it's not. It keeps going on. And every time I read "AIDS" in this book, a tiny part of me wanted to hide and never come back. And that's why I had to give it three stars.
But it really deserved four.
I started volunteering with people living with HIV/AIDS when I got to college. It seemed like the right thing to do. It was a show a gratitude to those who'd come before to make my gay life easier. It was a promise that my generation would learn our lessons; keep ourselves healthy.
In the five years I volunteered, I watched young men grow horribly old and die. I discovered how strong the will to live can be. I learned to smile in the face of death; to pretend it wasn't waiting on the couch to take someone else away. And I learned how to say goodbye to beautiful people who didn't get a chance to fulfill their potential. The specter was always close.
After college, I volunteered elsewhere, and learned different things. That the drugs were getting better. People were dying at a more reasonable rate. That life didn't have to end, and that healthy was an option. And I got to stop saying so many goodbyes. And there was talk of a vaccine; a hope that maybe this would end.
And then it didn't. People are still healthy, the drugs work, and sometimes they don't. People get sick, and sometimes they get better. Sometimes they die and I have to remember to say goodbye.
But it's worse now. Now, those young men (and women) are my friends. I knew them before, and now I have to know them after. Watch the struggle. Count the pills. Know about the medical appointments; the tests. Know the counts and the stats and the treatments and the services and the struggle.
And I still can smile. And offer support and advice. I still know which support groups meet when, and I make referrals to service providers. And I make a mean chicken soup.
But I'm tired, and I don't want to do it anymore. I want it to be over, and it's not. It keeps going on. And every time I read "AIDS" in this book, a tiny part of me wanted to hide and never come back. And that's why I had to give it three stars.
But it really deserved four.
October 24, 2013
This is an amazing novel.
It feels epic, larger than it's own story. And that's not easy for a book written in minimalist prose.
I think the only thing I didn't like about the book was the character Fiona. But the reason I didn't like her was because she was written so realistically as THAT kind of person--so even the thing I didn't like about the book is a point of praise.
A warning, though: This book is not meant to be escapist, nor as a quick read to help you get through a flight or a bus ride. This is serious prose about very serious things, and it demands attention. That's what makes it so good--that it moves with deliberate steps instead of trying to sprint. I'd say HIGHLY recommended, but this one isn't for everyone. However, if you take reading seriously, or if you are an author who wants a masterclass in writing, get this novel immediately.
Only someone THIS good could have been a teacher to Chuck Palahniuk.
It feels epic, larger than it's own story. And that's not easy for a book written in minimalist prose.
I think the only thing I didn't like about the book was the character Fiona. But the reason I didn't like her was because she was written so realistically as THAT kind of person--so even the thing I didn't like about the book is a point of praise.
A warning, though: This book is not meant to be escapist, nor as a quick read to help you get through a flight or a bus ride. This is serious prose about very serious things, and it demands attention. That's what makes it so good--that it moves with deliberate steps instead of trying to sprint. I'd say HIGHLY recommended, but this one isn't for everyone. However, if you take reading seriously, or if you are an author who wants a masterclass in writing, get this novel immediately.
Only someone THIS good could have been a teacher to Chuck Palahniuk.
August 1, 2024
Loved the story, hated the writing style.
August 19, 2014
One of the most heart-wrenching, gorgeous, devastating books I've ever read.
"Why else do we live except to love and remember those we love?"
"Whether you fight it, cop an attitude, fuck it, or fall in love with it, you're still going to die. We're all just in our bodies for a moment in our life. Such a brave and lovely act it is to let the body celebrate..."
"Why else do we live except to love and remember those we love?"
"Whether you fight it, cop an attitude, fuck it, or fall in love with it, you're still going to die. We're all just in our bodies for a moment in our life. Such a brave and lovely act it is to let the body celebrate..."
May 1, 2013
"You're going this way and then shit happens and then you're going that way." This is the story of William of Heaven, how he was wounded by a blow of love, and his search for Charlie2Moons, redemption and enlightenment in New York in the dark days of the AIDS epidemic.
What an extraordinary novel this is, brimming with pain and joy, life and death, heartache and grace, anger and pathos. It is the sort of larger-than-life canvas of a novel that you live in rather than read, that tears at your heart, messes with your head and makes you feel sexy, often all at the same time.
Spanbauer's writing style is not for the faint of heart: he uses phrases, sentences and words like musical motifs, repeating them in various patterns and refrains. This makes for an often choppy, yet densely coded, reading experience that you just have to surrender yourself to, in order to gain the full effect. Magnificent.
