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Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style
Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style: A Novel | Paul Rudnick
3 posts | 3 read | 1 reading | 1 to read
From the acclaimed writer and “one of our preeminent humorists” (The New York Times) Paul Rudnick, a riotously funny, perceptive, and life-affirming novel following the decades-long, rule-breaking romance between the son of one of American’s wealthiest families and a middle-class aspiring author. Devastatingly handsome and insanely rich, Farrell Covington is capable of anything and impossible to resist. He’s a clear-eyed romantic, an aesthete but not a snob, self-indulgent yet wildly generous. As the son of one of the country’s most powerful and deeply conservative families, the world could be his. But when he falls for Nate Reminger, an aspiring writer from a nice Jewish family in Piscataway, New Jersey, the results are passionate and catastrophic. Together, the two embark on a uniquely managed romance that spans half a century. They are inseparable—except for the many years when they are apart. Moving from the ivy-covered bastion of Yale to New York City, Los Angeles, and eventually all over the world, Farrell and Nate experience the tremendous upheaval and social change of the last fifty years. From the freedom of gay life in 1970s Manhattan to the Hollywood closet, the AIDS epidemic, and the profound strides of the LGBTQ+ movement, this witty and moving novel shows how the world changes around us while we’re busy doing other things. A story of chances lost and found (and sometimes just temporarily misplaced), with an epic reach, it reminds us that there is always the possibility of undiluted, unbridled, unstoppable happiness, if, as Farrell says, “You know where to look.” Style has its limits, love does not.
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review
Litsi
Mehso-so

This reads like a story whose moments are strung like sparse lights between the poles of gay cultural events & movements of the end of the 20th Century. Like real life, this semi- autobiographical novel has no plot. Structural issues aside, this is a cotton candy of a book. Colorful, but thin, characters dash through the narrative doing their colorful things, in clever sentences. Short on story, long on style, nice cover. Maybe that‘s enough.

review
cariashley
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Pickpick

I really liked this book, which is character study, gay coming of age story and cultural history all in one. It‘s ambitious and maybe trying to do too much, but Farrell and Nate‘s relationship is so charming and tenacious that it really won me over. If not for my Strand fiction subscription I wouldn‘t have heard of it.

Fun note, my dad is named Farrell and I‘ve never seen the name anywhere else! It‘s Irish (which this Farrell is not, weirdly).

Bookish_Viking I completely envy your view out your window. How I would give up the Midwest for it. Been to the City twice and never liked leaving. 9mo
cariashley @Bookish_Viking aw! Feels like everyone is hating on NYC these days so love to hear that. It‘s the only place in the world for me 🥰 9mo
Bookish_Viking NYC is my favorite place in this entire country, not favorite city, favorite place total (specifically Manhattan). I spent several years trying to move there and I still really want to. I was planning to go back this September but it‘ll probably be postponed to next year. 9mo
Bookish_Viking Do you have an Instagram full of NYC photos? 9mo
cariashley @Bookish_Viking I don‘t actually! I have an insta but rarely post (and my old posts are mostly cats and food 😆) 9mo
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review
PhilipE
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Pickpick

I love when a book comes across your path that you open up and lose yourself in. You become completely invested in all the characters. Cheer for them, weep with them , get pissed off with them. And you come to the end and you‘re so sad the journey ended. This book is phenomenal. Please read it.