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IN TONGUES

Thomas Grattan

IN TONGUES is fast paced and sexy. A refreshing update to the queer canon, in the spirit of blockbusters like Douglas Stewart's Shuggie Bain, Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty, and Andrew Holleran's The Dancer from the Dance, In Tongues is a blazing, sexy, modern, and quietly transgressive addition to the canon of queer coming of age stories, whose power extends far beyond readers of a single experience. Some might say it's The Talented Mr. Ripley witten by Andre Aciman: a beautiful and heartbreaking tale of longing, queerness, and exile Highsmith by way of Call Me by Your Name.

It's 2001, and 24-year-old Gordonhandsome, sensitive, and desperate for direction after his estrangement from his Evangelical fathertakes a bus from Minnesota to New York City because it's the only place for a young gay man to go. As he begins to settle into the city's punishing rhythm, he gets a job walking rich Manhattanites' dogs. But it isn't until he stumbles into the West Village brownstone of one of his clients, powerful gallery owners Phillip and Nicola, that Gordon learns how much the world has hidden from himand what he's capable of doing in order to get it for himself. A lush, heart-quickening novel about family and art, sex and class, and the terror of self-discovery, Thomas Grattan's In Tongues chronicles Gordon's perilous pursuit of belonging from the Midwest to New York and, later, to Europe and Mexico City. As he floats further into Phillip and Nicola's exclusive and gilded universe, and as lines blur between employee, muse, lover, and mentor, Gordon's charm, manipulation, and growing ambition begin to escape his own control, in turn threatening to unravel the lives, and lies, of those around him. Anchored by winsome lyricism, glinting intellect, and a main character whose yearnings and mistakes come to feel like our own, In Tongues throbs with torrid heat and pointed emotion, further confirming Thomas Grattan as a rare chronicler of young adulthood's joys and devastations. Thomas Grattan is the author of the novel The Recent East, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, longlisted for the 2021 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, and named a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. His writing has appeared in several publications, including The New York Times Book Review, One Story, Slice, and The Colorado Review. He has an MFA in Fiction Writing from Brooklyn College and has taught middle school English for more than a decade. He lives in upstate New York.

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Book Published 2024-05-21 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux/MCD

Comments

Affecting... [Gordon] has a memorable voice: funny, dark, and eventually chastened. The novel builds on the self-involved, sometimes cruel protagonists of Edmund White's early work, though Gordon learns to rein himself in instead of committing more mayhem. This story of a miscreant who grows up will stick with you long after the last page.

Thomas Grattan has written a rare beauty of a novel, both thrillingly sexy and heartbreakingly human. His gift as a writer lies in his ability to reach deep into the messy flesh of his characters and extract all the awkward, barbed parts of them that make them feel so alive. With In Tongues, Grattan brings fresh wit and insight to the beloved gay, New York, coming-of-age novel. If you don't see yourself in these pages, good luck to you.

[A] rollicking sophomore release... [a] delightfully modern comedy of manners.

One of the funniest novels in recent memory... Grattan's novel is probably the most entertaining - not to mention cleverest - depiction of the art world (fiction or nonfiction) in quite some time, even if it never directly addresses the art world at all. The rare book that you'll force yourself to put down just so you can savor it, this will quickly become required reading for New Yorkers and anyone who aspires to become one.

On any given day in any city, someone is engaging in a wildly dramatic interlude that will condemn and enliven and change their life, only they move within the obfuscating masses so inconspicuously--ducking in and out with gorgeous collars raised--that the rest of us can only catch a glimpse and wonder. In Tongues contains one of my favorite kinds of plots; the interlude that changed me forever. Thomas Grattan masterfully elucidates the life of an elegant hero--shattering friendships, sudden lovers, surprising moments of grace. Reading In Tongues felt like a deliciously banal and dangerous afternoon I never wanted to end. I love this beautiful, horny, honest, glamorous novel.

[An] impressive sophomore novel... In the author's skilled hands, Gordon's bad judgment and sentimental education make for terrific reading.

Wistful, unapologetically sexy, and blazingly alive, In Tongues explores class and ambition in gentrifying New York with uncommon wit and sensitivity. Grattan's novel is a tender portrait of queer young adulthood in all its messy glory.

In this fine, affecting novel, Grattan's subtle, true portrayals and sharp dialogue make a highly enjoyable read even more so.

Deserves to be in the company of Catcher in the Rye (Holden meet Gordon). I was as absolutely seduced--and willingly so-- by the brilliant writing here, every bit as much as seduction itself formed so potently and potentially dangerous for Gordon. So very glad I stumbled onto In Tongues. This is quite simply the finest coming-of-age novel I've ever read!