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 Blue Sky Adam
Adam is one lucky homosexual. At 22, he’s secure about his sexuality, has a posse of fuck buddies his own age, and is about to embark on a career as a professional cellist. Then he inherits a house and vineyard in the south of France from an old Frenchman he barely knew but had visited throughout a terminal illness. Blue Sky Adam is Anthony McDonald’s second book about Adam, and the title sums up the themes of the book: a young man abruptly presented with possibilities, standing on the threshold of adult life. As Adam moves from his life in England to his new property, Le Grand Moulin de Pressac, we learn about his past, about Sylvain, an older man who seduced a much younger Adam. But while his backstory slowly catches up with him, Adam is preoccupied with his new lover, Stéphane, the young son of his neighbours. Stéphane is in the closet – his parents are gruffly-conservative – but that doesn’t stop the two lads screwing like lapins. Sometimes McDonald’s characters behave a little like characters in an Arthur Ransome book – Swallows and Amazons, but with boy on boy action. Lots of white jets spitting into summer sunshine. It’s a world simultaneously wholesome and sexy, ultimately a charming combination. Even if it reads like a novel for young adults at times, more than once the male reader will be tempted to put himself into Adam’s shoes – a life of blue skies, sex with hot, French boys and your very own vineyard. Blue Sky Adam by Anthony McDonald. BIGfib Books, 2009. Available from Hares & Hyenas, 63 Johnston St, Fitzroy. Rrp $29.95.
 Mental
Mental: Funny in the Head is a surprisingly warm, humorous collection of short stories from American stand-up Eddie Sarfaty. “Not another trifle from a ‘writer’ who can’t get his head around a full-length novel!” I hear you scream. But Sarfaty surprises. ‘Second-guessing Grandma’ starts out traditionally enough – a sketch on how his Jewish grandma took the news of his sexuality. ‘Helter Shelter’, a cautionary tale about adopting a stray cat from a dodgy shelter with ‘relationship contracts’ takes us into Santaland Diaries territory, shifting from kitsch to cruel in a New York minute. ‘My Tale of Two Cities’, however, hints that Sarfaty may have more up his sleeve than sly wit and a satirist’s eye for vanities. It’s about his father’s descent into dementia during a trip to Paris and London. Mother and son shunt Sarfaty Snr from Louvre to Tower, with little indication that he even knows what city he’s in. In London, hoping to attend cutting-edge theatre productions of Ibsen and Shakespeare, Sarfaty is forced to see The Buddy Holly Story by his mother. But during the musical something miraculous happens, and Sarfaty’s handling of this revelation is poignant and emotionally compelling. ‘The Eton Club’ takes us behind the doors of a New York club for cravat-wearing old queens, a world of pot-bellied ex-lawyers and 50-year-old showboys drinking from four to four in an atmosphere shrill with camp desperation. But, as Edmund White puts it in his ‘praise’ for Mental, Sarfaty “is never cruel – only as cruel as life itself.” Here’s hoping Sarfaty does eventually get his head around a novel-length tale, it’ll be a welcome addition to gay fiction. Mental: Funny in the Head by Eddie Sarfaty. Kensington Books, 2009. Rrp. $25.50.
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Winter Reading
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