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4.0 out of 5 stars
A must-read for fans of gossip and gay literature, 23 Nov 1998
By A Customer
Having torn through "Boy Culture" at an astonishing pace -- I finished it in about a day, something I only do with books I've thoroughly enjoyed -- I'd been eagerly looking forward to reading "Blind Items." (The fact that I'm a gossip aficionado also spurred my interest.) I wasn't disappointed.The protagonist in the book, jaded Manhattanite writer David Greer, hits the jackpot when he runs into TV & movie star Alan Dillinger (who's kind of like a more-famous version of "Baywatch" stud David Chokachi) and strikes his fancy. Living out a dream -- what would it be like to screw somebody famous? -- shared by millions of other gay men, Greer gets romantically involved with Dillinger and finds that he's intelligent, sensitive, and well as "deep" underneath his bleached-hair, buffed-bod Ken doll "himbo" exterior. Interspersed throughout the book are blind items (salacious but anonymous gossip items about celebs) that may or may not have an element of real-life truth to them. Being a gossip expert myself, I recognized about half of the BIs, but most of them are cryptic enough to make their subjects hazy. (The author, incidentally, presents all of the blind items as fictional.) My sole criticism of the book would be in regards to its John Dewey portions, which consume about half of it. The voice in the book changes dramatically as Rettenmund takes a Scott Heim-esque turn and writes from the perspective of an abused and terminally unpopular teenager. The transition effect is often quite jarring. Plus, Rettenmund seems more in his element writing as a catty, proud-to-be-out New Yorker. Still, the Dewey portion of the story does pick up a considerable amount of steam towards the end. Even given its flaws, I wholeheartedly recommend the book for gossip mavens and gay lit fans everywhere.
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