What an extraordinary novel this is, brimming with pain and joy, life and death, heartache and grace, anger and pathos. It is the sort of larger-than-life canvas of a novel that you live in rather than read, that tears at your heart, messes with your head and makes you feel sexy, often all at the same time.
Spanbauer's writing style is not for the faint of heart: he uses phrases, sentences and words like musical motifs, repeating them in various patterns and refrains. This makes for an often choppy, yet densely coded, reading experience that you just have to surrender yourself to, in order to gain the full effect. Magnificent.
October 2, 2015
(Sorry, Bert. I hope you can forgive me and that we can move on from this average rating.)
We'll disregard the first 150 pages of this book because I wasn't into the beginning of this book. I don't know what it was I was just kind of bored.
Tom Spanbauer still has the ability to write some really fucking incredible lines that punch you in the gut. And scenes of this book were freaking incredible and intimate and raw. It was brutal, especially towards the end of the book when he really, really started focusing in on the AIDs crisis.
But I wasn't that attached to the characters in this? Which is really weird because normally Spanbauer can get me really emotionally involved with his characters, but I felt kind of detached from them in this one. Which is maybe why I didn't enjoy it as much as his others? Who knows tbh.
We'll disregard the first 150 pages of this book because I wasn't into the beginning of this book. I don't know what it was I was just kind of bored.
Tom Spanbauer still has the ability to write some really fucking incredible lines that punch you in the gut. And scenes of this book were freaking incredible and intimate and raw. It was brutal, especially towards the end of the book when he really, really started focusing in on the AIDs crisis.
But I wasn't that attached to the characters in this? Which is really weird because normally Spanbauer can get me really emotionally involved with his characters, but I felt kind of detached from them in this one. Which is maybe why I didn't enjoy it as much as his others? Who knows tbh.
June 10, 2017
William of Heaven arrives in New York in 1983, searching for Charlie 2Moons, his childhood friend and the love of his life. From the start there is an ethereal, almost magical feel to this beautifully written novel - no-one is ordinary, the characters' names conjure up a cross between a fairy tale and a fantasy: Fiona Yet, Ruby Prestigiacomo, True Shot, and the improbably named Argwings Khodek. Some have other names, few of them meet each other, but all of them shape the life of the somewhat innocent new arrival. William's innocence is short-lived however, especially in a time and place where AIDS is taking a grip on the lives of many of the characters. As the story progresses we travel back in time to witness episodes in Will's childhood in Idaho, when, with his sister Bobbie, he meets Charlie for the first time, and together they decide to learn stunt riding tricks on their horses. Their idyllic childhood begins to unravel though, and leads to a tragic turn of events.
Tragedy occurs in the lives of most of the characters in the book, but whether he writes of this or lighter things, Tom Spanbauer does so with his customary poetic brilliance. If you are after a straightforward narrative, depicting the politics and high emotions of the times, then don't look here. Both are central to the story, but the style is one of high drama and uniquely expressive phrases. Repeated throughout the book, phrases such as 'Never touch me', 'It's all drag', 'No, no Yoko Ono', 'WALK/DON'T WALK' add a hypnotic quality to the writing, almost pulling you into the page each time you see the same words. This is a modern classic for those who love the unusual, recalling a time that should never be forgotten.
Tragedy occurs in the lives of most of the characters in the book, but whether he writes of this or lighter things, Tom Spanbauer does so with his customary poetic brilliance. If you are after a straightforward narrative, depicting the politics and high emotions of the times, then don't look here. Both are central to the story, but the style is one of high drama and uniquely expressive phrases. Repeated throughout the book, phrases such as 'Never touch me', 'It's all drag', 'No, no Yoko Ono', 'WALK/DON'T WALK' add a hypnotic quality to the writing, almost pulling you into the page each time you see the same words. This is a modern classic for those who love the unusual, recalling a time that should never be forgotten.
October 1, 2008
Like his "Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon" novel, it took me a long time to get into this, but once I did, it threw me around like a good mosh pit. Spanbauer is a patient writer, as at ease with brutality and blasphemy as he is with the most tender and discreet emotions.
But like many a good mosh pit, it seemed more like a tribute to that urge than the urge itself. Even the most harrowing or passionate scenes were so classically constructed that the emotional impact fell short of what the scene called for. Perhaps I am a poor reader, because I know that this is great writing.
