BetterMost, Wyoming & Brokeback Mountain Forum

The World Beyond BetterMost => The Culture Tent => Topic started by: Kd5000 on August 28, 2007, 04:30:40 pm

Title: I just finished reading FELLOW TRAVELLERS.
Post by: Kd5000 on August 28, 2007, 04:30:40 pm
Has anybody else read this book?  The book is a new release.  It takes place in Washington DC in the 1950's and the main characters are working at high levels in the federal govt.   There are some similarities with BBM in that one character (TIM) dreams of having a life together and even manages to say I LOVE you while the other one (HAWKINS)  is unwilling or unable to committ. He's too "married" to his career and worries about the consequences.  He never states that he loves  TIM and I really don't know how much he was using the other guy for sexual gratification and how much he really enjoyed the company.

Be warned.  The ending is quite sad, like BBM.  And it's stayed with me, like BBM.  The book does a good job of capturing what it must have been like to be living in Washington DC in the 1950's.     I recommend it and I don't read alot of fiction. It was a quick read.  It's gotten good review in the NYTIMES as that's where I first heard about it.   They won't be turning this into a film. Well, they'd have to get alot of actors to play many of the big politicos which appear in the book (Roy Cohn, Nixon, McCarthy, etc).  One thing I found especially memorable is when one of the characters, (who is being interrogated to see if he's a homosexual) is asked to read a passage from a novel to see if there will be some sort of facial expression, voice modulation which will give him away.  The passage is so ludicrous.  Did they really make ppl in the State Dept do such thing? 

Here's the link if you want more details.

http://www.amazon.com/Fellow-Travelers-Novel-Thomas-Mallon/dp/0375423486/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-0718695-7505726?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188332148&sr=8-1
Title: Re: I just finished reading FELLOW TRAVELLERS.
Post by: Wishes on August 30, 2007, 02:55:53 pm
Thanks for the info. This book sounds very interesting and a subject I really know nothing about. So it should be a good read. I just added it to my Amazon cart for my next order.
Title: Re: I just finished reading FELLOW TRAVELLERS.
Post by: Shakesthecoffecan on August 31, 2007, 01:59:01 pm
Friend, what queerfolk in the US government were subjected to in those days was unbelieable. I have read first hand acounts of witch hunts, known of people forced to resign because their name was found in an address book of someone arrested for "lewd conduct". In one case I know of a weather bureau official who committed suicide in his office rather than face the scandal of being dismissed. He was the only support of his widowed mother.

In more recent times I have a friend who works for the US govt. who was one of the first openly gay men to get a security clearance. It took 24 months and they accused him of everything. They told him he would be the target of blackmail. His responce was "How? Everyone knows I'm gay, its no secret!"

I'll check and see if my library has this one.