Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2863816 in Books
• Published on: 1990-09-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

From Publishers Weekly
A male writer meets, and falls self-destructively in love with, a handsome waiter in this superbly wrought novel by art critic Indiana ( Scar Tissue ). The waiter, Gregory, is a talented photographer who's recovering from some of his many addictions--heroin among them. At the same time, the writer is trying to get a grip on his life and work in an era of "gay cancer." While the theme is familiar, the offhand detail and the frequently brilliant turns of phrase that inform this portrait of an exotic relationship contribute to a compelling narrative. Ordinary life in lower Manhattan is depicted with spare but razor-sharp clarity. Equally spare, however, is the nod toward the terror of AIDS; but the verisimilitude of that knowing nod yields compassion where a trenchant or self-pitying approach would have elicited distance (at the very least) in the non-gay reader. But most important is Indiana's portrayal of a human relationship--a portrait whose sincerity and depth makes it a well-polished gem.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Set in the gay artistic subculture of New York's East Village, art critic Indiana's first novel is a story of romantic obsession in the age of AIDS. The unnamed narrator, a 35-year-old writer for a cultural newsweekly, is suddenly infatuated with Gregory, a handsome and emotionally disturbed photographer he meets in a bookstore. Despite misgivings about the nature of his attraction and fear of AIDS, he risks involvement. The result is an increasingly destructive emotional entanglement, a relationship in which the narrator becomes a victim of both the romantic fantasies he projects on Gregory and the younger man's manipulative behavior. While interesting as a study of obsession, the novel falls short when Indiana makes the dramatic situation double as social commentary.
- Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Under Rated
This is one of the most under rated novels of the latter half of the 20th century. Indiana's work is intensely beautiful and poetic, if profane. If it had not been labeled as Gay fiction it would have had a wider audience and greater acceptance. This title should be in print. It will be rediscovered some day and hailed as a great piece of fiction.

Jack Daniels For The Soul
I was given Gary Indiana's book Horse Crazy as a gift. I think the guy who gave it to me was trying to make some kind of point, but since I've never taken advantage of him or been addicted to Heroin, I'm not sure what that point was. Anyways, the guy never really talked to me much after that. But I'm veering from my point.

As I began reading the book I was skeptical that I'd be able to finish it. I was impatient with Gary's writing style. It was imperfect and frustrating. Sentences went on for pages -- long, run-on sentences that didn't give me a chance to breath, taking on multiple ideas and concepts.

I kept reading, though. The more I read the closer I felt to the author. Looking past the writing style, the frantic retelling of the story gives you a view into the tortured mind and heart of Gary Indiana. Throughout his books you're never sure if he's telling you a true story about himself, or if he's retelling a story he heard from a close friend, or if the story is entirely fictional.

Horse Crazy is told from the perspective of the narrator and details his relationship with a foolish boy who claims to be an artist. The author gives the boy money and moral support for his works which are simplistic and show not much devotion or passion.

Throughout the book it's never outright stated but it is implied that the narrator suspects the boy is just putting together the mosaic magazine clipping works of art as a cover for spending the money he's given on drugs (hence the title of the book, Horse Crazy, a euphemism for being addicted to Heroin).

Gary separates himself from the reader, keeping them at arms length, but tells his stories unabashedly, holding nothing back.

Horse Crazy is one of those books that makes you feel like you're recalling a lost love whenever you see it sitting on your shelf and remember turning the pages. It starts out a little frustrating, but it gets better, then when it's over you wish you could go back and re-live it but you know that reading it again would never have the same effect.

The way Gary Indiana writes, you feel concern for both him and the characters in his stories.

Jack Daniels For The Soul
I was given Gary Indiana's book Horse Crazy as a gift. I think the guy who gave it to me was trying to make some kind of point, but since I've never taken advantage of him or been addicted to Heroin, I'm not sure what that point was. Anyways, the guy never really talked to me much after that. But I'm veering from my point.

As I began reading the book I was skeptical that I'd be able to finish it. I was impatient with Gary's writing style. It was imperfect and frustrating. Sentences went on for pages -- long, run-on sentences that didn't give me a chance to breath, taking on multiple ideas and concepts.

I kept reading, though. The more I read the closer I felt to the author. Looking past the writing style, the frantic retelling of the story gives you a view into the tortured mind and heart of Gary Indiana. Throughout his books you're never sure if he's telling you a true story about himself, or if he's retelling a story he heard from a close friend, or if the story is entirely fictional.

Horse Crazy is told from the perspective of the narrator and details his relationship with a foolish boy who claims to be an artist. The author gives the boy money and moral support for his works which are simplistic and show not much devotion or passion.

Throughout the book it's never outright stated but it is implied that the narrator suspects the boy is just putting together the mosaic magazine clipping works of art as a cover for spending the money he's given on drugs (hence the title of the book, Horse Crazy, a euphemism for being addicted to Heroin).

Gary separates himself from the reader, keeping them at arms length, but tells his stories unabashedly, holding nothing back.

Horse Crazy is one of those books that makes you feel like you're recalling a lost love whenever you see it sitting on your shelf and remember turning the pages. It starts out a little frustrating, but it gets better, then when it's over you wish you could go back and re-live it but you know that reading it again would never have the same effect.

The way Gary Indiana writes, you feel concern for both him and the characters in his stories.