Where the emotions and images resonated the strongest and purest were in the delicate, internal moments of our moustachioed protagonist. Sexy Einstein.
Speaking of which, Spanbauer is the master of unusual and tenacious catch phrases. Every time he wrote "Another New Yorker gone to Hell," I heard a car alarm, right on cue. The writing is vivid, sensual, and almost musical. Plus, this would make an excellent film.
But like many a good mosh pit, it seemed more like a tribute to that urge than the urge itself. Even the most harrowing or passionate scenes were so classically constructed that the emotional impact fell short of what the scene called for. Perhaps I am a poor reader, because I know that this is great writing.
Where the emotions and images resonated the strongest and purest were in the delicate, internal moments of our moustachioed protagonist. Sexy Einstein.
Speaking of which, Spanbauer is the master of unusual and tenacious catch phrases. Every time he wrote "Another New Yorker gone to Hell," I heard a car alarm, right on cue. The writing is vivid, sensual, and almost musical. Plus, this would make an excellent film.
January 8, 2015
At the back of my mind, I knew he was, but with my reading of this novel, Tom Spanbauer, moved consciously to my top--what?--five favorite novelists ever. He takes chances, he digs so deeply into what we all wonder about, wish for, seek. He proves that the subject of a tale is its mere overlay, that what is most important is what lies underneath. And Spanbauer is fearless. His book says it all about confronting fear and finding courage. Spanbauer knows what life is for, no matter what the terrors of one's own life may be.
August 15, 2014
If this story does not rip your heart out, you are either not human or a Pharasee. It is the story of a sensitive young man who leaves Idaho, fleeing from violence and abuse and all that so often accompanies poverty and despair, and heads for New York in search of the one person who truly loved him, a boy he grew up with. It explores the lives of "the shy hunters", those people who became his friends, his companions, his lovers and his teachers, during the first terrible scourge of the AIDS epidemic in New York.
This book had a profound impact on me, there was much about the "underbelly" that is the big city for fringe dwellers that was so familiar to me. My own journey into that particular hades turned up not so many with as much nobility as Will or Rose or True Shot, but there were some I did glimpse, some who I touched and who touched me. At that time I was too young to see what was before me in them, but I do see it now.
It is a story of deep anguish, loss and suffering but also a story of great abiding love bewteen those who have only each other and their own pain. Much touched me, there were so many memories, of savage, moments quiet moments and tenderness. On the whole it really did my head in for a while, I need some time to absorb it all; including some of the most profound lines I have had the privelege to read in the English language. "Fate leads those who will and drags those who won't".
This is not a story of the Readers Digest variety. To experience it fully I think somehow, like me, you will probably have to have been there!
This book had a profound impact on me, there was much about the "underbelly" that is the big city for fringe dwellers that was so familiar to me. My own journey into that particular hades turned up not so many with as much nobility as Will or Rose or True Shot, but there were some I did glimpse, some who I touched and who touched me. At that time I was too young to see what was before me in them, but I do see it now.
It is a story of deep anguish, loss and suffering but also a story of great abiding love bewteen those who have only each other and their own pain. Much touched me, there were so many memories, of savage, moments quiet moments and tenderness. On the whole it really did my head in for a while, I need some time to absorb it all; including some of the most profound lines I have had the privelege to read in the English language. "Fate leads those who will and drags those who won't".
This is not a story of the Readers Digest variety. To experience it fully I think somehow, like me, you will probably have to have been there!
October 10, 2013
Honestly, I am over half way done and it has been a struggle to get this far. The writing style is frustrating and the grammar Nazi in me wants to scream at him "a complete sentence needs a verb!" He will write these sentences like this "The red chair." or "The unrelenting light." I should be getting used to it by now, but it is little things like this that are getting in the way of my enjoyment of the book. There is a lot of sex in this book which distracts me. I admit to being somewhat uncomfortable with reading these scenes and figuring out exactly how they are significant to the story. Some are, most aren't. But that is just my humble opinion.
To say if I like this book or not would be to simplify the issue here. Because my answer would be that yes, I do like it, and no, I don't. I am kept up at night reading it and I can't tell if it is because I am hooked or because I want to have it over with. The main character reminds me of Mersault from Camus' The Stranger. Perhaps it is just the way he is written. This character, Will, is not without feeling, yet he seems to be a passive man, living life as it happens to him rather than making it happen. I get the sense that this will change though, and so I read on.....
