Wednesday, July 1, 2026--San Antonio
We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian is a novel from 3 years ago that was recommended by the NY Times, NPR, and others. It takes place in New York in the late 1950s and is the story of a bisexual man and a gay man, both 25 years old, who fall in love during that period when it was dangerous to be known to be gay. It's also the story of men from two different classes of society. Nick is a crime reporter of for a newspaper who grew up in a rough Brooklyn neighborhood in a lower middle class family of Italian immigrants. Andy has attended a private residential school and is the son of the owner/publisher of the newspaper and a deceased mother who was an international war correspondent. Andy has been tasked by his father to "learn the ropes" of the business by working as a reporter for a few months so he can take his father's place in the top position. It's the story of two opposites becoming attracted to each other. It starts by Andy noting that Nick is one of the best reporters on the staff and moving into a desk across from him so they can work together as reporters. That leads to them becoming friends and Andy introducing Nick to his fiance, Emily. The 3 of them become friends together. But just before the wedding, the plans fall apart when Emily, in London for an extended stay to care for a dying relative, falls in love with a doctor. Nick and Andy have become so close as colleagues and friends that Nick takes on the task of trying to support Andy in his time of devastation and need. He even invites Andy, who has been living alone in his mother's old apartment, to come and live with him in the guest room he has in his Brooklyn apartment. Rather than leave him alone there, Nick takes Andy on one of his Sunday outings to meet his Italian family. Andy hasn't ever felt he was part of a family since his mother had left his father when he was very young, so the visit gives him a glimpse of what being in a real family is like. As time passes Nick realizes that he has always been attracted to Andy who also starts noticing that he is attracted to Nick and may be something different from being just a straight man. The story is built around the hesitancy of either to accept what is happening between them and the ways this hesitancy keeps either from making a move on the other. It's an up and down rollercoaster ride all the way to the end of the novel. Nick has always been hesitant to let anyone get close enough to him to know he is gay and even distances himself from his family because the question is always raised of when he will find a nice girl and settle down. Andy is more open and flexible in his thinking. It just takes lots of baby steps for either of them to be able to realize what has really happened and to get over their fears about ruining their friendship by being honest and trusting with each other. There are laughable points throughout the book, and it is a good story. It seems very realistic for the time period it takes place except for one major complaint I have. Why does the author have them casually using the word "queer" in desribing themselves? It wasn't until the late 1980s into the 1990s that LGBTQ+ people made the move to take control of that word and use it proudly as a self-identifier; before that it was used only by heterosexuals as a slur (similar to the changes in the use of the "N" word slur against Blacks). How did the author and editors not realize the homosexual and bisexual characters in this story would not have called themselves "Queers" in the 1950s? I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.
