LGBTQ+ coming out or coming-of-age stories hardly seem groundbreaking these days, but sometimes, as the old saying goes, the devil is in the details. Such is the case with author/screenwriter/film critic Gary Goldstein’s third novel, Please Come To Boston, which on the surface may seem fairly paint-by-numbers, but excels because of the engaging characters, their dynamics, and the beautifully specific settings.
Set in 1975 and spanning the first semester at Boston University (B.U.), Goldstein immerses us in the journey of 18-year-old freshman Nicky, just arriving from Long Island and feeling the frisson of finally starting his life. In the dorm elevator, he immediately meets Joe, the hunky jock and friendly dorm orientation leader, followed by Lori, sharp, self-possessed and the spitting image of Laurie (Susan Dey) from The Partridge Family. It’s details like this which instantly place you back to a more innocent time. Without cell phones, social media, and with a smaller, more homogeneous pop cultural landscape, Goldstein evokes the sweetness of a time when conversational skills, not texting, felt imperative. I thought about that time and how we would grab a new vinyl album and spend hours poring over the liner notes of our favorite musical artists. Instead of playing Minecraft at home, we’d go to arcades, or better yet, chat all night long at a local greasy spoon. Reading this novel feels like a great unplugging.
Without spoiling too much of the storyline, Nicky loves Joe who loves Lori who loves Nicky and Joe. Oh, and Joe also loves Nicky and Nicky also loves Lori. Got that? Needless to say, things go from straight to bi to gay as relationships develop, unravel, and sometimes circle back around. The basic outline of this story doesn’t break new ground, although I quite enjoyed the central mystery of present day Nicky, interweaved throughout the book, as he returns to his old stomping grounds decades later. Why he has come back to Boston and where it leads did not play out as I had expected.
No, Goldstein’s gift is how he genially gets you to root for his characters. I love his use of italicized sentences to reveal their inner thoughts, often right in the middle of a conversation. Goldstein has a wry wit, congenial, incisive and delightfully approachable style. You just want to spend time with these people, savoring every late night tuna on rye or sexually charged jogging date. He skillfully captures those first stirrings of sexual attraction and makes them feel as earth-shattering as the early rise of Bruce Springsteen. His electrifying concert proves to be a catalyst for our protagonists’ explosive feelings for each other. When two characters get caught fooling around in front of a grandmother, I gasped, but also loved the care Goldstein took handling the aftermath.
Additionally, he possesses a wonderful sense of place. I found myself looking up pictures of the Boston campus, especially the “Stack Of Books” building, just so I could put myself even more in Nicky’s shoes. A raft of supporting characters hilariously round out the story, especially Monty, Nicky’s country music loving Jewish roommate from Pittsburgh (!) and their dorm neighbor Shelley with her honking New York accent when saying things like, “Oh, my Gawd, I would dzye!” I found myself aching for these characters, wondering how they would react to the upcoming HIV/AIDS crisis, or 9/11, or the Trump era. Although none of this gets covered in the book, you know an author has done a good job when you start to extend his characters through the decades.
Ultimately, Please Come To Boston is about the idea of being yourself. It’s not the most revolutionary of premises, but it’s a joy to read. Towards the end, I kept thinking I knew where Nicky, Joe and Lori would end up, but Goldstein’s smart enough to subvert those expectations and give us something so simple, so beautiful, so heartbreaking and yet so sublime.
By Glenn Gaylord, Senior Film Critic
Please Come To Boston is published on September 10th, 2024 by Hadleigh House Publishing and is available wherever books are sold. Be sure to check out Goldstein’s prior novels, The Last Birthday Party and The Mother I Never Had.
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