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A review by ndizz87
The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren
3.0
So I’m not quite sure how I actually found this book. I think I was just surfing Goodreads and stumbled across it. It’s little blurb had something about it being the first best-seller Queer novel ever. So, naturally, that piqued my interest. I had bought it some time ago and while persuing my bookshelf, stumbled upon it and gave it a chance. It was a serviceable book that delves into the struggles of being gay in the 1970s. However, it bleeds melodrama in a plot not particularly that exciting with an ending that is both odd and farcical.
We begin with Harlan Brown, a man on the verge of his forties. He coaches track at a small, private college called Prescott which is insanely liberal. They don’t do grades, it’s strictly pass/fail. They hire their students as faculty. They create programs out of thin air. The campus is the founder’s home he converts due to his wealth. It’s all a little too good to be true. Harlan is a hardened, closeted gay man. He comes from the marines, had an up and coming coaching career which was shattered after a student lied to the Penn State administration about Harlan making an advance on him. Naturally, he is fired. His wife and children leave him. After the Penn State debacle, he heads to New York where he quickly becomes a prostitute of sorts (he admits to getting $200 to whip his clients). However, it’s mentioned and stressed several times that he was a really good prostitute and a high-priced one. Good for him?
After spending some time in New York (purgatory), he is tracked down by Joe Prescott, the founder of the liberal college to teach track. Joe doesn’t care about Harlan’s sexuality. He doesn’t care if he dates his students, provided they’re legal. And so, Harlan goes to teach athletics and coach track at Prescott college in relative peace and quiet for the next four years. That is, until three shaggy looking hippies land at his office door. They’re track runners who have been kicked out of their own college after their sexuality is discovered. Vince, Jacques, and Billy. They want to run and plead with Harlan to give them a chance. Harlan knows this could stir up quite a bit of trouble, but he’s impressed by their running and their records from their previous college.
Naturally, Harlan and one of the boys, Billy, fall in love. It’s definitely a different kind of love from what I’m used to reading about. Harlan is 40 by the middle of the novel. Billy is 22, I believe. Their age difference, while very interesting, doesn’t seem to play a huge factor in the novel which was a little disappointing. Other than the gossip mills making hay out of it, it doesn’t particularly factor into their relationship. Billy is an “old soul” for sure. He’s a buddhist vegetarian that will answer any question you ask honestly and bluntly. He wants to live openly and doesn’t want to hide. He also doesn’t want to seek out attention either. Billy is quite the interesting character. His father is also gay, a constitutional lawyer, and raised Billy on his own. This was a very intriguing idea, but it followed a pretty routine father/son relationship. There could have been a lot to explore there, but the novel’s focus is Harlan so it makes passing references only.
For most of the novel we delve into the Oregon three’s training and competitions as students of Prescott. Their glory gets more and more attention for the small school and soon Harlan and the Oregon three are making the rounds at various meets and ginning up the press. They expect to be found out, so they do their utmost to be above the board on all regulations and policies, lest the biggoted officials sideline the potential of these three very talented runners. I know more about track, how it works, a runner’s body, and the logistics of running an athletics program than I ever wanted to know. This really disengaged me and kept me from really being attached to the novel. I can’t really tell you all the exciting things that happen because they weren’t that exciting to me. I’m sure a runner reading this would say differently. The author tries to make the races stand out moments, but I found my eyes quickly passing over them. They go to Europe and on a few other excursions. That’s about it.
The novel begins to pick up when (surprise, surprise) Billy confesses his love for Harlan. There’s not much build up to it. It just happens and after a few pages their lovers. Billy’s talent has the potential to lead him all the way to the Olympics, but they must overcome discrimination and bigotry in order to do so. I found their relationship to be rushed, the rocky parts to be...well, not that rocky, and their ideas of a relationship to be somewhat conventional. Almost immediately, for Harlan, at least, it’s marriage or nothing. That’s a pretty interesting concept for the 1970s, but also a very conventional one by today’s standards. A little jealousy ensues, especially in regards to Billy’s friend Vince who would have been a really good plot point had he been used. He’s the rebellious, sexy character that could have given the novel a little more pizzazz, but instead he largely enters and exits quickly.
