The Coming Storm

by Paul Russell

Book Overview

Lambda Literary Award Finalist; Winner of the Ferro-Grumley Award

Set against the backdrop of a traditional boys' school in upstate New York, The Coming Storm is a delicately and brilliantly rendered tale that reveals the most closely held secrets of the human heart.

Russell's award-winning novel is the story of four interlocking lives - Louis Tremper, the headmaster at the Forge School; his wife Claire; Tracey...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312263031
• ISBN13: 9780312263034
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Finest Work Yet

"Set against the backdrop of a traditional boys' school in upstate New York, The Coming Storm is a delicately and brilliantly rendered tale that reveals the most closely held secrets of the human heart. Russell's award-winning novel is the story of four interlocking lives--Louis Tremper, the headmaster at the Forge School; his wife Claire; Tracey Parker, a 25-year old gay man and recently hired teacher at the Forge School; and Noah Lathrop III, a troubled student; all of whom struggle with their own inner demons, desires, and conflicted loyalties. When Tracey and Noah become involved in an illicit relationship, dark incidents from the school's past begin colliding with the current growing confusion that all of them must face. Compelling and poignant, this is the finest work yet from one of best contemporary American novelists."--© zebraz

The Calming of Russell's Coming Storm!

After picking Paul Russell's book as a first read for a newly formed gay and lesbian book club, it has become my top suggested title of the year! I have read gay fiction all summer long, and Russell's book is top on my list. I quickly became absorbed in his characters, and his style of writing is just amazing. There are few books that I have read that leave me wondering where these characters might be now or what would be going on in the lives today. There are few books like The Coming Storm that touch me in such a way that I wake up seeing my own life from a different perspective. Paul Russell is a master of the page, completely predicting a "coming storm" in every reader's life. This is a book you better be prepared for! Our discussion of the book at the book club was truly touching to each and every reader, and I am sure Russell's book will do the same for you.

An absorbingly interesting novel

In "The Coming Storm" author Paul Russell has gifted us with a novel rich in character development, moody evocations of time and place, lyrical phrasing and flow of style. But more important to this reader is the aftermath of closing the last page knowing that there is much to ponder - about mortality, the transience of youth (both in beauty and innocence), the vagaries of love (or the lack of it), the mystery of obsession. Louis, Claire, Tracy, Noah, and even Libby, Reid, Chris and the peripheral characters all are placed in this tale of life in the cloister of a middle school in the East for a purpose: no wasted time in development of filler in this book! And despite the knowledge presented in the first chapter that we are on a journey to visit the inevitable "storms" that come into all our lives, the book propels us along with individual character asides that serve to enrich the final fabric of realizing that it is not so much the coming storms that alter our lives, but how we survive them and their aftermath. This is a novel that is outwardly about gay relationships in about every spectrum of time, but more importantly Paul Russell bridges the gap of placing these relationships in the real world. Whether letting light into the closeted gays' domain or celebrating the senuous highs of men comfortable with their sexual stance, this book is a richly drawn tale that leaves us satisfied and hungry for the next work.

Great Gay Novel, "Cross-Over" Literature Too

This novel goes right onto my small "favorite-books" shelf. Here's why.(1) Gay Lit plus Crossover Appeal...Is the novel "way too gay" to appeal to non-gay readers? A same-sex affair plus two latent men. And homosexuality permeates everywhere here, a subterranean force--magnetic northstar for some of the characters, toxic waste for other characters. But like excellent writers, Russell generalizes his material. Specifically, he takes a topic which is still sensitive, hot-button, contested, emotional (homosexuality), and makes it speak to general issues and many readers by deftly employing its grist (namely, conflict between self and society; tradition vs. change; degrees of self-knowledge; duplicity and appearance-vs.-reality). These universal issues are dealt with by all the novel's characters, the heterosexuals too. This dimension elevates the novel out a ghettoized gay-lib piece.Oh, the novel is gay-friendly in portraying "our world too." But usually more subtle than slick. Example: how does Russell portray gay people "coming out" in the novel? Not in the quick-step speed-up of some Coming Out novels. Rather, like in the reality world--namely slowly; with clues and hints, some seen, some missed, some denied; with new insights into earlier events; with backstepping reversals. Complex and true--like life. Ditto for Russell's involuntarily-rich portrayal of internalized homophobia, and people resisting, resisting the beast within. (Early the novel is imbued with such Thomas-Mann type repression. Is the very end of the book melodramatic and politicalized--or a continuation of history and change? You will decide.)(2) Aesthetic Artistry too. Russell can construct a solid novel. Structure? Skilled writers depict chaos within the frame of order, form, structure. (Or, they used to...) Here, the central "storm" analogy is unifying but not overdone, and the lesser echoes foreshadow and reminisce nicely. Narration? Russell excels at oblique narration carrying a character's thoughts which s/he believes are true, but which we the reader can easily question--the "unreliable narrator." Story-line? Russell installs sheer page-turning conflict, action, suspense--even the "progression of effect" whereby near the end, the sub-plots speed up and intertwine madly.P.S. on pederasty. Some readers may raise eyebrows at the "under-age" sexuality. Others may sense a quiet tract in favor of consenting adult-youth (not pre-pubertal) relations. "Whatever..."THE COMING STORM reminds me of (in gay novels) Mark Merlis' craftily-wrought AMERICAN STUDIES, but with more scope-and-depth. If your tastes accord with mine as described above, put this novel on your nightstand. It may go farther onto the "keepers" shelf.....

a beautiful treatis on contemporary gay life

The Coming Storm is a beautifully written quartet of differing voices each encompassing the different ages of gay life. This is a remarkably eloquent and stunningly realised fourth novel from gay writer Paul Russell. From the outset I was totally captivated by the lives of the four main characters - older, stoic, repressed Louis Trempor, his loyal, forthright, compassionate wife Claire, the self confident spohisticated gay grade school teacher Tracy Parker and the naive and emotionally troubled school boy Noah Lathrop whose sexual awakening and subsequent illicit relationship with Tracy provides the stormy catalyst.Russell has a remarkable ear for dialogue and a gifted capacity fo creating contemporary , believable and compassionate characters. Characters who at different stages in the novel are forced to deal with their inner conflicts and emotional demons. Russell also paints a beautiful portrait of quiet, sleepy upstate New York and juxstaposes this effectively with the urban, hip life of gay Manhattan. The issues of the novel are also its strength - friendship, honesty, companionship, and the beauty and honesty of romantic relationships that can mark the "rite of passage" between older gay guys and younger teenage men. Relationships that are made all the more volatile by the societal restrictions and pressures which are placed upon them.At times funny, sexually frank and brutally honest. The Coming Storm is a "must" read for anyone who is interested in reading a portrait of the gay generations. Paul Russell has written yet another lyrical, edgy, sexy and fine work. I can't wait for his next one!