In Tongues

Thomas Grattan
Completed 10/1/2025, Reviewed 10/3/2025
4 stars

This is my first non-genre read in a while.  I got it on sale because it was a RuPaul book club selection.  Then I found out it was nominated for a 2025 Lammy for Gay Novel.  My expectations rose.  Well, I finally read it and yes, it’s a very good book.  However, the protagonist is not very likeable.  He’s a young, self-centered gay man from a very unsupportive family and a recent breakup who leaves Minnesota to start anew in New York City.  It’s an interesting perspective; I have not read much fiction where the main character is annoying, whether gay or straight.  So I had to work at being open-minded, getting through this finely written novel with a strong character arc navigating through sex, love, classism, and ageism.

Gordon is twenty-four in 2001, freshly landed from the upper Midwest.  With a job at a lousy grocery store, he shares an apartment with a cool lesbian bartender.  When he leaves the job, her girlfriend gets him work walking the dogs of Manhattan’s upper crust.  One job is for an A-list, art gallery owning gay couple, Phillip and Nicola.  Gordon gets closer to the couple as they ask him to help host a dinner party, dog and apartment sit, and be a personal assistant.  Soon, the lines blur between employee, friend, and lover, getting Gordon into trouble with most of the people around him.  He travels to Europe with Phillip right before 9/11, then later to Mexico City to follow an artist with whom he has a brief but passionate affair.  In the meantime, he alienates his closest friend, the bartender, and hunts the parks and piers for quick hookups and false connection.  

The best thing about Gordon is that he does learn about life, relationships, and himself through the course of the book.  But it’s not an easy road for him.  He uses sarcasm and dry humor as a defense mechanism which is obviously off-putting.  He sleeps with just about anyone at the drop of a hat, lacking any discernment or control.  The A-list couple are an odd pair.  Phillip is quite a bit older than Nicola and its clear things are rocky between them.  They both show kindness toward Gordon, particularly Phillip.  When Nicola and Gordon have a quick tryst, things become tense between them.  However, Gordon maintains a warm fascination toward Phillip despite taking advantage of his kindness.

It was hard to read about Gordon’s youthful indiscretions, manipulations, and spitefulness as a senior remembering my own raucous youth.  I also have quite the aversion toward A-gay culture, full of nasty shade, snobbery, and disdain.  Phillip and Nicola’s parties reminded me of two I attended.  Around 1984, I went to one in jeans and a T-shirt, like most young guys my age, only to find all the fifty or so clone boys wearing almost the exact same chinos, button-down collar shirts, and topsiders.  At another party, around 1992, I wore a nice flannel and jeans, but all the gays that showed up were again in chinos, button-down collar shirts, and topsiders.  To be fair, a few had designer polo shirts LOL.  At both, I was mostly ignored.  Having had those experiences, I found old buttons pushed in many scenes.  

However, Gordon does mature from his youthful arrogance, slowly, but eventually, as one would hope in a coming-of-age novel.  And the end is heartfelt.  I give this book four stars out of five.  The characters are written so well with great arcs.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had such strong reactions to their choices and consequences.  This book reminded me about how much I liked slice of life novels.  I don’t know if I’d pick this as a winner for the Lammy, but it certainly deserved to be nominated.