Billy shows his talent in spite of the hardlined track officials and begins getting publicity. Soon everyone knows about Harlan and Billy. They appear in the media and are sidelined every chance the track officials can get. The novel becomes Harlan and Billy hurtling over roadblocks for a bit in order to make it to the Montreal Olympics. By this point, both Harlan and Billy have settled into a rhythm of domesticity. Billy, Vince, and Jacques have graduated and are now faculty working in a newly developed gay studies program. When they’re not teaching, they’re competing in track meets. Slowly, both Vince and Jacques (who are lovers, but it’s not that interesting) leave racing.
Billy finds himself competing in the Montreal Olympics against all odds after getting “married” to Harlan. He gets a gold medal in the 10,000 and is attempting to get a gold medal in the 5,000 before being gunned down. The novel then takes a bizarre turn by Harlan using Billy’s frozen sperm to inseminate his best female friend in order to produce Billy’s baby. They had talked about having kids and finding a “fox” to have it (code for girl, I guess). Harlan inexplicably falls for Vince and the story ends there.
The writing isn’t particularly spectacular, but serviceable. The more graphic scenes are okay...I guess. I didn’t get giddy for the relationship to develop. I wasn’t feverishly turning the page to see how things evolve. In a few pages the relationship just “was”, and that was that. Not a whole lot of testing or ups/downs. The plot and its main source of inspiration were not inspirational to me. There were definitely some parts that have not aged well. Particularly, Harlan’s toxic masculinity, his views on trasgender people, and a few phrases here and there regarding feminism and racism. There is an extremely bizarre part where a friend keeps a gang-raped 16 year old who he rescues on heroin to dull the pain of his previous life. I still can’t wrap my head around that part.
The ending was the hardest part for me to accept. I mean, there is a lot to unpack there, but the author chooses not to go too far into, what for me, is a vastly more interesting area. Instead, she sticks to the logistics of track and the political and bigotted nature of the organizing bodies. I mean, he literally takes his dead “husband's” sperm, impregnates his bestie, and then they live together raising that child. Then, out of absolutely nowhere, the novel (which hasn’t hinted at any romantic interest whatsoever) suggests that Harlan and Vince have always loved each other. It’s like Harlan is trying to replace Billy any way he can. Through a baby and through his friend, Vince. It’s weird. Lot’s to unpack there, but alas, it doesn’t go that far.
I see the novel’s merits. Maybe if it had been on a subject that I’m interested in I would have cared more. However, the relationships are melodramatic and flatlined. I was more interested in Billy’s perspective, but we’re in Harlan’s head which isn’t a very interesting place to be. There’s more track in his book than there is gay romance. Like I said, serviceable. There’s a sequel, but I’m hesitant to revisit.
We begin with Harlan Brown, a man on the verge of his forties. He coaches track at a small, private college called Prescott which is insanely liberal. They don’t do grades, it’s strictly pass/fail. They hire their students as faculty. They create programs out of thin air. The campus is the founder’s home he converts due to his wealth. It’s all a little too good to be true. Harlan is a hardened, closeted gay man. He comes from the marines, had an up and coming coaching career which was shattered after a student lied to the Penn State administration about Harlan making an advance on him. Naturally, he is fired. His wife and children leave him. After the Penn State debacle, he heads to New York where he quickly becomes a prostitute of sorts (he admits to getting $200 to whip his clients). However, it’s mentioned and stressed several times that he was a really good prostitute and a high-priced one. Good for him?
After spending some time in New York (purgatory), he is tracked down by Joe Prescott, the founder of the liberal college to teach track. Joe doesn’t care about Harlan’s sexuality. He doesn’t care if he dates his students, provided they’re legal. And so, Harlan goes to teach athletics and coach track at Prescott college in relative peace and quiet for the next four years. That is, until three shaggy looking hippies land at his office door. They’re track runners who have been kicked out of their own college after their sexuality is discovered. Vince, Jacques, and Billy. They want to run and plead with Harlan to give them a chance. Harlan knows this could stir up quite a bit of trouble, but he’s impressed by their running and their records from their previous college.
Naturally, Harlan and one of the boys, Billy, fall in love. It’s definitely a different kind of love from what I’m used to reading about. Harlan is 40 by the middle of the novel. Billy is 22, I believe. Their age difference, while very interesting, doesn’t seem to play a huge factor in the novel which was a little disappointing. Other than the gossip mills making hay out of it, it doesn’t particularly factor into their relationship. Billy is an “old soul” for sure. He’s a buddhist vegetarian that will answer any question you ask honestly and bluntly. He wants to live openly and doesn’t want to hide. He also doesn’t want to seek out attention either. Billy is quite the interesting character. His father is also gay, a constitutional lawyer, and raised Billy on his own. This was a very intriguing idea, but it followed a pretty routine father/son relationship. There could have been a lot to explore there, but the novel’s focus is Harlan so it makes passing references only.
