- Paperback: 496 pages
- Publisher: Alyson Books (Jun 1 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1555834949
- ISBN-13: 978-1555834944
- Product Dimensions: 20 x 13.4 x 3.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 440 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,642,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Bayard's accomplished debut novel, a witty romantic comedy, is set in Washington, D.C.'s gay community, a group, says one character, that is smaller than Mayberry. Despite very few degrees of separation, 32-year-old Patrick Beaton is having trouble locating his ideal man, a figure of perfection he met (or dreamed he met) briefly at a Sunday brunch. Patrick is aided in his search for the man he calls "Scottie" by Seth, a persistent, perspiring sidekick who has his own reasons for wanting Patrick to get over this obsession. Numerous subplots, including side romances, rat infestations and a visit from Patrick's non-Irish but brogue-spouting father, revolve around and involve Patrick's quest for Scottie, but Bayard, like Armistead Maupin in his Tales of the City series, is a master of tightly woven, oddly believable coincidence-driven plotting. Like Maupin, and Stephen McCauley, Bayard's snappy dialogue manages to be more funny than people really are, and utterly convincing at the same time. He excels at gently skewering aspects of urban gay culture: a young man in a tank top with "his car keys [dangling] from his nipple ring"; a group of dancers in a western theme bar, "cantering in a circle like high-bred fillies." Readers are never sure what twists or turns are coming, but Bayard makes Patrick's poignant, fumbling attempts to achieve domestic bliss a journey gay (and gay-friendly) readers will be eager to embark upon, and travel along to the satisfying end. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
An Excerpt
Funny that it began with a nap. Naps usually filled him with a nameless dread. Every time he put his head on a pillow, he would remember something he needed to do--something to clean (though he wasn't really that clean) or a book he'd been meaning to read. Or he'd develop a sudden fear of embarrassing himself: mumbling an old boyfriend's name, say, or drooling or some other act still undreamed of, outside civilization's parameters. But nothing, finally, explained how unacceptable it was to be lying there--in daylight--lying there while the rest of the world was awake. How did people do it?
On the day in question, though, a Sunday in March, Patrick had been trailing clouds of sleep deprivation. All week long he'd been sleeping poorly, and the night before, three teenage boys had broken into his car, which was parked behind his Victorian row house on Capitol Hill. Patrick might have slept till morning unawares except a neighbor on the other side of the back alley saw the crime in progress and yelled at the boys until they ran away. Then he knocked on Patrick's door to explain what had happened, and just as Patrick was about to thank him and go back to bed, the neighbor mentioned that the police had been called and were on their way. Patrick called twice over the next hour, asking the police not to come. Two hours later a patrolman knocked on the door. He and Patrick waited another half hour for the fingerprint specialist. Still wearing his bathrobe, Patrick led them through the backyard to the car. The first thing he noticed was the Oldsmobile's steering column, which had been peeled open like a can. The second thing was the glass from the rear left passenger window, which had resolved itself into smooth, glittering candy pebbles on the gravel.
He fell asleep around 5. Around 6, his downstairs tenant, Deanna, woke him up to tell him about his car: She'd seen it during her morning jog. This left him only a few minutes of sleep before he had to get up for his violin lesson. His teacher--a radiant freckled woman named Sonya, with a river of auburn hair--lived only three blocks away, but 7:30 on Sunday morning was the only time of the week they could get together. Patrick was not improving.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cute, Fun, Fresh and Whimsical,
By
This review is from: Fool's Errand: A Novel (Paperback)
I picked up "Fool's Errand," on the advice of a friend of mine who reccommended such good reads as the two novels of Timothy James Beck and who shared my appreciation for Rob Byrnes' "The Night We Met." So, I opened this book with a great deal of expectation.Patrick Beaton is a rare sort of gay male protagonist - he's not incredibly passionate, he's not perfect, he's romantic, but he's also got his head so far up in the clouds that he's a little bit of a sap and a pushover. So, when Patrick decides that someone he saw barely (and maybe even in a dream) is Mr. Perfect, he starts to hunt him down. Between his hunting down Mr. Perfect in all the wrong places, he has to deal with his ex - who has hooked up with a Mr. Wonderful of his own - Mr. Wonderful's ex - who wants Patrick to find his own Mr. Perfect to drive Patrick's ex to a jealous return, so that Mr. Wonderful comes back on the market, crazy rats, the CIA, his best friend's love life, and a confusing and unnanounced visit from his father. All in all, this is a heartwarming tale, and I liked the direction it went. The ultimate conclusion is a plausible one, amidst a novel that's just shy of slapstick in places. There's a gentle touch to this story, in both dialogue and Patrick's thoughts, and it was a warm and snuggly sort of reading experience. 'Nathan
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beauty !,
By R.Parklane (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fool's Errand: A Novel (Paperback)
Definitely one of the better books I have read this year. Witty, hilarious yet sensitive and touching, Fool's Errand stays with you long after you come to the last word. All of us who are romantic at heart could definitely identify with Patrick's quest and fantasy because we have a little of Patrick and Seth in all of us. The side characters are amazingly vivid, Patrick's father the most endearing. Seth described as the tick who just grows on you and never leave you just tops the ending. A wonderful read !
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great!!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Fool's Errand: A Novel (Paperback)
What a smart, eloquent, from-the-heart book. Unfortunately any gay author with the slightest bit of humor is usually compared to Armistead Maupin, but Bayard is the first I've read who comes close while bringing his own particular brand of wit to the table.
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