To say if I like this book or not would be to simplify the issue here. Because my answer would be that yes, I do like it, and no, I don't. I am kept up at night reading it and I can't tell if it is because I am hooked or because I want to have it over with. The main character reminds me of Mersault from Camus' The Stranger. Perhaps it is just the way he is written. This character, Will, is not without feeling, yet he seems to be a passive man, living life as it happens to him rather than making it happen. I get the sense that this will change though, and so I read on.....
September 5, 2009
I was completely entranced by this book and sobbed my way through the end, especially in love with Rose. This book is magical realism about queers dealing with AIDS and performance art in the 1980s in NYC - the Tompkins Sq Park riot is a central moment, and the book is dedicated to Ethyl Eichelberger, among others. On first reading, I felt nervous about the many characters that are mystical people of color... I think TS is a white guy (?) so it raised flags for me, but in the end I think TS's writing is insightful and illuminating about racism (among many other things). I just read this book a second time and was completely swept away all over again. the writing craft was even more moving this time, seeing the well-woven subtle introductions of information that becomes important later in the story. SO GOOD!
October 17, 2024
La semana que comencé esta novela Tom Spanbauer falleció, personalmente para mi ha sido un luto. Esta casualidad, junto con el hecho de que escribió la mayor parte de esta novela en la ciudad en la que vivo (Barcelona), me han hecho sentir tanto la historia como al autor muy cerca. Leer de nuevo a Spanbauer es un regalo, cada capítulo para mi es un privilegio. Y con su tercera novela ya, deja claro que con cada una se supera.
Desde aquí mi pequeño homenaje a un escritor exquisito, sensible y sobre todo, sincero. Maestro en el arte de dar la verdad con las manos a sus lectores para que se sientan un poco más tranquilos, un poco menos solos.
En esta novela él, menciona en repetidas ocasiones (característica absoluta en su forma de escribir) un mapa del universo conocido.
Yo estoy seguro que to el universo conocío va a echarle de menos.
Desde aquí mi pequeño homenaje a un escritor exquisito, sensible y sobre todo, sincero. Maestro en el arte de dar la verdad con las manos a sus lectores para que se sientan un poco más tranquilos, un poco menos solos.
En esta novela él, menciona en repetidas ocasiones (característica absoluta en su forma de escribir) un mapa del universo conocido.
Yo estoy seguro que to el universo conocío va a echarle de menos.
July 18, 2012
I've already gushed about Tom Spanbauer in my "review" of Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon".
This book is similarly well written, but much different; reading it was literally gut-wrenching. Being as I'm an ancient homo, and half of my life has been lived in the shadow of HIV/AIDS, I've seen the deaths of many, and a couple of times come close to it myself. Almost all the gay men I knew in San Francisco and New York died, and many more in Seattle. So many died that I have forgotten the names. And yet, ironically, I still live. I'm pretty sure that Tom might understand how that feels. He's one of the few left who could.
This book is similarly well written, but much different; reading it was literally gut-wrenching. Being as I'm an ancient homo, and half of my life has been lived in the shadow of HIV/AIDS, I've seen the deaths of many, and a couple of times come close to it myself. Almost all the gay men I knew in San Francisco and New York died, and many more in Seattle. So many died that I have forgotten the names. And yet, ironically, I still live. I'm pretty sure that Tom might understand how that feels. He's one of the few left who could.
July 14, 2008
Love is available even in the darkest, most remote hiding places. Spanbauer's prose is so outstanding that I feel he has created a new way of writing. The flaws of these characters feel so real that these characters become people you wish you could talk with. They are funny and sad and trying to figure out how to survive in a fucked up world. And the fact that they succeed makes you feel you can too.
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April 18, 2025All daring and courage, all iron endurance of misfortune, make for a finer, nobler type of manhood. The lucid compulsion to act polemically. The hope of theater to lay bare the human heart. New York drop-dead fuck-you. The one moment that before it we were going this way and after it we were going that way. The moment that after, you’re different.
December 3, 2010
I came to this book fully prepared to hate it or at the very least find it "just okay." Spanbaur tends to give it all away (albeit cryptically) at the very beginning of his books, (which is a choice I generally like with him) and this book was no exception. However, as I read the introductory pages i couldn't help but feel like I was in for another rehash of the same old ideas I'd already explored with him. And while In the City of Shy Hunters is similar to The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon and Now Is the Hour in style, in content, it is quite different. And besides, even if Spanbaur's books are kind of all the same, he's a great author! So, even though Shy Hunters feels a bit like a rehash (something that quietly gnawed at me while reading Now Is the Hour) there's enough fresh material here to make the book excellent in its own right.