For most of the novel we delve into the Oregon three’s training and competitions as students of Prescott. Their glory gets more and more attention for the small school and soon Harlan and the Oregon three are making the rounds at various meets and ginning up the press. They expect to be found out, so they do their utmost to be above the board on all regulations and policies, lest the biggoted officials sideline the potential of these three very talented runners. I know more about track, how it works, a runner’s body, and the logistics of running an athletics program than I ever wanted to know. This really disengaged me and kept me from really being attached to the novel. I can’t really tell you all the exciting things that happen because they weren’t that exciting to me. I’m sure a runner reading this would say differently. The author tries to make the races stand out moments, but I found my eyes quickly passing over them. They go to Europe and on a few other excursions. That’s about it.
The novel begins to pick up when (surprise, surprise) Billy confesses his love for Harlan. There’s not much build up to it. It just happens and after a few pages their lovers. Billy’s talent has the potential to lead him all the way to the Olympics, but they must overcome discrimination and bigotry in order to do so. I found their relationship to be rushed, the rocky parts to be...well, not that rocky, and their ideas of a relationship to be somewhat conventional. Almost immediately, for Harlan, at least, it’s marriage or nothing. That’s a pretty interesting concept for the 1970s, but also a very conventional one by today’s standards. A little jealousy ensues, especially in regards to Billy’s friend Vince who would have been a really good plot point had he been used. He’s the rebellious, sexy character that could have given the novel a little more pizzazz, but instead he largely enters and exits quickly.
Billy shows his talent in spite of the hardlined track officials and begins getting publicity. Soon everyone knows about Harlan and Billy. They appear in the media and are sidelined every chance the track officials can get. The novel becomes Harlan and Billy hurtling over roadblocks for a bit in order to make it to the Montreal Olympics. By this point, both Harlan and Billy have settled into a rhythm of domesticity. Billy, Vince, and Jacques have graduated and are now faculty working in a newly developed gay studies program. When they’re not teaching, they’re competing in track meets. Slowly, both Vince and Jacques (who are lovers, but it’s not that interesting) leave racing.
Billy finds himself competing in the Montreal Olympics against all odds after getting “married” to Harlan. He gets a gold medal in the 10,000 and is attempting to get a gold medal in the 5,000 before being gunned down. The novel then takes a bizarre turn by Harlan using Billy’s frozen sperm to inseminate his best female friend in order to produce Billy’s baby. They had talked about having kids and finding a “fox” to have it (code for girl, I guess). Harlan inexplicably falls for Vince and the story ends there.
The writing isn’t particularly spectacular, but serviceable. The more graphic scenes are okay...I guess. I didn’t get giddy for the relationship to develop. I wasn’t feverishly turning the page to see how things evolve. In a few pages the relationship just “was”, and that was that. Not a whole lot of testing or ups/downs. The plot and its main source of inspiration were not inspirational to me. There were definitely some parts that have not aged well. Particularly, Harlan’s toxic masculinity, his views on trasgender people, and a few phrases here and there regarding feminism and racism. There is an extremely bizarre part where a friend keeps a gang-raped 16 year old who he rescues on heroin to dull the pain of his previous life. I still can’t wrap my head around that part.
The ending was the hardest part for me to accept. I mean, there is a lot to unpack there, but the author chooses not to go too far into, what for me, is a vastly more interesting area. Instead, she sticks to the logistics of track and the political and bigotted nature of the organizing bodies. I mean, he literally takes his dead “husband's” sperm, impregnates his bestie, and then they live together raising that child. Then, out of absolutely nowhere, the novel (which hasn’t hinted at any romantic interest whatsoever) suggests that Harlan and Vince have always loved each other. It’s like Harlan is trying to replace Billy any way he can. Through a baby and through his friend, Vince. It’s weird. Lot’s to unpack there, but alas, it doesn’t go that far.
I see the novel’s merits. Maybe if it had been on a subject that I’m interested in I would have cared more. However, the relationships are melodramatic and flatlined. I was more interested in Billy’s perspective, but we’re in Harlan’s head which isn’t a very interesting place to be. There’s more track in his book than there is gay romance. Like I said, serviceable. There’s a sequel, but I’m hesitant to revisit.