Status
Checked out
Due 17 Jul 2023
Description
A daring and deeply moving novel set in Argentina in the time of the Generals--a time when the streets are empty at night, and people have trained themselves not to see. Richard Garay lives with his mother, hiding his sexuality from her and from society. Stifled by his job, Richard is willing to take chances, both sexually and professionally. But Argentina is changing, and as his country edges toward peace, Richard tentatively begins a love affair. The result is a powerful, brave, and poignant novel of sex, death, and the diffculties of connecting one's inner life with the outside world.
User reviews
LibraryThing member shihtzu
This is a dark novel. The main character is an Anglo-Argentine who gets involved in covert political activities supported by the US government. For the first time in his life he rubs elbows with the rich and powerful, and soon gets swept up by a worldly American couple who set him up in a
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successful business that is really a front for political corruption and foreign involvement in Argentine businesses. The love story centers around his relationship with the son of a wealthy Argentine with political aspirations. Show Less
LibraryThing member rmckeown
I recently discovered Colm Tóibín (pronounced “Collum Toe-bean”), and this is my second read by him. After reading Blackwater Lightship, I bought several of his books off the shelf of a local bookstore. His prose has a lyrical quality and quite a bit of intensity, but it remains sensitive and
I do not know what else to write. If the idea of homosexuality disturbs you, then I would advise against reading this book. I am completely, 100% straight, but I have also known a number of people who are gay, and several who have died of AIDS. I know they fall in and out of love, they laugh, they cry, they try and live their lives against varying tides of intolerance and even hatred. If the names and the fact of AIDS were removed from this novel, no one would have any idea it was about gay men.
Maybe I should change my mind about anyone not reading this book. The Story of the Night portrays gay people as living through all the things straight people do: discovering who they are as people, finding their place in the working world, dealing with crises of family and friends, traveling, and having fun. If you are open-minded, then you should read this book; if you are not, maybe this book will open your mind. 5 stars.
--Jim, 5/16/09
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absorbing. I was not aware when I bought The Story of the Night that it had won the Ferro-Grumley Award for the best gay novel in 1998, and made On Lambda’s list of the 100 best gay novels of all time. I have read Mann’s Death in Venice, Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, and Djuna Barnes Nightwood, so the genre is no surprise to me. Tóibín has written a sensitive and moving story of a young man’s coming to terms with his sexual preference, and capped it off with a tender love story. That does not give away the ending.I do not know what else to write. If the idea of homosexuality disturbs you, then I would advise against reading this book. I am completely, 100% straight, but I have also known a number of people who are gay, and several who have died of AIDS. I know they fall in and out of love, they laugh, they cry, they try and live their lives against varying tides of intolerance and even hatred. If the names and the fact of AIDS were removed from this novel, no one would have any idea it was about gay men.
Maybe I should change my mind about anyone not reading this book. The Story of the Night portrays gay people as living through all the things straight people do: discovering who they are as people, finding their place in the working world, dealing with crises of family and friends, traveling, and having fun. If you are open-minded, then you should read this book; if you are not, maybe this book will open your mind. 5 stars.
--Jim, 5/16/09
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LibraryThing member siafl
It has taken only two days to finish reading, which says that something must have been done right about this book. There is a very nice pace and a nice flow. Toibin's prose is clean and smooth. It's not a book for everyone, and there's a fair amount of sexuality in it, which is not surprising
Nonetheless, at the end, I feel neutral. Something is missing for me in this one. Or perhaps it hasn't occurred to me why it is that I like it. Although, this being the first book I complete reading written by Toibin, I have a few of his other titles lining up, and I really look forward to them.
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considering the subject matter, but it was never to a point of being excessive and vulgar. It's genuine and honest.Nonetheless, at the end, I feel neutral. Something is missing for me in this one. Or perhaps it hasn't occurred to me why it is that I like it. Although, this being the first book I complete reading written by Toibin, I have a few of his other titles lining up, and I really look forward to them.
