Armistead Maupin: The Night Listener

Bantam Press $34.95

Review John McCrystal*

Whether because of squeamishness on the part of the straight reader, or because of the tendency of gay writers to put more energy into the candid depiction of gay sex than the intricacies of plot and character development, to attach the label "gay novel" to a book is to ghettoise it.

Armistead Maupin is a seasoned writer. Accordingly, The Night Listener displays as deft a control of character and plot development as you're likely to see.

Gabriel Noone is a fiction writer of modest note, best known for his late-night radio series, Noone at Night. His celebrity means that he is sought out by publishers to provide puffs for new books. One day, Gabriel receives a manuscript purportedly written by a 13-year-old boy, who has requested Noone's endorsement, presumably because it is well-known that Noone is gay, with a partner who is dying of Aids.

In fact, Gabriel's partner, Jess, has just moved out, his condition having stabilised If Gabriel thought his life was in turmoil before reading the manuscript, it is positively turned upside down by the time he's finished.

The manuscript contains its young author's memoirs, an horrific story of sexual slavery at the hands of his abusive parents, called The Blacking Factory (the title a reference to Charles Dickens' miserable childhood).

Noone is moved to contact Pete, the author, and strikes up a long-distance telephone relationship with both him and his adoptive mother, Donna.

Complications set in. Not only does the reader begin to wonder about Noone's motives (Noone himself has warned that he is a fabulist by trade and not to be trusted) but the suspicion that Donna and Pete may be the same person creeps in.

Meanwhile, Gabriel is dealing with his other relationships - with Jess, and with his mildly estranged father.

The cleverest part about this book is that while it begins as a psychological thriller, and keeps you turning the pages in this guise, as it proceeds the emphasis subtly shifts, until it is Gabriel's more mundane relationships rather than the mystery of Pete's identity which occupy centre-stage.

Ultimately, The Night Listener is about a gay writer who deals through fiction with the conflicts in his life.

It's a clever book which has you put down, without a trace of disappointment, an altogether different story to the one you began.The Night Listener deserves a wider readership than it is likely to attract.

* John McCrystal is an Auckland freelance writer.