Tim and Pete

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

``I'm bored with straight people,'' narrator Tim remarks about midway through this L.A.-based, Two for the Freeway odyssey, by which point readers may have begun to note that homosexuals, at least these homosexuals, aren't exactly a barrel of laughs either. The eponymous duo, ex-boyfriends, reunite in a chance encounter and spend a night rehashing their experiences and revisiting former haunts: with their indistinct personalities and ambivalent feelings, it's hard to tell if these guys are friend or faux. Incessant references to the music industry--and abundant inclusion of bad song lyrics--grow tiresome, while pop culture allusions abound, and celebrity names drop fast and furiously. The narrative is not sufficiently funny or barbed to qualify as satire, and its frequent excesses preclude a more serious reading. Amid all their talk of--and occasional indulgence in--sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, characters mouth platitudes and earnest messages. The lack of action is somewhat redeemed in the book's final third, in which an exuberant activist/terrorist kidnaps Tim and Pete while perfecting his explosive technique. This energy, however, is an unfortunate case of too little, too late. (Apr.)

Library Journal

This is a deliciously subversive novel designed to raise the hackles of moral majority types while offering satiric expression to the revenge fantasies of many a gay male. It involves the reconciliation of two ex-lovers, a harried 24-hour road trip through the streets of Los Angeles and the memories of 20 years (from tea rooms to bath houses to AIDS), and the anger that is sure to build among those without hope. The anger is reflected in a plot by four HIV-positive anarchists to assassinate ex-President Reagan by blowing him up during a church service. When Tim and Pete stumble onto the plot, they convince the assassins to choose a new target: a meeting of the American Family Foundation, where, they argue, there would be fewer ``innocent'' victims. Undoubtedly, there will be those who see this book as ``dangerous,'' but that is nonsense. It is instead an example of the use of fantasy to release pent-up anger and make a point. Sure to be popular with ``subversive'' elements of the gay and straight communities alike, it is recommended especially for sophisticated collections.-- David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.