This is certainly a Spring for gay novels, first was the rich and intelligent The Big Book of Misunderstanding and then the miraculous At Swim Two Boys and now Jim Grimsley's remarkable Boulevard. The New Orleans flavor is so strong one can almost taste and smell it (I cooked Gumbo after finishing the book). Newell is a hot young thing brought up in the ultra-small town of Pastel, Alabama by his grandmother. He buys a one-way ticket to New Orleans in 1978 and he is in search of the bright lights, men and the sleaze that only gay life in the city can deliver.
Our hero Newell makes his way, finding a job in a pornographic bookstore and renting a room in the French Quarter. His good nature, good looks, and sex drive soon get him plenty of attention, which he craves. Soon he has friends. Some are harmless, like Henry, a pudgy sidekick who's a frequent denizen of the porn shop's movie booths. Others prove more dangerous, like party-boy Mark, Newell's first beau, who has a penchant for recreational drugs.
In prose that slips its perspective from Newell's to all of his acquaintances Grimsley paints us a portrait of a hot young thing we all wish we were or with. Miss Sophia cleans the adult bookstore where Newell makes change and staffs the counter. Her descriptions of the merchandise and the customers ring so true - her description of her sad life as an alcoholic, old, drag queen with tits will resonate with you long after you finish this memorable novel. The gorgeous prose and deep character development make this an important and essential read.
Scott Cranin
"In his brilliantly nightmarish novels Winter Birds and Dream Boy, Atlanta-based writer Jim Grimsley staked a claim as the gay man's Dorothy Allison-a fearless chronicler of what's queer and cruel in the white-trash South. In Boulevard, his fifth novel... Grimsley twists his seemingly typical fairy-tale plot-a country boy goes to the big city, suffers some mishaps, but finds his way-into something both horrifying and titillating."
--Out Magazine
