GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

JANUARY 8, 1999

Evenings Out

MARK ODNELL

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Let nothing you dismay

One last holiday tale for midwinter reading

Let Nothing You Dismay

by Mark O'Donnell

Knopf, $22.00 hardcover

Reviewed by John Baker

Christmas is definitely over, and if you are reading this, you have obviously survived the yearly orgy of socializing and consumption that marks our celebration of the birth of the savior and the winter solstice.

Before you banish all thoughts of the season from your mind, Ohio native Mark O'Donnell's new novel Let Nothing You Dismay deserves your attention for some midwinter reading pleasure.

Our hero, Tad Leary, has just fallen victim to an unwarranted charge of indecent behavior with a child, and is soon to be homeless as the holidays go into their home stretch the week before Christmas. Although unemployed with the prospect of an extended stay at the Salvation Army hanging over his head, and definitely single, Tad is rich in one thing-invitations to parties and other festive holiday functions. In fact, he has seven events to attend in one day.

From reading the dust jacket, one might assume that Let Nothing You Dismay will be an exercise in arch queenly banter replete with requisite references to the celebrities of the moment that has been so common in gay-themed novels of late. Thankfully, this is not the case because most of Tad's invitations have nothing to do with the charmed life of the gay ghetto.

Fittingly, he starts at a family brunch where, as you might imagine, the ghost of

Donna Reed holds no sway. His oldest brother has just survived a suicide attempt after business reversals, the kids are a little rowdy, Dad is tipsy, and Mom hopes that stoically withstanding all of this will earn her some time off from Purgatory. From there, Tad must endure a performance art piece by an acquaintance and a stealth raid on the Christmas party of his now former employer.

The day ends at the swank penthouse bash of a former trick who had unintentionally invited Tad to mingle with the glitterati.

Mark O'Donnell

O'Donnell's talent here is to extract the humor from the pathos in a way that avoids the cheap gay humor for more substantial revelations about the social bonds that bind us in myriad ways that transcend the Christmas season.

John Baker is a Chronicle contributing writer in Austin, Texas