Review: Love wit...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 8, 2013
As others have said, I waited for Suede's next.  I'm not a comic book or entertainment industry follower.  I had read Horned Gate, however, and was interested in it, partly b/c it was edgy.  In reading Bad Idea I found myself appreciating the critique embedded in his narrative about the industry; particularly the, previously invisible to me, manipulation/exploitation of gay men by straight men through encouraging sexual-tension/confusion.  This is the stereotyped domain of women's manipulation of straight men, which I find boring since I seem to have much reduced empathy with straight men's structurally self-inflicted struggles with straight women.  His inclusion of interesting straight, female allies was also lovely.  I enjoy the dynamic between gay men and straight women friends.  Their empathy and compassion for one another's emotional/romantic strivings with men is endearing.  It's complex and oblique to the dominant narratives of friendship and gender.  And I enjoy oblique-to-dominant-paradigm narratives.I also have to say that I agree with Christina Snow's comment (in this forum) about feeling strangely unable to follow the underlying intent of some of the dialogue.  I felt like there was some lifted eyebrow intention that I couldn't grasp and which left me wishing I could ask someone what was being gotten at.  I guess I'm not the inside audience he's trying for.  I didn't let it stop me, but it was oddly alienating and left a slight dissociative pall on my engagement with the text.  I liked the 3 dimensional fallibility of both the main characters.  Mr. Suede has a gorgeous ability to build highly dramatic tension once we have cathected to his characters.  The more of this genre I read, the more transparent tension-creating devices become to me, but I notice I seem to be willing to be manipulated by them more when the tension is well crafted and multi-dimensional (especially including pacing) as his are, comparatively.What I crave from this author is a narrative in this genre written in the first person.  I believe he is both technically and emotionally skilled enough to bring something truly moving and delicious.  This one seems to hint at a series.  Perhaps he'll write another in this series in the first person.  But, whatever he does, I know I'll read it.  So Bring It!