As a friend of mine who is originally from NY said “all those people who go out to the ass end of Long Island don’t interest me.”

I have a friend who (in 1974) came out in college, managed it and continues to thrive. Now, I’d bet a lot of money that coming out in a small private school in 1974 as a 20 year old would be a lot different than a 27 year old in Manhattan.

If Glynn had taken the $2000 he spent for the house share (while his parents continue to support him) and got a shrink I might have been more interested. But then he might not have been able to write a book about it.

I agree, Susie. I feel for anyone that has to go through that internal struggle with their identity. A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine from high school passed away under unclear circumstances. He was gay and came out either in college or after. I had thought he’d finally been able to be who he truly was and was happy, but he was clearly still struggling. He would also be categorized as a “white privileged male.”

On the drinking/partying side, I’ve done numerous share houses in the Hamptons and he captured it perfectly. There is a lot of drinking and partying (and if he’d left that out the book would’ve been totally inaccurate), but there are also deeper experiences of intense bonding, friendship, and a feeling of escaping from the loneliness of NYC that he captured perfectly.

Thanks for the good wishes, Madeline.

I agree that Out East is a little over the top and heavy on the drinking and partying. However, privileged white people also have serious problems and things they struggle to work out. I’m a little sensitive about it right now because a week ago one of my son’s best friends killed himself because he wasn’t able to work through his issues and he’d definitely fall into the category of a privileged white young adult. Everybody’s path is different and some people have a harder time navigating their way through it. So far, to me, it feels like John Glynn struggled a lot, despite his advantages in life and I’m finding his awakening very interesting.

I had no idea Mackintosh was a thriller writer. This is the first book by her that I’ve ever read and it’s definitely not a thriller. It’s excellent, however!

Thanks, Deb. I’m not sure about Elizabeth Gilbert. Check back tomorrow when I’ll share what I thought of City of Girls.

After the End is sad, but really well done. I’m at about 75% now and love it.

I’ve listened to about 3 hours now and really like Out East.

Thank you, Angela. I will!

I wanted to like Out East but just had to quit at 2/3s. And wish I had done it sooner. Somehow I don’t think personal epiphanies and drinking one’s guts out go hand-in-hand. Nor did the author make the connection himself and Matt in a way that spoke to me (or that was even particularly convincing). It was way more about the OTT partying of extremely privileged white people than it was about “finding oneself.”