Searching for Connection

Each of the characters in the narrative, faggots and non-faggots alike, male faggots and female faggots (i.e. female homosexuals), is searching for some kind of personal connection with another human being. The actions and attitudes of protagonist Fred Lemish are the most vivid example of this, with Fred searching with increasing desperation through the male homosexual sub-culture of late 1970’s New York City that is in many ways his home, looking for a connection that goes beyond the sexual. That connection, it seems, is a combination of honesty and compassion and affection which Fred defines as “love” and which, he comes to realize by the novel’s conclusion, he never got from those with whom he shared what might be described as his biological “home” – that is, his family.

Here it is important to note that while Fred’s search manifests primarily in...