Kelsey
From pages ~150-300, I had the recurring thought that I should not have read this book.
For one thing, I'm not the appropriate audience for it; I missed 8th grade U.S. history due to relocating from Florida to Georgia (a little besides the point, I know, but still relevant considering how much U.S. history knowledge Mallon expects the reader to have). One might consider me to be quite the idiot when it comes to ‘50s history in particular, and one could certainly say that I know nothing about what it's like to be a gay man in the ‘50s. Or at any point in time for that matter. For a second thing, I think I just found it boring (likely as a result of the aforementioned incompetence).
So having said that, I'll do my best to judge what I was able to understand. Starting with the writing. I thought the writing was quite good, especially when it came to the abundance of dialogue (which, to me, explains why this was turned into a Showtime series despite its dull, slow plot that to any normal person would not warrant 8 episodes). I'd consider reading another book by Mallon if it was based in a different time period and consisted of entirely different thematic elements. Honestly, if I wasn't so busy getting turned around by all the characters being referred to by both their first and last names interchangeably and at varying times, I might have even enjoyed the plot. Thematically, however, I'm hesitant to admit that it wasn't very appealing. Granted, like I said, I'm not the ideal audience for it... but all things considered, your two main characters are still white men in the ‘50s. Despite their quasi-secretive sexual orientation, they still had it pretty good compared to every other character in the book. All the women were secretaries looking to get married, and any mention of any people of color was derogatory and dismissive (as expected of the ‘50s, so I'm not blaming the author for accurately portraying character dynamics... jfyi). I just found it a little hard to sympathize with their plight. But, hey, at least it's self aware! A great line from Mary when responding to a white man asking her to keep him in the loop: “It amazes me that you believe somebody is going to come down the hall to tell me anything other than that the new file boxes I've ordered have come in.”
Great. Now, speaking of Mary... I am delighted to say that she was my favorite part about this whole book. All things considered, she could in some ways be considered the main character (many who have read the book may scoff at that, but I don't care what you think!). Toward the end, she has a revelation that in many ways sums up the whole conflict of the book (non-political conflict anyway): “She was an engine that couldn't turn over; the only state of mind she could fully embrace was hesitation, a conviction that to accept one man or life was to forfeit another.” I guess that takes me back to the good writing. The characters were lovely despite most of them being unlikable. And Mary, most of all, was an excellent character and acted as the glue that brought everything together - she also vocalized what it seemed like all the other men in the book couldn't: I'm unsure, and I'm scared.
Without Mary, the book is unreadable.
Anyways, I guess what I'm trying to say is... meh.
From pages ~150-300, I had the recurring thought that I should not have read this book.
For one thing, I'm not the appropriate audience for it; I missed 8th grade U.S. history due to relocating from Florida to Georgia (a little besides the point, I know, but still relevant considering how much U.S. history knowledge Mallon expects the reader to have). One might consider me to be quite the idiot when it comes to ‘50s history in particular, and one could certainly say that I know nothing about what it's like to be a gay man in the ‘50s. Or at any point in time for that matter. For a second thing, I think I just found it boring (likely as a result of the aforementioned incompetence).
So having said that, I'll do my best to judge what I was able to understand. Starting with the writing. I thought the writing was quite good, especially when it came to the abundance of dialogue (which, to me, explains why this was turned into a Showtime series despite its dull, slow plot that to any normal person would not warrant 8 episodes). I'd consider reading another book by Mallon if it was based in a different time period and consisted of entirely different thematic elements. Honestly, if I wasn't so busy getting turned around by all the characters being referred to by both their first and last names interchangeably and at varying times, I might have even enjoyed the plot. Thematically, however, I'm hesitant to admit that it wasn't very appealing. Granted, like I said, I'm not the ideal audience for it... but all things considered, your two main characters are still white men in the ‘50s. Despite their quasi-secretive sexual orientation, they still had it pretty good compared to every other character in the book. All the women were secretaries looking to get married, and any mention of any people of color was derogatory and dismissive (as expected of the ‘50s, so I'm not blaming the author for accurately portraying character dynamics... jfyi). I just found it a little hard to sympathize with their plight. But, hey, at least it's self aware! A great line from Mary when responding to a white man asking her to keep him in the loop: “It amazes me that you believe somebody is going to come down the hall to tell me anything other than that the new file boxes I've ordered have come in.”
Great. Now, speaking of Mary... I am delighted to say that she was my favorite part about this whole book. All things considered, she could in some ways be considered the main character (many who have read the book may scoff at that, but I don't care what you think!). Toward the end, she has a revelation that in many ways sums up the whole conflict of the book (non-political conflict anyway): “She was an engine that couldn't turn over; the only state of mind she could fully embrace was hesitation, a conviction that to accept one man or life was to forfeit another.” I guess that takes me back to the good writing. The characters were lovely despite most of them being unlikable. And Mary, most of all, was an excellent character and acted as the glue that brought everything together - she also vocalized what it seemed like all the other men in the book couldn't: I'm unsure, and I'm scared.
Without Mary, the book is unreadable.
Anyways, I guess what I'm trying to say is... meh.