Eighty-Sixed

by David B. Feinberg

Overview

In 1980, B. J. Rosenthal's only mission is to find himself a boyfriend and avoid setbacks like bad haircuts, bad sex, and Jewish guilt. In post-AIDS 1986, B.J.'s world has changed dramatically — his friends and lovers are getting sick, everyone is at risk, and B.J. is panicking. Parrying high-wire wit against unbearable human tragedy, Eighty-Sixed now stands as a testament to an era. "If Woody Allen were gay and wrote novels, he'd produce something like David Feinberg's Eighty-Sixed." — David Streitfeld, The Washington Post Book World "[Feinberg] has given us a painful story of one man coming of age in a terrifying age." — The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) "Entertaining, harrowing, and powerfully unsensational." — Booklist "[Eighty-Sixed] stands out for its frankness, ferocious wit, and total lack of sentimentality or self pity." — Catherine Texier, The New York Times Book Review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802139023
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	07/12/2002
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	761,086
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

David B. Feinberg was an American writer and AIDS activist. He was the author of two novels, Eighty-Sixed and Spontanous Combustion, and an autobiographical essay collection, Queer and Loathing: Rants and Raves of a Raging AIDS Clone.

Table of Contents

Part I	1980: Ancient History
	Prologue	3
1.	January	4
	Why I Always Wanted to Be a Clone	16
2.	February	18
	Miss Letitia Thing's Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior Concerning Tricks, One-Night (or Afternoon) Stands, and the Like, with a Special Appendix on Relationships	29
3.	March	32
	Boyfriends: Pros and Cons	44
4.	April	46
	How to Get Eighty-Sixed from the Restaurant or Cocktail Lounge of Your Choice	55
5.	May	56
	Cocktails from Hell	64
6.	June	65
	How to Get Rid of the Trick Who Won't Leave	73
7.	July	74
	Helpful Hints for Alfresco Sex	86
8.	August	88
	Some Queens	96
9.	September	98
	A History of Insanity on Both Sides of the Family, or Why I Have Always Been Attracted to the Mentally Ill	110
10.	October	112
	How to Tell When Your Relationship Is on the Rocks	124
11.	November	125
	What to Do on Your Annual Holiday Visit When Your Family Disapproves of Your Sexual Preference or Orientation...	143
12.	December	145
Part II	1986: Learning How to Cry
	Prologue	151
13.	January	153
	Some Symptoms	162
14.	February	164
	After I Was Mugged	183
15.	March	184
	Some of the People I Distrust	190
16.	April	192
	6:12 P.M.	209
17.	May	211
	Safe Sex in the Age of Anxiety	223
18.	June	225
	How to Stay Celibate in the Age of Anxiety	238
19.	July	240
	Egg Paranoia	251
20.	August	254
	Everything	265
21.	September	266
	Sensitivity Exercises for Death	275
22.	October	276
	When I Cried	294
23.	November	296
	The Last Time I Saw Him	320
24.	December	321
	Epilogue	325

Editorial Reviews

This first novel by a New York City mathematician records the changes in gay lifestyles precipitated by the AIDS epidemic between 1980 (``Ancient History'') and 1986 (``Learning How to Cry''). The novel's greatest asset is also its chief flaw: diary-like monthly reports describe the narrator's romantic and sexual experiences with bracing immediacy, but finally the novel reads less like fully imagined fiction than a heavily detailed but uninspired newspaper account. The narrator doggedly recounts his faltering attempts to come to terms with the spectre of death in his friends' lives and his own, but Feinberg relates events without enabling the reader to feel or understand the tragedy he gradually unfolds. Long telephone conversations with various friends who are no more than mechanical voices distract attention, as does a labored subplot that revolves around trivial office politics. Readers will be saddened as a friend of the narrator's dies in the the second half of the narrative, but the limited emotional impact of the scenesand the novel itselfderives from the fact that it is about AIDS and death, rather than from the author's ability to shape experience and manipulate our sympathies. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In this witty first novel, Feinberg contrasts pre-AIDS 1980 with post-AIDS 1986, illuminating the changes that have come about in the gay community. In 1980, B.J. Rosenthal's biggest concern is finding a steady boyfriend, as he goes from one sex partner to another, but in 1986 his attention is focused on AIDS anxiety and the painful death of friends. Unlike the recent spate of somber novels dealing with AIDS, Feinberg's work mixes generous doses of humor with an increasing sense of pathos, bringing to mind the plays of Harvey Fierstein. To evoke the mood of each year, Feinberg injects a distracting string of pop culture references, but overall, this is an engrossing, honest novel. Highly recommended.James E. Cook, Dayton & Montgomery Cty. P.L., Ohio

Library Journal