A review by psalmcat
The Night Listener by Armistead Maupin

5.0

A real surprise! I thought that because he's so acclaimed, this could be tortuous, but it's very good. The plot is somewhat contrived, but the sketch is that this very badly abused & dying teen has written a book about his life that gets to an idol of his who happens to be (like Maupin) a writer & star of an NPR series. They talk by phone, bond, and then the Maupin character's friends begin to question whether this kid actually exists. The ending leaves it ambiguous and back at the beginning of the book. Really good--and takes place partly in Wisconsin!