Plays Well with Others
Plays Well with Others by Allan Gurganus, published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group on February 2, 1999, is a reprint edition comprising 368 pages. This novel presents a vivid portrayal of artistic Manhattan in the vibrant 1980s, focusing on young artists who navigate both playful creativity and serious challenges. The narrative follows Hartley Mims Jr., a Southerner whose pursuit of happiness intertwines with his literary aspirations, as he interacts with a diverse group of friends, including composer Robert Christian Gustafson and the talented Angelina “Alabama” Byrnes.
Readers will find a rich exploration of friendship and artistic ambition amidst the backdrop of a rapidly changing world. The characters support and challenge one another, creating a dynamic interplay of personal and professional relationships. As tragedy strikes, the group confronts the realities of life, ultimately discovering a profound sense of family in their shared experiences. With themes of LGBTQ+ identity and the complexities of human connection, Plays Well with Others offers a nuanced look at the bonds that form in times of joy and sorrow.
Official synopsis Publisher
With great narrative inventiveness and emotional amplitude, Allan Gurganus gives us artistic Manhattan in the wild 1980s, where young artists–refugees from the middle class–hurl themselves into playful work and serious fun. Our guide is Hartley Mims Jr., a Southerner whose native knack for happiness might thwart his literary ambitions. Through his eyes we encounter the composer Robert Christian Gustafson, an Iowa preacher’s son whose good looks constitute both a mythic draw and a major limitation, and Angelina “Alabama” Byrnes, a failed deb, five feet tall but bristling with outsized talent. These friends shelter each other, promote each other’s work, and compete erotically. When tragedy strikes, this circle grows up fast, somehow finding, at the worst of times, the truest sort of family.
Funny and heartbreaking, as eventful as Dickens and as atmospheric as one of Fitzgerald’s parties, Plays Well with Others combines a fable’s high-noon energy with an elegy’s evening grace. Allan Gurganus’s celebrated new novel is a lovesong to imperishable friendship, a hymn to a brilliant and now-vanished world.
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