Basically, if you like Tom Spanbauer, you'll probably like this book. If you're looking to get into him, don't start here. This is definitely his most difficult work and his most shocking. But in the end, it's also one of his most rewarding.
Basically, if you like Tom Spanbauer, you'll probably like this book. If you're looking to get into him, don't start here. This is definitely his most difficult work and his most shocking. But in the end, it's also one of his most rewarding.
June 4, 2010
Hard to even talk about all the levels that this story touched me. Fierce, freak show gender queers fighting for their lives with magic, theater, fashion, and whatever else they can get their manicured or mangled hands on!
This story is about surviving in the best way you know how, it's about chosen family, AIDS (living with it and outraging against those in power that do nothing but vilify). it
It's about class, race, culture, spirituality, genders, and sex. For queers of my generation, this is an homage to the generation before us, who created a path for us to follow.
Thank you, Tom Spanbauer!
This story is about surviving in the best way you know how, it's about chosen family, AIDS (living with it and outraging against those in power that do nothing but vilify). it
It's about class, race, culture, spirituality, genders, and sex. For queers of my generation, this is an homage to the generation before us, who created a path for us to follow.
Thank you, Tom Spanbauer!
October 7, 2011
"Language is my second language" ... This early line from "In the City of Shy Hunters" is as much a statement as it is a warning to readers as author Tom Spanbauer bitch slaps James Joyce and begins his tale. The storytelling isn't convenient, but neither are the lives his characters lead. Each in his or her own way, they have fashioned a means to battle their fears and find the sanity or insanity or resolution which brings them peace. You may find yourself sitting there puzzling over their choices. I am still sitting there.
November 11, 2015
Exceptionally beautiful, raw, and real. One of the best novels I've read in a long time. It's not in the least realistic, and yet, it manages to capture Reality perfectly. As one of the characters says, once AIDS has started killing off so many many many people, "Goddmmit, I know I'm fucking crazy. But the grief and the rage are real! And the disease is real and the war is real!" The novel itself is like that--crazy in a way that makes it entirely lucid.
August 13, 2014
phenomenal. i would like to read this book again and again. as with spanbauer's other books, my experience of reading them is walking through a portal into a world that deeply affects my vision upon emerging. i have fallen in love with fiona and rose, bobbie and charlie, true shot and ruby and harry. i am immensely grateful for this book and highly recommend it.
December 22, 2007
This book is full of such raw power, it is impossible to read
and not have you life feel different after. best book ever (and i read A LOT).
and not have you life feel different after. best book ever (and i read A LOT).
July 5, 2012
A dark and extremely poetic novel full of treasures underneath piles and piles of really sad things.
June 7, 2015
Spanbauer writes raw, aching stories of physical and emotional intimacy. He writes the kind of stories most people would hesitate to share. And his writing is always heart-breaking and beautiful.
August 26, 2019
Magnífic. A poc de declarar-me incondicional de Tom Spanbauer. Aquest home és una delícia de llegir.
May 15, 2023
Loved the looping themes and repeating motifs…definitely one to savour and let the language wash over you. Crazy perfect.
July 9, 2022
My little brother, Charlie said, I promise to always tell the truth to you. I promise that your secrets are always safe with me. I promise always to respect and love you. I will never betray you. I promise I will never forget you.
I read this book as part of Pride Month but ended up finishing it just after, which of course, doesn't really matter – your TBR should be diverse regardless of the time of year. The book simply doesn't lend itself to reading fast. Not because it's boring, but because of its complex subject matter and the fact that the writing must be savoured.
It's 1983 and William Parker, a shy young man from the mid-West moves to Manhattan's East Village, in search of a childhood friend, Charlie 2Moons, someone he'd like to apologise to, although the reader only learns later what for. Will leaves behind a dark past, a time at once nightmarish and moving, with secrets that are revealed slowly throughout the book.
Despite his insecurities, Will quickly makes a motley crew of friends – from drag queens to artists – and finds acceptance, even falling in love.
But it's a time of great upheaval in the city. AIDS has begun ravaging the Queer community, including many of Will's friends. There are riots (the book covers the infamous Tompkins Square Park riot in 1988 – a place Will's friends call Dog Shit Park). Drugs (and poverty) are rife. And yet, there is always the promise of something more... As Will's (more than) friend and neighbour, Rose says:
Darkness is not something out there that we must make rules against... Darkness is not something we must reject from our lives. Darkness is part of us.
