RUSHES

by John Rechy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 30, 1979

One long night in a raunchy Manhattan macho-leather gay bar--where, if Rechy (City of Night, The Sexual Outlaw) is to be believed, the soulful clientele spends as much time debating homosexual lifestyles (in wretched dialogue) as making sexual contact. Chas is the leatherman with ""a collection of cockrings fitted to his scrotum""--he's ""openly dedicated to S & M"" and fiercely hedonistic. (""What's real right now is this sex paradise, and that's all!"") Don is the aging, old-fashioned type desperate for affection, angry about all those years of non-liberation, but unable to shake his hang-ups about not being ""normal"": ""I have an open wound and I'm bleeding and no one's trying to seal my wound or stop my bleeding!"" Bill is the pretty boy who's into ""worship."" And Endore is the Rechy alter-ego, the dark, gentle, romantic cynic who finds warmth in promiscuity (""When did abundant sex--which he extolled--become a soulless reduction, a sacrifice of, all human contact? It didn't have to!"") but is repelled by Chas' S & M, which tonight he'll get to see up close (""No! It isn't Chas! It's someone else! Not Chas! It isn't Chas, it isn't Chas it isn't Chas it isn't Chas. No!""). These are the regulars at ""Rushes,"" cruising and groping and arguing, but tonight there are added attractions for the sake of thematic comprehensiveness: two transvestites (hated by all but Endore, who finds them courageous) barge in; a trendy, fatuous woman designer comes to sight-see; and Bobby, kid brother of a homosexual-hating hustler, is here to join the crowd: ""Before tonight is over, I'm gonna make it. With a guy. Really make it, together, and it'll be good, and I won't feel guilty. Not dirty either, Tim; and it'll be with someone I want and who wants me."" Rechy pours all this on with a hyper-sentimentality (his favorite word is ""cruel"") that mixes poorly with the hard-core interludes--and the only redeeming feature is some basic sociological observation, which is sometimes surprisingly shrewd (""the congregation of machos. Cowboys who don't ride horses. . . motorcyclists who travel by cab. . ."") or even funny (as when two macho-men get confused over their S & M keychain signals). Some marginal journalistic/voyeur interest, then; otherwise--embarrassing.

Pub Date: Nov. 30, 1979

ISBN: 0802134971

Page Count: -

Publisher: Grove Press--dist. by Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1979

Categories: FICTION