Life Drawing
Report an issue
Tell us what's wrong and we'll take a look.
Thanks – we got it. We'll review and follow up if needed.
Born in Iowa to the sounds of Bob and Bing Crosby and the Dorsey brothers, Mickey grows up to the comforting images of his living room TV and the reassuring ruts of his parents' life. During the restless summer of his senior year in high school, drifting away from the girlfriend he could never quite love, Mickey spends a night with another boy, and his world will never be the same.
On a barge floating down the Mississippi, Mickey falls in love with James, a black card player from New Orleans, and in time the two of them settle, bristling with sexual intensity, in the French Quarter - until a brief affair destroys James's trust and sends Mickey to the drugs and sordid life of Los Angeles.
Originally published in 1991, it was Grumley's only novel, completed in the months leading to his death from AIDS as he was cared for by his lover Robert Ferro. This new edition contains the original foreword by Edmund White (A Saint from Texas) and afterword by George Stambolian (Gay Men's Anthologies Men on Men), close friends of the couple.
"A simple, classic, engaging, and beautifully written tale of a boy who ran away from home, a man who didn't make it in the movies, an artist who found himself earlier than most and did it all west of the Mississippi, in places which, while very American, few Americans have ever been." - Andrew Holleran
"Life Drawing affirms the rich complexity of passion in the story of a small-town boy's difficult journey to manhood. Michael Grumley's crisp, direct language brings to life the demanding wonder of sexuality and the delicate tightrope of love between black men and white men." - Melvin Dixon
"Grumley's graceful and telling memoir of a youth at first nearly idyllic then very nearly misspent is rooted as deeply in the American Midwest - its river-rich loam, its high moral soil - as any story by Mark Twain or Sherwood Anderson. Like their work, I expect it will continue to charm and surprise and provoke for some time to come." - Felice Picano
"Life Drawing is the work of a true writer. It's the most physical book I've ever read this side of pornography. Not a word's out of place." - Ned Rorem
"What a moving experience to have Michael Grumley with us again in the energy, shape, beauty, and wisdom of his first published novel. The economy of his line is remarkable, as is the powerful story he tells. Once I started the book I couldn't put it down." - Julia Markus
Michael Grumley
Michael Grumley was an American artist and author. Born in Bettendorf, Iowa, he attended the University of Denver, the City College of New York and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He received a B.S. Degree with a major in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.Grumley was interested in cryptozoology and was the author of a book on Bigfoot ("There are Giants in the Earth"). In the book Grumley concluded that anthropoid giants once roamed the earth, and that today there are still isolated survivors which he claimed are living in tunnels and caves.In 1970, with his partner Robert Ferro, he wrote "Atlantis" which attracted widespread attention. He wrote the column "Uptown" for the New York Native. He was a founding member of The Violet Quill, a New York writers group which included Ferro, Edmund White, Andrew Holleran and others who sought to authentic voice to gay fiction. He later documented life in Manhattan in a series of books. "Life Drawing" is his only long-form work of fiction.Grumley and Ferro are buried together under the Ferro-Grumley memorial in Rockland Cemetery, Sparkill, New York. Following their deaths, the Ferro-Grumley Foundation was created and endowed the annual Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT fiction.
Why Readwise Books?
Readwise Books is an ebook & audiobook platform that automatically logs how much you and your friends read, making it fun and easy to read more. Learn more →