TRUST FUND BOYS
By Rob Byrnes
Reviewed by Jak
Klinikowski
 Trust
Fund BoysHardcover: 320 pages, $23.00 Kensington Publishing Corporation, 2004 ISBN: 0758205449 For those of you expecting a screwball, over-the-top repeat of Rob Byrnes’ delicious The Night We Met be forewarned. Trust Fund Boys maintains Byrnes’ wonderfully irreverent and slightly cynical narrative voice so captivating in the first novel, but the story this time around is more “exposé” than “madcap adventure.” It has its slap-stick elements, but the setting and tone are a great deal more personal and not always pretty to look at. The author treads slightly deeper emotional water with his sophomore effort, taking the time to flesh out some rather unseemly human characteristics, and the end result is enormously satisfying. Brett Revere, our hero and narrator, is a nearly forty out-of-work actor, eking out a living as an office temp and dreaming of that big break that will make him a star of the Broadway stage. But the dream is beginning to wear thin, as is his bank account. As the tale begins, Brett is auditioning for a back room, non-equity, gay spoof of the musical ANNIE, called ANDY, starring an obnoxious queen named Joey Takashimi. Brett gets cast but, after a single rehearsal, walks out on the embarrassingly bad production, certain of its quick demise. He accompanies a fellow actor from the show for a drink and ends up at the Penthouse, a bar frequented by the upwardly mobile set (think gay and filthy rich) and those who want to be carbon copies of them. On his first night at the club, Brett meets Jaime Brock, an attractive, if somewhat weather-worn, charmer and ends up losing his heart faster than Cher can change costumes. It doesn’t take long for our two fellows to discover that they are both wanna-be’s not be’s, and a plan is hatched to charm their way into the Penthouse’s elite circle for the purpose of career enhancement. Unfortunately for Brett, the denizens of this exclusive “Hamptons every weekend” enclave are not the only ones Jamie is conning, and Brett’s puppy-dog crush makes him an easy mark. Will Brett wake up to the insanity of the situation, or will he follow Jaime in this soul-snatching buffoonery? Will he ever stop playing Oliver to Jaime’s Artful Dodger? Byrnes allows the character of Brett to be uncompromisingly human, with all his greed and selfishness exposed. Brett is a nice guy, deep down, but can he remain one and still gain entrance to the snooty society he sees as his salvation? We don’t always like Brett, but Byrnes makes sure we understand him. Trust Fund Boys takes no prisoners in its disdain for the petty social snobbery of the Hampton’s elite and the bottom feeders that surround them, but the book’s near-total lack of sympathy for this world in no way diminishes the reader’s fascination. It’s kind of like watching the Menendez trial—you know—did those divine brothers really do that? Is that what those people are really like? Rob Byrnes has lessons to teach us this time around, and he wears those lessons on his narrative sleeve. “Don’t try to be something you’re not,” and “success isn’t always measured in dollars,” are two that come immediately to mind. While the majority of the people we meet on this exclusive trip are arrogant bores, the author never lets us forget that real, non-discriminating, worth-knowing individuals are part of every element of society, if you just look for them. I, for one, don’t have a problem with calling a spade a spade, and appreciate Byrnes’ frank candor. I highly recommend this book. |
Jak
Klinikowski is a regular
contributor to The Independent Gay Writer with his "Adventures of
Ineeda Willingbottom, book reviews, and an extensive serial interview
with writer/publisher Warren Ockrassa. |