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LibraryThing member jwhenderson
This was the first book by Colm Toibin that I read. I did not realize he was an Irish author since the story was so convincingly set in Argentina. In fact it was his sixth book and I was as sorry that I had not discovered him sooner as I was glad to have finally found this very good writer who
The details of his story are well told and I still remember reading and rereading this novel. More than a decade later I would encourage readers to try his more recent novel Brooklyn and then pick up this book and you will find yourselves looking for more of the writings of this "Irish" author.
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would go on to win the Booker Prize. The Story of the Night, presents a narrator, Richard Garay, who lives in silence about his homosexuality and in denial about the actions of his country, Argentina, with its terrible history of dictatorship, torture and murder. ''We saw nothing,'' he states, ''not because there was nothing, but because we had trained ourselves not to see.''The details of his story are well told and I still remember reading and rereading this novel. More than a decade later I would encourage readers to try his more recent novel Brooklyn and then pick up this book and you will find yourselves looking for more of the writings of this "Irish" author.
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LibraryThing member whirled
The Story of the Night is actually two stories, running parallel and intertwined. It is the poignant coming-out tale of Anglo-Argentinian Richard Garay, a reclusive and frustrated young man exploring new professional and sexual opportunities. And, it is the story of an oppressive political regime
I found this book almost impossible to put down, due to its sympathetic protagonist and its beautiful prose. Prudish readers will note that The Story of the Night is sexually frank; more overtly a gay story than is typical of Toibin. But to dismiss it on that basis is to miss out on a great reading experience.
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losing its stranglehold on power. Toibin explores the messiness wrought by change and upheaval in typically elegant style.I found this book almost impossible to put down, due to its sympathetic protagonist and its beautiful prose. Prudish readers will note that The Story of the Night is sexually frank; more overtly a gay story than is typical of Toibin. But to dismiss it on that basis is to miss out on a great reading experience.
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LibraryThing member SqueakyChu
This novel started out slowly for me as I tried to work my way around the theme of governmental instability in Argentina, but it slowly became compulsive reading. Though the author is native Irish, the setting of this book is Buenos Aires, Argentina. I was thrown off somewhat since the book I
The protagonist, a closeted gay man named Richard, finds a new job as translator for an American couple whose task it is to promote democratic ideals, foster a good Argentina-United States relationship, and promote the idea of privatization of the oil industry in Argentina. This sub-plot had me bogged down for a while, but I'd advise skimming over that somewhat because the true beauty of this book is its tight narrative and the psychological make-up of a gay man. Richard's story seems very personal and true-to-life. In fact, I then had to go back to see if the author is gay. He is openly so.
I like the way this novel explores Richard's need to hide his homosexuality, how he chooses to whom to disclose this fact and whom to approach, and how he deals with a culture in which AIDS threatens those members of his own community.
This novel is brilliant. It makes me want to read even more writing by this talented author.
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previously read by this same author was Brooklyn, the story of an Irish immigrant to the United States. The protagonist of this book was Argentinian, the only son of a British mother and an Argentinian father. The protagonist, a closeted gay man named Richard, finds a new job as translator for an American couple whose task it is to promote democratic ideals, foster a good Argentina-United States relationship, and promote the idea of privatization of the oil industry in Argentina. This sub-plot had me bogged down for a while, but I'd advise skimming over that somewhat because the true beauty of this book is its tight narrative and the psychological make-up of a gay man. Richard's story seems very personal and true-to-life. In fact, I then had to go back to see if the author is gay. He is openly so.
I like the way this novel explores Richard's need to hide his homosexuality, how he chooses to whom to disclose this fact and whom to approach, and how he deals with a culture in which AIDS threatens those members of his own community.
This novel is brilliant. It makes me want to read even more writing by this talented author.
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LibraryThing member stef7sa
This is a bit problematic, the novel starts of in a bad shape in the first part, becomes more interesting in the second and moving in the last part. Still, the novel lacks a clear drive, a reason why it should be read. Overall a disappointing experience.
LibraryThing member jgoodwll
Excellent. A gay love story set mainly in Argentina. Perhaps a little too graphic sex and vagueness on the narrator's source of income, but not enough to spoil it.
