The Front Runner (The Front Runner saga Book 1)

Having recently read several somewhat negative reviews of The Front Runner, a book that I consider one of the seminal works of gay literature, I decided it was time to revisit this old favorite. Out of curiosity I decided to check out the audio-book version and I’m certainly glad that I did.

Truly living up to its title, this powerful book was itself, a Front Runner. It told a story that many in America were ready for, and many others needed to hear. For those of us that lived through this era, the book is still as clear, and as relevant as when it was first released. Most importantly, it’s true …as only a fictional story can be.

I’ll forever remember discovering this classic tale one summer while at college. My embarrassment at the register buying it, was not unlike the first time I bought condoms. Surreptitiously transferring it from my backpack to my bedside table, I purposely waited until my roommate left for his girlfriend’s before feeling that I could read it. Once started I couldn’t put it down. I read through the night. I still remember feeling shattered, and a bit like the world had shifted, as the sun rose the next morning. I finished it in one go, it was truly heart-rending, so much so that I couldn’t bring myself to re-read it for several years.

The story is told in first person, almost as a confession, from the POV of Harlan Brown. Harlan was a gay man who’d come of age in a pre-Stonewall straight world. He’s an ex-Marine, an ex-Villanova miler, a divorced father of two sons, and an ex-high-end hustler. All that and yet still closeted, he’s quietly, somewhat contentedly, coaching track at a prestigious small private college when the book begins.

Then three Olympic level collegiate runners lose their spots on Oregon’s premier team after coming out to their old coach. When they show up on his doorstep and ask to join his team, Harlan’s calm, closeted, collegiate life is shattered. I think it was “Fair do’s” considering how this book shattered me.

Harlan Brown is still only a partly enlightened man. While today his attitudes and ways of expressing himself may seem unacceptable by modern standards, they’re authentic and believable to anyone who experienced that time first hand. Harlan’s overly prim use of the word semen rather than cum, his use of “the gays” as a collective noun, his casual misogyny, even his lamenting the end of the crew-cut are all evocative of an earlier, less enlightened time.

Enter Billy Sive, a young man who grew up in San Francisco, knowing who and what he was. A vegetarian, and a Buddhist, Billy Sive is also a phenomenally gifted runner who wears his heart on his sleeve. Billy Sive, with a gay attorney father, was probably the first 2nd generation gay that any of us ever encountered. And when he expresses a romantic interest in his crusty new coach… you just know that a lot of taboos are going to be challenged.

When the two do finally come together for the first time, the fade to black surrounding the more intimate details is incredibly well handled. The first person narration by Harlan gives the perfect excuse for that reticence.

And the ending… Of course considering it’s time, it might have been expected, but it caught me totally by surprise and I’m certain I wasn’t the only one. The Bantam paperback only showed Harlan in a towel in a locker-room while Billy in a track singlet was donning his spikes. The newer cover foreshadows the ending a bit more clearly. I’ll say no more even now, for fear of spoilers, although the book is approaching its fiftieth anniversary.

Since this tale is told in first person, it’s an ideal candidate for an audio book. And Christian Rummel was a wonderful choice for narrator. Christian’s voice is perfect for the forty year old Harlan. And his measured but almost whispered vocal characterization of the younger, soft spoken Billy sheds a telling light on Billy as well. Billy’s deliberate speaking further colors the conflict surrounding their age gap. While making the issue even more real than just the text does, it also buffers any feelings that the characters are of different maturities. Also, hearing Christian’s voice as Billy when Billy lovingly talks about his father John Sive is remarkable. It adds aspects to that relationship that one is apt to miss from just reading the prose oneself. Christian’s Vince Matti voice also enhances that character. It accentuates aspects of Vince that I only really appreciated after reading the later books in the series.

In some ways, some elements of The Front Runner were autobiographical; Warren came out later in life as a lesbian. Others were prophetic; Warren went on to be involved in several cases involving homosexuality and gay rights, some of which ended up in front of the Supreme court. Strangely Warren set the book in 75, 76, and beyond even though she released it in 74. Looking at how many athletes have come out recently, one is reminded of just what a debt the community owes to this woman for writing about these struggles in the way she did at the time she did it.

If you’ve never read the book, I recommend you do. But approach it as an amazing, heart-rending, but accurate portrait of its times. Just compares this to the laughably stereotyped film Cruising that premiered six years later. One can see just how much more accurate this depiction of those times was. I can also recommend the audiobook as a good way to “get through” some of the more antiquated parts. Even if, like me, you loved the original version of this tale, I still highly recommend listening to the audio-book version. Fully respectful of the masterful text version, (I’ve read it repeatedly over the decades) there are aspects that are brought to light in this audio-book version that makes the story fresh again.

Trigger Warnings: There are plenty of homophobic comments, some out-dated terminology and a description of one victim of childhood sexual abuse that many may find troubling… as well as some gun violence.

I read a lot as a gay closeted midwestern farmboy…..but this book – and the relationship between runner and coach fueled my fantasies…..I was so surprised to later learn that the author was a woman – a wonderful woman….

The fantasies stoked by this book still linger