Vulgarian Rhapsody

Gay memoirist (Disasterama!) and novelist (Why Aren’t You Smiling??) Orloff introduces Harris, an aging gay man who lives in late-1990s, dotcom-boom San Francisco. He’s the friend you love to hate, according to the novel’s unnamed, omniscient narrator, to whom Harris has owed $92 for years. Judgmental, never pleased, he looks down on everyone and everything, including his roommate Maxine, a trans woman. Musician Maxine is aging out of the bohemian “scene” but still happy to be a part of the close-knit group of creative types who toil at horrible jobs while trying to make a name for themselves in their craft. All the while, Harris’s and Maxine’s friends attempt to keep their precious community from being overrun by gentrification and tech workers. Maxine’s perspective in the novel also allows readers to see how AIDS ravaged the community, when she notes that almost all of the friends she used to perform with have passed away or moved on.