Boys of Life

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 29 JUL 1991

As this compelling novel opens, Tony Blair, ex-cult film star, is in prison for murder. How he got there is the puzzle that drives this powrful coming-of-age story, a tragedy about an emotionally battered gay youth with appeal that easily extend beyond a gay readership. At 16, callow Tony is plucked from a Kentucky trailer by arty filmmaker Carlos Reichart, who seduces him, brings him to New York as his live-in lover and casts him in a series of homoerotic, increasingly violent and sadomasochistic films. As Tony, now 26, recalls the past decade, we learn how he enlisted runaway boys for Carlos's sexually explicit movies, and how he broke free of Carlos's destructive grip by marrying a rock singer, Monica, and moving to Memphis. The electrifying climax which sends Tony to jail comes as a surprise. Russell ( The Salt Point ) has crafted a timely, involving tale that explores the outer limits of gay sexuality and the point at which art or artiness slides into exploitation.