LibraryThing member Jayeless
This is a wonderful book. Written in the first person, it tells the story of Richard Garay – a half-English gay Argentine – in such warm, intimate detail that you end up sucked in right through to the end. It starts slowly, with so much seemingly irrelevant detail that the first half can get a
Fundamentally, this is a story about Richard’s longing to be loved and accepted for who he is. His parents were unable to give this to him, and despite a series of casual encounters which he very much enjoyed, he couldn’t get it through his love life either until he found Pablo. The passages detailing his love for Pablo, their sweet domesticity, the simple happiness of being in one another’s company, are some of the most enjoyable in the book. However, set in the 1980s, the spectre of HIV/AIDS rears its head and interferes in their blissful relationship.
As well as being a universal story about love, and a “gay” story about HIV/AIDS, this is also a story about Argentina and the tumultuous changes it was going through in the 1980s. This never becomes the main focus of the story, despite Richard being in prime position to observe the changes going on. Early in the book he describes being disturbed from a sexual encounter by lights going off and on at a police station across the street, and all the cars with their bonnets open so the power can be piped into the building. He asks his lover for that evening why, and the answer, of course? Because someone is being tortured inside. Later he tells a group of Americans that he hasn’t known anyone who was harmed by the dictatorship, only for a classmate to interject with quiet indignation, and say that he’s not sure how he can say that, when a mutual classmate of theirs was abducted and thrown into the ocean.
For the latter part of the novel, Argentina is transitioning to democracy, and selling off all its institutions to wealthy businessmen in North America and Europe. It’s known by everyone that this policy will lead to mass suffering in Argentina, but people shrug their shoulders and figure it’s simply what must be done. The picture Tóibín paints of Buenos Aires is bleak and cold, that of a worn-down city which lacks the energy to make anything better of itself. It’s sad, but vividly portrayed.
Overall, this is an excellent book which – despite its slow start – I would highly recommend.
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bit tiring, but it picks up. Fundamentally, this is a story about Richard’s longing to be loved and accepted for who he is. His parents were unable to give this to him, and despite a series of casual encounters which he very much enjoyed, he couldn’t get it through his love life either until he found Pablo. The passages detailing his love for Pablo, their sweet domesticity, the simple happiness of being in one another’s company, are some of the most enjoyable in the book. However, set in the 1980s, the spectre of HIV/AIDS rears its head and interferes in their blissful relationship.
As well as being a universal story about love, and a “gay” story about HIV/AIDS, this is also a story about Argentina and the tumultuous changes it was going through in the 1980s. This never becomes the main focus of the story, despite Richard being in prime position to observe the changes going on. Early in the book he describes being disturbed from a sexual encounter by lights going off and on at a police station across the street, and all the cars with their bonnets open so the power can be piped into the building. He asks his lover for that evening why, and the answer, of course? Because someone is being tortured inside. Later he tells a group of Americans that he hasn’t known anyone who was harmed by the dictatorship, only for a classmate to interject with quiet indignation, and say that he’s not sure how he can say that, when a mutual classmate of theirs was abducted and thrown into the ocean.
For the latter part of the novel, Argentina is transitioning to democracy, and selling off all its institutions to wealthy businessmen in North America and Europe. It’s known by everyone that this policy will lead to mass suffering in Argentina, but people shrug their shoulders and figure it’s simply what must be done. The picture Tóibín paints of Buenos Aires is bleak and cold, that of a worn-down city which lacks the energy to make anything better of itself. It’s sad, but vividly portrayed.
Overall, this is an excellent book which – despite its slow start – I would highly recommend.
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LibraryThing member rab1953
My thoughts as I was reading this novel were, why is an Irish writer setting a gay coming out story in Argentina in the 1980s? And what, I asked myself, does the title mean? I came to see the setting as a metaphor for the storyline.
In the story, Richard grows up in Argentina with his British
“Argentina after the humiliation of the war and the disappearances would have done anything to please the outside world, and privatization was the price the outside world required. Everything the country had that was valuable would be sold and this would tie Argentina to outside interests so that it would never be able to behave badly again.”
Is this an illuminating metaphor? It describes a combined win and loss that the gay community took on in the 1980s, a longing for acceptance even at the cost of what made the community unique and valuable. It also works to clarify the situation that Richard finds himself in. Richard, like Argentina after the dictatorship, is very passive, which makes him somewhat unattractive as a protagonist. He hangs around in a dead-end job in his mother’s apartment until an Argentine politico and an American couple find his translation skills useful, and bring him into their world. He gets some money and contacts in a corrupt system, but they allow him to create a gay identity and find a loving partner.
