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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
Amazing. I found myself immediately Immersed in the writing and simply couldn’t put the book down; I even dreamed of reading the book as well from how good it was.
- perspective of gay culture from the view of males, through the eyes of a member of the community rather than someone just trying to analyze it
- very human, phenomenal prose
- shockingly real to the point where i had to gasp a few times - but that's the beauty of it
- dirty, gritty, down-to-earth
- made me both rethink my identity and be more confident in it
- blurred the borders between gender, sexuality, misogyny, and conformity
- some favorite quotes too long to write in my book:
- "'Instead,' as Ben Walters has written, 'the gloves seemed like a perfect symbol of oppressive marginalization, speaking to a deep seated abhorrence of queer bodies.' He adds: 'But they also had tremendous camp value, looking rather prissy in themselves and being just a dash of poetic license away from the rubber gloves used for washing up - a classic accessory of feminized domesticity.'" (pg. 26)
- "At The Bar, masculinity had been twisted into something perverted, yet still functioned to banish effeminacy. We were now self-policing - and frankly that contributed to the arousal. But I for one was pleased to see those high heels slip through." (pg. 8)
- "Gay is an identity of longing, and there is a wistfulness to beholding it in the form of a building, like how the sight of a theater stirs the imagination." (pg. 13)
- very human, phenomenal prose
- shockingly real to the point where i had to gasp a few times - but that's the beauty of it
- dirty, gritty, down-to-earth
- made me both rethink my identity and be more confident in it
- blurred the borders between gender, sexuality, misogyny, and conformity
- some favorite quotes too long to write in my book:
- "'Instead,' as Ben Walters has written, 'the gloves seemed like a perfect symbol of oppressive marginalization, speaking to a deep seated abhorrence of queer bodies.' He adds: 'But they also had tremendous camp value, looking rather prissy in themselves and being just a dash of poetic license away from the rubber gloves used for washing up - a classic accessory of feminized domesticity.'" (pg. 26)
- "At The Bar, masculinity had been twisted into something perverted, yet still functioned to banish effeminacy. We were now self-policing - and frankly that contributed to the arousal. But I for one was pleased to see those high heels slip through." (pg. 8)
- "Gay is an identity of longing, and there is a wistfulness to beholding it in the form of a building, like how the sight of a theater stirs the imagination." (pg. 13)
Literally no one:
Jeremy Atherton Lin at the club: "I annoyed myself thinking of Theodor Adorno's 1944 Marxist treatise 'Amusement under late capitalism is the prolongation of work.'
This kind of pretentious observation occurred numerous times in Gay Bar and it really took me out of both his travelogue sections and some of the more interesting philosophical hypothesizing that he does about the place of the gay bar in today's age. I'm echoing other reviewers in saying that I don't think this book knows what it wants to be but it was still thought provoking enough and provided a glimpse into something to which I know little about that kept me reading to the end.
2.5 stars.
Jeremy Atherton Lin at the club: "I annoyed myself thinking of Theodor Adorno's 1944 Marxist treatise 'Amusement under late capitalism is the prolongation of work.'
This kind of pretentious observation occurred numerous times in Gay Bar and it really took me out of both his travelogue sections and some of the more interesting philosophical hypothesizing that he does about the place of the gay bar in today's age. I'm echoing other reviewers in saying that I don't think this book knows what it wants to be but it was still thought provoking enough and provided a glimpse into something to which I know little about that kept me reading to the end.
2.5 stars.
adventurous
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Loving the story about Princess Diana visiting gay bars.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
His vocabulary is so impressive. This book makes me want to write!
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
One of the most interesting portrayals of queer history and queer coming of age. Atherton Lin takes you on a journey through the dance floors and cruising rooms of queer space and queer history. I was moved and even found myself getting emotional at certain points due to the fact that so many of these spaces no longer exist in their purest form. This is a must read for the younger queer generation; it’s important that they learn their history and understand the roots of queer culture as they know it today.
slow-paced