As Will learns this, his courage grows and so does his self-acceptance until he does something brave and beautiful.
I find it really difficult to review this book. It's brilliant and bewitching and breathtaking. It's also difficult and upsetting. The early days of the AIDS crisis are heartbreaking. The disregard for Othered lives is disconcerting. And then there is the abuse that also happens.
It's not an easy read, and please pay attention to the trigger warnings I'll give below, but it's such an important story. Tom Spanbauer does not just bring life to a turbulent time in American history, but he brings the most incredible humanity to all of his characters. This is a book that will linger with me for a long, long time.
Trigger warnings: rape, sexual abuse, drug use, suicide
August 31, 2023
Not an easy read for most - but a rewarding portrait of a period from an observer who survived
At the March 2009 meeting of the NYC LGBT Center book discussion group, we had a nice sized group read and discuss "In the City of Shy Hunters" by Tom Spanbauer.
Most of us thought that it was hard to get started, but once you did, hold on for a wild ride through the East Village in the 1980s. Why was it hard to get started? The language is repetitive and "machine-gun like." Why was it such a wild ride? The novel gallops from Idaho flashbacks (which most found very touching) to various episodes in the East Village involving real New Yorkers of the period: performance artists, drug addicts, waiters, alcoholics, Native Americans, drag queens (of various ilks), lots of homeless people, a family from Connecticut, and one naive but well-meaning and ultimately very knowledgeable narrator. The novel ends with many deaths from AIDS (but it took a while to get to the AIDS part of the story) and the infamous Tompkins Square Riots.
Some thought that the writing style was completely self-indulgent and irritating and the characters pasteboard thin and unsympathetic. I think that by the end of the discussion, those of us who liked the novel and those who didn't found more in the story than they originally thought. Not an easy read - but a great portrait of a period, told in the style of one who was there.
This was a tough read for many - but a good book for a discussion group.
At the March 2009 meeting of the NYC LGBT Center book discussion group, we had a nice sized group read and discuss "In the City of Shy Hunters" by Tom Spanbauer.
Most of us thought that it was hard to get started, but once you did, hold on for a wild ride through the East Village in the 1980s. Why was it hard to get started? The language is repetitive and "machine-gun like." Why was it such a wild ride? The novel gallops from Idaho flashbacks (which most found very touching) to various episodes in the East Village involving real New Yorkers of the period: performance artists, drug addicts, waiters, alcoholics, Native Americans, drag queens (of various ilks), lots of homeless people, a family from Connecticut, and one naive but well-meaning and ultimately very knowledgeable narrator. The novel ends with many deaths from AIDS (but it took a while to get to the AIDS part of the story) and the infamous Tompkins Square Riots.
Some thought that the writing style was completely self-indulgent and irritating and the characters pasteboard thin and unsympathetic. I think that by the end of the discussion, those of us who liked the novel and those who didn't found more in the story than they originally thought. Not an easy read - but a great portrait of a period, told in the style of one who was there.
This was a tough read for many - but a good book for a discussion group.
July 13, 2021
Beyond five stars, if that were possible on this site. It's extremely rare that I'll read until dawn simply because I can't put the book down; this is one such book, so be forewarned. The writing is both gritty and beautiful, which mirrors the beauty Spanbauer uncovers in his usually seriously broken characters. Reading the novel is a gut-wrenching experience that plumbs the depths of American urban -- and rural -- destitution and depravity, yet paradoxically leaves one a little bit more in love with the world and with humanity than when one started. Oh, and the scenes inside the restaurant are frequently hilarious!
Unlike some readers, I find the Rose character entirely believable -- I've *known* people like Rose, and after the last few years of American police behavior we should all recognize the sergeant's wanton cruelty as ringing true, as is its mixture with internalized homophobia. The one false step I can identify in the novel -- and it's minor to the point of triviality -- is Spanbauer's giving the cardinal a name, which uncomfortably creates a historical figure where none existed in history.
This is one book I'll be rereading.
Unlike some readers, I find the Rose character entirely believable -- I've *known* people like Rose, and after the last few years of American police behavior we should all recognize the sergeant's wanton cruelty as ringing true, as is its mixture with internalized homophobia. The one false step I can identify in the novel -- and it's minor to the point of triviality -- is Spanbauer's giving the cardinal a name, which uncomfortably creates a historical figure where none existed in history.
This is one book I'll be rereading.
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