In September, the Light Changes: The Stories of Andrew Holleran

by Andrew Holleran

Book Overview

Andrew Hollerans first novel, Dancer from the Dance, is recognized as a classic portrait of gay life in New York in the 1970s. His subsequent works, from Nights in Aruba and The Beauty of Men to the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786864613
• ISBN13: 9780786864614
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Hyperion Books
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.7" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

A leisurely literary cruise

I often return to books for repeated readings when my first impressions are lasting. Short story collections by such authors as Andrew Holleran renew the vigor of initial impact, the joys of lingering. IN SEPTEMBER THE LIGHT CHANGES is a treasure of smaller stories that prove once again that Holleran is one of our best writers today. Without depending on one locale, familiar and constant faces, recurring themes to keep us aligned, Holleran strings together tales like the best of Song Cycles by Schubert and Schumann (and Ned Rorem, more poignantly!) and allows us to absorb his luxuriant prose through very complete novellas about love, age, lust, and friends. His hour is magical...and never more evident than in his final In Septmeber the Light Changes. Smart, elegant, and yet very much from the heart.

Times We'll Never Forget!!

I have been a great admirer of Andrew Holleran for many years, and have always enjoyed his stories he wrote for Christopher Street magazine. Every month I waited with anticipation for the next issue for his latest writing. He always writes from the heart and these 16 stories prove it. Andrew's writing is so polished and easy to read, you feel you are listening to him tell these stories in person. Some of these stories are pleasant to read, and others are very sad because they deal with loss(AIDS), loneliness, getting older, and still having desires, especially to be young again, and the yearning for youth. I found myself finishing one story and then continuing right on into the next chapter without stopping, they are so interesting. Maybe its because these stories relate to my generation and the times I lived through in the 70's and early 80's. I feel this book will interest anybody, there is so much beauty and history in his writing. Andrew Holleran, I believe, has not been given enough recognition or credit for his brilliant writing. I truly enjoyed this book.

A Chekhov for the Gay Seventies and Beyond

This is a brilliant collection of stories, one of the strongest I've read ever. Each story is a marvel, the prose, the emotions, the characters. Holleran has a brilliant sense of place and he is very specific about the period of time that he writes about. Aids is barely mentioned in these stories, although the disease does appear towards the end of the collection. The saddest thing for me as a reader is that Holleran is still being marginalized as a writer. Certainly is area of knowledge and interest is the gay demi-monde of New York/Fire Island circa 1970 +...but which great short fiction writer throughout history did not have his favourite epoch that he wrote about over and over again. Is HOlleran any different then an Updike or a John Cheever or even the master himself Anton Chekhov? This is a collection of great short fiction that speaks to all readers who adore brilliant prose. This book has become one of my favourites of all time.

This Is Why I Read Books

Andrew Holleran is an example of why I read books. _The Beauty of Men_ will always be with me, I suspect, somewhere in the back of my mind, as the measure of what writers are "supposed" to do with their art. This collection of short stories I loved almost as much. Mr. H can, technically, set up sentences that are complicated and still lucid. Artistically, he can designate a character with an amazing minimum of details; it's like he knows just the right characteristics to show you to make his characters stand out. None of his characters are perfect, and most are struggling with growing older and being lonely, but I cared about all of them. Joshua, in "Blorts," for example, was hilarious. Morgan, in "Petunias," was self-absorbed and afraid, but struggling to rise above it all and even though the story is tragic, it still ends on a mystifyingly hopeful sentence. Mr. Holleran might not churn out novels every year, but when he does put one out, I'm always deeply affected by it. I wonder, though, why no author's picture on book jackets?