The Boys on the Rock
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St Martins Griffin (paperback)
1994 (paperback)
 1984 hardcover edition cover | |
| Author | John Fox |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | St Martins Press (hardcover) St Martins Griffin (paperback) |
Publication date | 1984 (hardcover) 1994 (paperback) |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 146 pages (hardcover) 160 pages (paperback) |
| ISBN | 0-312-09419-1 |
| OCLC | 10274692 |
| 813/.54 Fic 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3556.O934 B6 1984 |
The Boys on the Rock is a novel by John Fox, which follows the coming out and first love of a gay sixteen-year-old swimmer.
Set in the Bronx against the historical backdrop of United States Senator Eugene McCarthy's unsuccessful bid to become the Democratic presidential candidate for the 1968 elections, the novel focuses on Connors's "rocky relationship that fared no better than McCarthy's campaign", in the words of critic Wayne Hoffman (author of the novel Hard), who described it in The Washington Post as a "classic".[1]
Reception
Kirkus Reviews called it "a slight first novel with an uneasy blend of graphic sex, a faux-naif Y A tone, and gay-pride preachiness." and found it "Occasionally sharp in its place/time specifics, but otherwise a juvenile debut–both punkily narcissistic and sloppily sentimental."[2] while Trevor Sydney said that "Fox's only novel remains a compelling Bildungsroman."[3]
