Review by Booklist Review
Fire Island is about 60 miles from Manhattan, a long and thin strip of land populated by various vacation communities, including Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines, which, Parlett writes, have a "rich queer history." An Englishman who moved to New York to do research for his PhD thesis on cruising, Parlett initially went to Fire Island to "commune with its ghosts," specifically that of poet Frank O'Hara, who tragically died there in a dune buggy accident in July 1966. Here Parlett examines the history of the island and how it came to be a gay haven. He notes that unmarried male and female New Yorkers have been going to Fire Island since at least the 1930s, along with bohemians and Broadway stars, but his focus is on the artists, writers, and activists who owned cottages, spent weekends, or merely passed through, including W. H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Patricia Highsmith, Edmund White, Larry Kramer, James Baldwin, and Maurice Sendak, who began writing Where the Wild Things Are on the island. A fine account of an important place in gay cultural history.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Literary theorist Parlett (The Poetics of Cruising) delivers an immersive history of Fire Island and the evolution of LGBTQ culture in 20th-century America. Documenting the island's Native American origins; the emergence of Cherry Grove and its neighboring community, Fire Island Pines, as refuges for those seeking to evade "the scrutiny of mainland morality"; and their development as increasingly risqué and sexually permissive vacation destinations in the latter half of the 20th century, Parlett excels at portraying literary odd couples who helped shape the culture of Fire Island. These include "gay patron saints" Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde (though Parlett admits there is "no real evidence" Wilde visited the island), writers Frank O'Hara and James Baldwin, and novelists Carson McCullers and Patricia Highsmith, who were part of Fire Island's "lesbian literati" in the 1950s and '60s. Parlett also does an admirable job illuminating how the Stonewall Riots, the emergence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, and other events affected the island's gay community, though his attempts to weave in autobiographical reflections are somewhat less effective. Still, this is a rich and rewarding study of Fire Island's vital role in LGBTQ history and culture. (June)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Parlett's (literary theory, Oxford Univ.; The Poetics of Cruising) literary history of Fire Island also uses memoir and social history to document gay and lesbian life and arts in the beach community on New York's Long Island. The literary side of Fire Island goes back to Walt Whitman, with an overwhelming cast of more recent luminaries (W. H. Auden, James Baldwin, Patricia Highsmith, Larry Kramer, Frank O'Hara). For some writers and artists, Fire Island was a place of respite and creativity; others just used it a quick getaway, and queer people discovered it to be a place of freedom. Long before Stonewall, Fire Island became a refuge from the threats to queer New Yorkers; its house parties, discos, and beach cruising made for a uniquely liberating experience. Parlett also notes the AIDS crisis's effect on Fire Island's culture. Among the most poetic and moving parts of this beautifully written book are Parlett's own memories of New York City, Fire Island, and his growth as a gay man. VERDICT Readers of all stripes will appreciate this fast-paced general interest title.--David Azzolina
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A vibrant social history of the iconic bastion of queer culture and leisure. Inspired by the work of poet Frank O'Hara, a frequent visitor to Fire Island who was tragically killed in a freakish accident there in 1966, Parlett first ventured to the island in 2017 while furthering his doctoral research on American poetry and cruising. His experiences during this visit, as a curious researcher who was also actively engaged in the gay party scene, serve as the launching point for this uniquely insightful and colorful cultural history. Parlett traces the extraordinary literary heritage of the island, including its earliest foundation, laid by Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde; midcentury luminaries (W.H. Auden, Tennessee Williams, Carson McCullers, Patricia Highsmith) and their booze-fueled escapades; and later, the more serious, politically charged influence of James Baldwin, who drew much-needed attention to the narrow Whiteness of the community. The hedonistic, sex-and-drug--laden tenor of the 1970s and '80s, portrayed in novels by Edmund White, Andrew Holleran, and others, was ravaged by the onslaught of the AIDS epidemic, which had an indelible, long-lasting impact on the island's literary and artistic culture. "Along with the many artists and writers lost to AIDS," writes Parlett, "came the loss of an engaged and informed audience; the readership that kept gay publishing afloat, and the wider sense of a community consuming and critiquing the work of its own luminaries and emerging voices." Throughout the book, the author smoothly interweaves an enlightened perspective of the island's influence and importance with candid appraisals of its shortcomings, especially related to cultural homogenization and the overwhelming Whiteness that has continued into the 21st century. "Fire Island feels like a case study of utopian imperfections," writes Parlett, "of the way norms become entrenched and inequalities perpetuated in a place defined by the fact that it is not, simply, for everyone." An illuminating, well-written history of a unique place. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
