Eighty-Sixed

by David B. Feinberg

Book Overview

In 1980, B. J. Rosenthal's only mission is to find himself a boyfriend and avoid setbacks like bad haircuts, bad sex, and Jewish guilt. In post-AIDS 1986, B.J.'s world has changed dramatically -- his friends and lovers are getting sick, everyone is at risk, and B.J. is panicking. Parrying high-wire wit against unbearable human tragedy, Eighty-Sixed now stands as a testament to an era. If Woody Allen were gay and wrote novels, he'd produce something...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802139027
• ISBN13: 9780802139023
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Moving and funny chronicle of the AIDS tragedy

This novel contrasts the life of BJ Rosenthal, a gay man living in New York City, before and after the advent of the AIDS epidemic. In 1980, his greatest concern is finding a boyfriend and he feels free to indulge his libido in a quest for the perfect man. In 1986, every potential liaison is conducted in the shadow of death as BJ attends the deaths of friends, participates in AIDS marches, and struggles to retain hope in the future. As grim as the subject matter becomes, author David Feinberg never loses his sense of humor. There are brief interludes between each chapter that would make for a fiercely hilarious and moving stage monologue. Until reading the reviews on this page, I was not aware that David Feinberg himself has now passed away. The world is poorer for the loss of his voice and his sensibility.

One of the very Best

This book is just wonderful. It is so funny and so very honest that it walks a fine line between your funny bone and a raw nerve. I remember passing this one along to everybody when it was first published(still have a copy in bookcase, though)and everbody loved it. I met Feinberg in NY after this first came out and he seemed like a real charmer. His second book, Spontaneous Combustion is also recommended. As another reviewer said, his anger really took overat the end, very sad.

I was dating David while he was writing this book...

I read this in print-outs from his PC. I never believed that it would actually get published. But once I finished reading the book, I knew that it should be published. And 12 years later, this book still makes me aware of the emotional pull that he had. He ended life very angry, without much humor; but he lived most of his life finding the humor or irony in many situations. David changed the way I look at many things, especially HIV.

Thank You, David Feinberg

I think I've read this book about 6 times now. The most recent after a 3 year absence (still unable to read Feinberg's "Queer And Self-Loathing" because I know it will be his final words.) While turning the pages, there are times I feel a bit childish for laughing at what some might call low-brow humor (i.e.: BJ's sexcapades through NYC), but with each successive laugh there is a glimmer of something in each of our selves that we get in touch with, a hint of joy coupled with a hint of pain. It's what my grandmother calls something lost and something gained. One does not need to have lost someone to AIDS to feel the pain Feinberg wants us to feel for his characters; all that's required is that you be human, to be open to experiencing all of life as it's come to pass. So reading through this book again, I laughed, crying with fits of laughter even though I knew the mood would all change, and it did. It had too. Feinberg's "Eighty Sixed" was the first book to make me cry. I cried not from joy, but from the sheer pain of loss, of frustration and anguish. And as I closed the book, my hands trembling, I reflected on the joys in my life, at how far I've come from the days I thought I would never push the closet door open, and then, just as the second half of the book is titled "Learning to Cry", I put my head onto my pillow and wept. Thank you David Feinberg. In an age of increasing isolation, it's comforting to know a book can still present itself as the best and the worst of each of us -- that a book can let itself be more 'human' than some of the very people standing around us.

Read this book. It's about humanity above all else . . . !!!

THIS BOOK CHANGED MY LIFE . . . it really did, and though I was not fortunate to meet the author before his death a few years ago, I miss his presence in the world. David B. Feinberg's unique way of looking at this craziness which we call life can never be duplicated.He'll make you laugh just when you think the situation could not get any more tragic and finds the sorrow behind the mask of joy . . . B. J. is a protagonist of Holden Caulfield proportions.KDP