Gay Bar: Why We Went Out

The author gives his first hand accounts about going out to the gay bars and clubs while also discussing historical events and putting it into context. I bought the audio book at accompany this, and enjoyed the author’s work.

Interesting insight about the evolution of gay bars and their role in LGBTQ culture — focusing mostly on London, Los Angeles and San Francisco, so the work is naturally of particular interest to readers with an interest in those cities. The book provides an interesting blend of personal experiences and general analysis, with historical references and examples.

Gives a clear picture of gay life in London and San Francisco from the eighties to present day, discussing the changes which are not necessarily for the better.

The author is clearly a competent writer, but this feels like required reading for a gay studies class at a small and elite liberal arts college. Lin’s writing feels a bit intellectual/superior/pedagogical. It’s like you are reading someone who loves the sound of their own voice…a self-annointed authority on the topic (what the exact topic is, I’m still not entirely sure). So, don’t expect a personal and relatable retrospective that covers a recent chapter in gay culture that men of an age thought would last forever. Another reviewer nailed it: The title of the book should be…”Gay Bars, Why I Went Out.” There’s not a lot of “we” in here.I know this is not meant to be homoerotica, but Lin’s expository style is so clinical, he makes gay life come across as self-serving, transactional, and shadowy…which is fun some of the time, but not all of the time. He actually comes across as a bit empty inside.He also seems to equate gay bars with sex clubs and bathhouses, which in reality are very different facets of urban gay life.Bottom line: This book is a bit joyless. I’m sure it’s meant to be empowering/liberating/enlightening, but it comes across to me a bit like internalized homophobia.

After reading Maggie Nelson’s “The Argonauts” I wondered if another book might satiate me. I rather felt I had nowhere to go, until now. The blending of memoir, history and intellectual celebration of perversion-as-queer-identity certainly scratch this itch.

This book took me back years ago when I haunted lots of gay bars in “the good old days”. Enjoyable reflecting on my time in San Francisco and London.

Part memoir, part history and sociology, an interesting read. The author certainly has a good vocabulary, requiring more dictionary searches than most books.

A wild ride. Loved the style and learned so much. I've never read anyone who describes dark rooms so eloquently <3

Very interesting & we’ll written, nice to feel part of the places he writes about, really enjoyable book.

This is pretty thin, there’s no detail or real feelI gave up it went towards dull. Too repetitive, London in the 90’s was crazy, there isn’t a sniff of that in this complete waste of paperPulp it don’t buy it

Thought this would be a history … it’s not… written in a style that speaks well but doesn’t read well. Sex clubs are not gay bars.

Pretentious, luck of respect for the diversity of the queer community, completely misses the point on several occasions. In short, not qualified for the position. Try some storytelling classes.

The sort of thing Larry Townsend was fighting against. Well written but depressing, by someone who had a bad experience on the gay scene thinks we all did (he’s wrong).