This is a well-executed, I would even say finely-crafted, but small book. The story is unarresting. I’d like to see these characters have had much more interesting thins to do . . .

It's the thing about novels set in New Orleans — the place can overwhelm the story and the characters. And also, the writer has to carefully avoid not turning the place into a cliche.Unfortunately, Grimsley slips into both of the crevices. And he's such a skillful writer....But "Boulevard," even with its droning on and on about galleries and loggias or the Cabildo, is an interesting and fast read. But part of me wanted to know more about Newell. This is a story about his coming into an identity....

I am a Jim-Grims fan to the core, but I'll agree with other fans who put this at the bottom of the list. There's still plenty of good stuff going on -- Grimsley has a way with language, and there were several sentences I read over and over again to memorize, or jotted down in my notebook. I loved the hint of SM (really want to see the Grims try an all-out BDSM novel. It would punch 50 Shades in the face. Or somewhere else.) But ultimately it was hard to connect with the main character, and I got...

Interesting take on the lives of four protagonists points of view all told separately, yet somehow weave all together. My only problem is that as innovative as the book is written, it feels lazy. I also think I have heard this story before told in many different ways -- coming out stories. It is better than many though and it is worth the read.

How did the author manage to make a book about a young gay man who moves to New Orleans during the height of the 1970's disco era and gets a job in a porn store such an incredibly boring read?! This is normally something I would relish with utter joy and delight, but instead it felt like an awful assigned text that I had to wade through. Very, very disappointing.

DNF at 50%.Jim Grimsley is one of my all time favorite authors, his novels tend to be quick, engaging reads that I, a victim of domestic abuse, can always relate to. The issue with Boulevard is that a novel about a twink from Alabama working at a sex shop really isn't relatable. Theoretically, this type of narrative should be right up my alley but for some reason Boulevard just got repetitive and boring.

A confusing/ed and unsatisfying book without much of a story or a purpose. The indirect streams of consciousness we are presented with in a very dry and minimalist language can at time become tedious in their pointless minutiae and I often found myself hoping for something to actually happen (usually in vain). The little that does actually happen is unexplained and usually baffling.On page 266, one of the characters informs us they think the hero is "possessed of a larger personality than usual"...

This is the last book by Jim Grimsley I will read. It was boring, boring, boring. The plot was boring, the characters were boring, the sex was boring. It was completely depressing and had not one bit of up-beat action or even one interesting character. The protagonist, a teenage boy named Newell, with whom I assume Grimsley wants his readers to empathize, was a hopelessly naive teenage kid from some backwater place in Alabama. It took the first 137 pages before he realized he really, really was

Looking at when I started this book and when I finished, it seems to have taken forever. What with Covid-19 and all the stay at home activity, reading seems to have been replaced by other things for the last few weeks. However, it is also true that this is a book that I read some time ago, back when it was first published if I remember, in 2003.As a current resident of New Orleans, I have a different take on it that I had when I first read it. Newell is a boy from Pastel, Alabama. It occurred to...

I like Grimsley as an author and this book did little to change my positive opinion of him. Read this book in a single day it was a nice lite read that generally kept moving along. Also a number of interesting people appear within the narrative. I wondered however if the lead character's motto was " I've always relied on the kindness of strangers."

BOULEVARD: Mr. G's New Orleans the 'hood' novel. For pages after pages his unconflicted main character was dragged through over cloned and boring vignettes of pre-AIDS heaven New Orleans life style.The story line and it's writing was not impressive, basically I could not wait to finish this book and get it over with.Probably it was Mr. Grimsley's own play ground back in his days. He might had known these types of characters and related to them, but he should have just kept them to himself.

Didn't finish

I was hoping for maybe another Dream Boy or Comfort and Joy. Instead all I got was lots of cruising in 1970s New Orleans. Le yawn.

I found this book really compelling. I don't know that i would say that i enjoyed it, because i spent a lot of time feeling so sad for several of the characters, but the writing was evocative, beautiful and startling and grotesque and languid and i'm very glad that i read it. Caveat: you best be down for some graphic sex and some BDSM stuff if you pick this one up. If you can't handle reading the details of such scenes, you won't make it through this book.

A clean faced kid from rural Alabama escapes to New Orleans and starts a descent into depravity. Does he escape? This is my least favorite book by Grimsley. It is well written but so slow. Newell is slow and boring. So is his story. It was like I feel when laying around at home with nothing to do or want to do. Perhaps a point of the novel. I could not even develop an image of him in my mind—unusual for me. The most interesting character one Miss Sophia seems to pop up out of nowhere to add comm...

Apparently lots of people don't like this book - which I find odd - Grimsley writes beautifully - in the years since I first read this book images - the boy buying a glass - have stayed with me as much as the more erotic and colouful episodes. So all I can say is that I loved this book, would recommend it to anyone and everyone and can not fathom those who didn't like it.

i couldnt even finish this book. it was interesting at first and i loved all the references of new orleans streets, landmarks, and history, but after reading the chapter about miss sophia and upon meeting mark it just flat lined and got boring, then i realized that this story really has no plot. i tried reading the entire thing but im sad to say this is the first book that i wont be reading to the end in years

I've liked everything I've read by Grimsley. This might be my favorite. Seeing the seamy side of New Orleans in the 1970s would be delightful enough, but add the fact that you're seeing it through the eyes of a teen from a small town in Alabama who's come to the Big Easy to start life on his own. My heart goes out to the boy as I enjoy his life in a way he can't because he's living it.

a fan Mr Grimsley, I must say this book was quite a letdown. Not once did I feel any real connection to the main characters, which is certainly a feat bc I have lived through very similar circumstances as Newell.Moving at a snail's pace, I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. I actually bought this over a year ago but shelved it after about 70 pages bc I was bored. I now see I wasn't missing much.Not that this is a bad book by any means but after closing it I was left with a "Huh,

This book is a very good book about some of the charecters that live in New Orleans.Jim lived here during his college years and has a real feeling for this city. He lives in Mississippi now I believe. He attends the Saints and Sinners in New Orleans on a regular basis and is a very interesting person. He could have added even more bizarre charecters but did a good job.