City of Night, John Rechy
City of Night, John Rechy
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

City of Night

Author: John Rechy

Narrator: Paul Boehmer

Unabridged: 17 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/14/2017

Categories: Fiction, Lgbtq+

Synopsis

When John Rechy's explosive first novel appeared in 1963, it marked a radical departure in fiction, and gave voice to a subculture that had never before been revealed with such acuity. It earned comparisons to Genet and Kerouac, even as Rechy was personally attacked by scandalized reviewers. Nevertheless, the book became an international bestseller, and fifty years later, it has become a classic. Bold and inventive in style, Rechy is unflinching in his portrayal of one hustling "youngman" and his search for self-knowledge within the neon-lit world of hustlers, drag queens, and the denizens of their world, as he moves from El Paso to Times Square, from Pershing Square to the French Quarter. Rechy's portrait of the edges of America has lost none of its power to move and exhilarate.

About John Rechy

John Rechy is the author of seventeen books, including City of Night, the New York Times bestseller Numbers, and the Los Angeles Times bestsellers Rushes and The Coming of the Night. He has received many awards, including PEN Center USA's Lifetime Achievement Award, the William Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Luis Leal award for Distinguished Achievement in Chicano/Latino Literature, and the Lifetime-Recognition Award from the University of California at Riverside. The author lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Richard on November 28, 2013

I just saw in the NYTimes that Grove is putting out the 50th anniversary edition - my heart stopped for just a second, and even as I'm writing this my stomach has that forbidden fruit feeling of something thrilling and frightening this way coming. (It's the same feeling I got well into my adult year......more

Goodreads review by Kinga on April 13, 2020

I stumbled upon this gay cult classic accidentally and went into it without knowing its status or significance. Though, the latter became apparent as I read. Published in 1963, it’s a picture of the underground gay culture pre-Stonewall, filled with excellent sociological observation and a cast of c......more

Goodreads review by Hux on June 13, 2024

If someone told me they were writing a novel about the seedy underbelly of 1950s American life, the pimps and whores, the drugs and drag queens, the nihilism and cynicism of the post war era, and they asked me to come up with a title for that novel. I'd probably think of something really cliched lik......more

Goodreads review by ALLEN on August 25, 2018

CITY OF NIGHT is what you get when you cross headlong, Beat Generation writing with a young man's emerging sense of self as gay -- and it's a shocking and wonderful meld indeed. This 1963 novel stunned readers when it first appeared: the narrator whose father's friends demanded he "give them a thous......more

Goodreads review by Kerry on December 11, 2009

I gave it four stars... so you know I enjoyed it. But that doesn't mean I don't have a song and dance to tell you about it now. Let's commence shaking tailfeathers on this, but only one apiece. I don't want any injuries. Now, let's... talk... GRAMMAR. It's a freaking important part of our language.......more

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List