Richard feels alienated and humiliated as a repressed gay men, and he lets other people tell him what to do. Later he becomes successful, but is sick at heart. He pays the price for letting other people control his life. I think this is what the story of the night refers to: the survival of gay men in the darkness of a hostile world where they cannot show themselves. The end feels like the coming of light, although it is a compromised future that Richard faces.
As a novel set in the gay milieu of the 1980s, the story reflects on the devastating impact of AIDS in the characters’ lives, but it’s interesting that it does not define them or their relationship. It’s a hurdle to overcome, but in spite of that the story ends on a positive note of hope.
I did quite like the depictions of Richard’s life, from his first sexual experiences to his callow youth and his later growth in maturity. The hopefulness and the alienation seem very true to the character and situation, and even though they were set in Argentina, I related to them as real stories. In fact, they appear so realistic that they made me think that Tóibín must have spent some time there, although his bio doesn’t refer to any time in Argentina. While wishing that Richard was not so passive, I also found his story offered insight into gay life in a certain time and place.
I also admire Tóibín’s writing. It’s very descriptive and creates an atmosphere that is easy to imagine. I come away with very clear pictures of Buenos Aires, Barcelona, and the other settings in the story. I’ve no idea how these images resonate with an actual Argentinian, but for me they make the story real and relatable.
In the story, Richard grows up in Argentina with his British
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mother. We see him discover his interest in other men at an early age, although in the homophobic culture of Argentina, he allows his identity to be repressed, and expresses it only in secret. This parallels his coming to political consciousness, discovering but repressing his knowledge of the brutal dictatorship. As Argentina slowly opens to into a liberal democracy, he finds more room to express his sexuality, although both are distorted by links to the past and the corruption of the present. Richard and Argentina are challenged by an existential threat, which, in Richard’s case at least, he is able to face through the strength of his love. The future of Argentina is less clear. “Argentina after the humiliation of the war and the disappearances would have done anything to please the outside world, and privatization was the price the outside world required. Everything the country had that was valuable would be sold and this would tie Argentina to outside interests so that it would never be able to behave badly again.”
Is this an illuminating metaphor? It describes a combined win and loss that the gay community took on in the 1980s, a longing for acceptance even at the cost of what made the community unique and valuable. It also works to clarify the situation that Richard finds himself in. Richard, like Argentina after the dictatorship, is very passive, which makes him somewhat unattractive as a protagonist. He hangs around in a dead-end job in his mother’s apartment until an Argentine politico and an American couple find his translation skills useful, and bring him into their world. He gets some money and contacts in a corrupt system, but they allow him to create a gay identity and find a loving partner.
Richard feels alienated and humiliated as a repressed gay men, and he lets other people tell him what to do. Later he becomes successful, but is sick at heart. He pays the price for letting other people control his life. I think this is what the story of the night refers to: the survival of gay men in the darkness of a hostile world where they cannot show themselves. The end feels like the coming of light, although it is a compromised future that Richard faces.
As a novel set in the gay milieu of the 1980s, the story reflects on the devastating impact of AIDS in the characters’ lives, but it’s interesting that it does not define them or their relationship. It’s a hurdle to overcome, but in spite of that the story ends on a positive note of hope.
I did quite like the depictions of Richard’s life, from his first sexual experiences to his callow youth and his later growth in maturity. The hopefulness and the alienation seem very true to the character and situation, and even though they were set in Argentina, I related to them as real stories. In fact, they appear so realistic that they made me think that Tóibín must have spent some time there, although his bio doesn’t refer to any time in Argentina. While wishing that Richard was not so passive, I also found his story offered insight into gay life in a certain time and place.
I also admire Tóibín’s writing. It’s very descriptive and creates an atmosphere that is easy to imagine. I come away with very clear pictures of Buenos Aires, Barcelona, and the other settings in the story. I’ve no idea how these images resonate with an actual Argentinian, but for me they make the story real and relatable.
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Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 1998)
Publishing Triangle Awards (Finalist — 1998)