The Winter of Our Discotheque

by Andrew W.M. Beierle

Book Overview

This sexy debut novel combines high style and high camp as it transports the alluring Tony Alexamenos out of the closet and into the fire, as he sheds his grease-stained mechanic's jumpsuit to take... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0758201419
• ISBN13: 9780758201416
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Length: 392 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

TIME FOR A SEQUEL!

Many times gay writers who fancy themselves "brutally honest" in their observations of gay male life are really just annoyingly bitter. Not Beierle. He reports factual observations with just the right touch. Enough seasoning to be tasty but not too much to make the reader gag. I enjoyed this book immensely and thought the characters were richly painted, all deeply flawed, but likable -- the type I would want as friends. (except Devlin and we all know at least one person just like him). Another great aspect of this book is that it is set in the seventies, but a different portrait of the seventies than is usually presented. Okay, Andrew, where's the sequel?

Wonderful read

I stumbled on this book by accident, and was pleasantly surprised. This was truly a great read, and I am looking forward to another by this author.

Something to wake up for

I brought "Winter" on vacation with me because I loved the title so much, and I was captured immediately by the beautifully written first line. Although I'm at a point in my life where I often fall asleep reading a few pages, this book kept me up until midnight--and I got up at 6 am the next morning to finish it! The story is well-paced, absorbing and evocative of the 70s; the characters are totally believable and sympathetic; and the subtle word play is witty and hilarious. Often when I read first novels I find myself getting sort of anxious on behalf of the novelist, but in this case I was completely confident that the author wouldn't betray my trust. I was rewarded with a great, satisfying read and the only thing I regret is that I no longer have the anticipation of discovering the pleasure this book gave me.

Smart, sexy, hilarious

Any novel that takes as its title an allusion to one of Shakespeare's most famous lines is making a promise to readers that may be impossible to keep, but this book delivers, admirably, on almost all counts. Intelligent and darkly funny, it is an engaging and fast-paced (sometimes breathlessly so) summer read that ultimately is far more satisfying than most books in its genre. At the heart of its well-developed, fully realized cast of characters are Tony Alexamenos, a young surfer whose beauty proves to be as much a curse as a blessing, and Dallas Eden, the obese, scheming, but ultimately benevolent Machiavelli, who is instantly besotted with him and transforms him from a grease monkey at his father's gas station into a pioneering superstar male model, though at considerable emotional cost. Tony's lovers include an aging child prodigy, a thoroughly evil athlete/dancer, and a married, disabled Vietnam veteran and father of twin boys. These characters drive the story until the last 100 or so pages, when the complex plot really kicks in and pulls the reader relentlessly forward to a terrifying climax and an ultimately poignant resolution.But there is more than just character and plot to this book. The author creates a world in which the reader can live and get lost in. The descriptions of Florida (where I live) and New York City locations are vivid and sensual (in that they arouse many senses, including sight, sound, even smell). The period detail (the 1970s) and the cultural context (references to such things as Patty Hearst's kidnapping, the Vietnam war, and the comatose Karen Ann Quinlan) seem accurate and well researched. (The icing on the cake is the cameo appearances of movie and TV stars from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, who are friends of Dallas, who is a comedian and B-movie star: among them Bob Hope, Barbara Billingsley (Beaver Cleaver's mom), and the entire cast of Gilligan's Island! There is a scene between Liberace and Sonny Bono you'll never forget.)There also are plenty of hot, hot men, and lots of romance and sex (though not really explicit stuff).If anything, this book may be a little too ambitious in its scope. It covers ten years, during which Tony is transformed from poor white trash to a wealthy and sophisticated male model. He also starts out naïve and ends up pretty worldly, maybe even jaded. Sometimes these transitions seem a little rushed, and there are a couple of places where the events of six months or a year are compressed into a sentence or two. The author gives us "road signs" to explain these things, and it's not really confusing, just a bit disconcerting at times. My advice to readers is to slow down and savor the details of plot and character. It may sound like a cliché, but this is one of those books I didn't want to end, even though, as I said, I raced to the finish to see how it turned out.

THE WINTER OF OUR DISCOTHEQUE=THE PERFECT BEACH READ

The cover of this book is what first grabbed my attention but what was between the cover is what really kept me glued to my chair. This was one of the best books I've read in a long time. In one word, this book is FUN! It doesn't take itself seriously and it provides a good time. I'm recommending WINTER to all my friends!