Galley Talk

Greg Mitchell, book buyer, Rainbows and Triangles Books, New York City

by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 4/3/2006

For an independent bookstore with a gay sensibility, Andrew Holleran is one of the cornerstone authors to our collection. Dancer from the Dance is my favorite book of all time. I'm happy to report that his first novel in over a decade, Grief [Hyperion, June; reviewed on p. 36], stands side by side with Dancer as his second true masterwork. Grief, with its clarity and brevity, astonishes with how directly it cuts to the heart of our growing older and the losses we experienced so early in our lives. Dancer told the story of our gay lives in the late '70s; Grief presents our lives in 2006, survivors still standing. Is it a fun summer read? No more so than The Year of Magical Thinkingwas a fun holiday read. But it will resonate with readers for many summers to come. Since we opened last summer, we have hand-sold 200-plus copies of Dancer from the Dance. It's an easy task to sell a book about which you feel such passion. Dancer, and now Grief, exemplify that kind of book for us.