I Am Not Raymond Wallace

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It reminds us how bad things were for LGBT+ people within living memory - and indeed continue to be in many countries around the world. The decision he makes will ricochet destructively through lives and decades until—in another time, another city; in Paris, 2003—Raymond’s son Joe finally meets Joey. This in no way makes me more likely to give the book a glowing review because when we used to sit together in school orchestra, he was quite annoying.

I strongly identified with the way that the internalised homophobia was portrayed and how it played out. There are some lovely major and minor characters - I particularly liked Dolores of the major characters and of the minor characters, Joshua (thrilled to be immortalised) and Sonia (70 but still sure of her sex appeal). Like so many men of his time and of his kind, Raymond faces a choice between conformity, courage and compartmentalisation. What continues for the rest of the 300 plus pages of this debut novel has got to be the most beautifully written account of a 21 year old mans 'Sexual Awakenings' as I have ever read. If you’re into romance stories, and believe in the power of love and how much it can change a person, I’d recommend you this book.When he stumbles upon a bar which fits Doty’s bill, Raymond meets Joey, handsome, self-assured and comfortable with himself, who takes him home. Raymond Wallace, a recent graduate of Cambridge of age 21, arrives in NYC in the summer of 1963 for a 3-month internship with the NY Times. Opening in 1963, it follows a Cambridge undergraduate, fresh out of college, who’s won a three-month bursary at The New York Times and meets the love of his life.

The rest of his life will be spent yearning for the love he found in New York, later writing about the pain of loss and repression. He soon discovers his elusive boss, Bukowski, is being covertly blackmailed by an estranged wife, and that he himself is to assist the straight-laced Doty on an article about the ‘explosion of overt homosexuality’ in the city. As my self a gay boy growing up in the early 60's and knowing it at the age of 6, I could relate to SO MUCH of what was going on in this book made this THE story that i will NEVER ever forget, nor will I forget Raymond Wallace. It wasn't what I was expecting, in terms of the method of story telling, being a story within a story, but I just loved it. This history cannot be forgotten by younger generations, just like forgetting that abortion was once illegal and resulted in many tragedies (oh yeah, that's changed hasn't it).Kenyon’s novel explores themes of sexual identity and intolerance with a tender compassion through two very different characters. being covertly blackmailed by an estranged wife, and that he himself is to assist the straight-laced Doty on an article about the ‘explosion of overt homosexuality’ in the city. Joey is the opposite, accepted by a father who doesn’t understand his son’s inclinations but adores him regardless, welcoming Raymond into his family. It’s shocking to remember that Raymond had come from a country four years away from decriminalising his sexuality, and, of course, it would be many more years before same sex relationships could be both celebrated and recognised in law. year old Raymond Wallace is going to Cambridge University and is sent to New York for a 3 month internship at the New York Times, and he has no idea that he is gay.

Delightfully chosen adjectives skilfully woven into a tale of hard choices in a difficult time, loss and being found.So begins a relationship which sees Raymond becoming part of a family very different from his own at home in Britain. I feel that if you enjoyed books like Lie with Me or Swimming in the Dark (two of my absolute favourite books) you'll also love this book. The Raymond's controlling mother arrives to spend a couple of days with him at the end of his internship and accompany him home. Although I needed to take a break during the Paris visit, and I wiped tears from my eyes more than once, it was a beautiful story crafted artfully.

There's a kind of sad, dark, depressive ambiance suffusing much of the book, even though in both the historical and modern section there are gay men who accept themselves and live lives full of people, fun, art (but not mostly lasting relationships). When Raymond takes this 'job' and is told that he needs more 'appropriate for the times' clothing to fit in to the group that he is going to be doing undercover writing for; he has no idea that he is going to fall in love whole heartedly for the first time in his life with the young man at the clothier. The decision he makes will ricochet destructively through lives and decades until―in another time, another city; in Paris, 2003―Raymond’s son Joe finally meets Joey. I am not Raymond Wallace is a multi-stranded story of queer redemption spanning multiple generations, told with precision-tooled prose, sharply-imagined settings and compassionately-observed characterisation. I’d already spotted Sam Kenyon’s I Am Not Raymond Wallace in the schedules when it was pitched to me for review, struck by its blurb.There are and were scenes of gay sex portrayed quite vividly, but this should be a story that anyone and not only gay men or boys, should read if you know what true and real love and love for LIFE is all about. He serendipitously gets into a bar that requires a secret knock and meets Joey and feels a very strong attachment. There has been a much-deserved revision of Stonewall and pre-Stonewall history in recent years, shifting focus from white men to people of color - and in particular, trans people of color - who bore the brunt of police violence and who played an outsized role in activist circles.