Life Drawing

✍ Scribed by Grumley, Michael

• Book ID: 109026526
• Publisher: TVM
• Year: 2016
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 120 KB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN: 0802114385

✦ Synopsis

Adolescent Michael McGinnis has grown up in the 1950s in a small town on the banks of the Mississippi in Iowa, leading a fairly normal life: a steady girl, working as a caddy in his school holidays, pursuing his interest in art. But he recognises his relationship with his girlfriend is lacking, then he meets a young guy who drives him to a disused quarry, and so he discovers his real self. He then takes off, securing passage on a Mississippi barge heading for New Orleans, meets and falls in love with an eighteen year old affectionate black man James; just a year older than himself but considerably more worldly-wise. They set up together until an indiscretion on Michael�s part brings it to an abrupt end, whereupon Michael escapes to California with hopes of becoming an actor. Whatever else he achieves through his travels, his experiences make him a man as he realises and regrets his errors, and he begins to retrace his steps. This is a well written and warm story, evocative of its period and its locations. As Michael McGinnis relates events there is very little in the way of dialogue, and as he shares his thoughts and observations we really get into his mind, understanding how he thinks. The book includes an informative foreword by Edmund White and afterword by George Stambolian about Michael Grumley and Robert Ferro. ---- Benjamin at Goodreads