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Maybe someday
37
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
22/100Critics
53/100Scholars
Author:
Jack Parlett
Publisher:
Hanover Square Press
Date:
June 14, 2022
Fire Island, a thin strip of beach off the Long Island coast, has long been a vital space in the queer history of America. Both utopian and exclusionary, healing and destructive, the island is a locus of contradictions, all of which coalesce against a stunning ocean backdrop. Parlett tells the story of this iconic destinationâits history, its meaning and its cultural significanceâtold through the lens of the artists and creators who sought refuge on its shores.
What The Reviewers Say
Jack Parlett...who has mixed feelings, too, about paradise, hugs his ambivalence and makes good literature out of it. His concise, meticulously researched, century-spanning chronicle of queer life on Fire Island captures, with a plain-spoken yet lyric touch, the locale’s power to stun and shame, to give pleasure and symbolize evanescence.
An island history that’s deeply felt and keenly judged.
A fine account of an important place in gay cultural history..
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.
