From the Publisher

A high school jock and nerd fall in love senior year, only to part after an amazing summer of discovery to attend their respective colleges. They keep in touch at first, but then slowly drift apart.

Flash forward twenty years.

Travis and Craig both have great lives, careers, and loves. But something is missing .... Travis is the first to figure it out. He's still in love with Craig, and come what may, he's going after the boy who captured his heart, even if it means forsaking his job, making a fool of himself, and entering the great unknown. Told in narrative, letters, checklists, and more, this is the must-read novel for anyone who's wondered what ever happened to that first great love.

Publishers Weekly

Kluger's latest epistolary novel (after the well-received Last Days of Summer) is an engrossing, often laugh-out-loud tale of two unlikely lovers. High school jock Craig McKenna and Broadway musical-obsessed Travis Puckett fall in love during their senior year at the Beckley School in Tarrytown, N.Y., spend a summer in Manhattan, then drift tearfully away to different colleges: Travis to USC, Craig to Harvard. Twenty years later, oddball Travis, now a history professor at his alma mater, is a favorite with students thanks to some unorthodox teaching methods, but he's laughably unlucky in love. An injury ended Craig's college football career, and he's now an upstate New York attorney with activist inclinations and a soft spot for runaways. He's also about to marry long-term boyfriend Clayton-though he's never forgotten his first romance. As Travis wades through the dating pool (most of his dates score badly on his "Boyfriend Checklist") and doles out advice to his straight screenwriter roommate Gordo, Craig takes on the biggest case of his life: a run for the state assembly. When Travis becomes determined to reunite with Craig, he sets off on a wild cross-country adventure, providing perfect fodder for Gordo's ultimate screenplay. In true fairy-tale fashion, Travis insinuates himself back into Craig's life, but will the pair end up happily ever after? Though the narrative is overlong, Kluger keeps it absorbing with a parade of newspaper articles, letters, diary entries, checklists, court transcripts and charts, all composed to brilliant comic and dramatic effect. (May) Forecast: This sweet, breezy story will score high with gay readers, but it should also charm anyone who's ever lost a love, and then found him-or her-again. Five-city author tour. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

• Reading Group Guide
• Read an Excerpt
• Read a Sample Chapter

Reading Group Guide

Introduction

A high school jock and nerd fall in love senior year, only to part after an amazing summer of discovery to attend their respective colleges. They keep in touch at first, but then slowly drift apart. Flash forward twenty years.

Travis and Craig both have great lives, careers, and loves. But something is missing ... Travis is the first to figure it out. He's still in love with Craig, and come what may, he's going after the boy who captured his heart, even if it means forsaking his job, making a fool of himself, and entering the great unknown. Told in narrative, letters, checklists, and more, this is the must-read novel for anyone who's wondered what ever happened to that first great love.

Questions for Discussion

1. Travis and Craig meet in 1978 and forge a friendship that becomes true love. Neither of them seem to experience much angst about being gay. Was this realistic for this time and place? Why or why not? Was it believable that Gordo was accepting of Travis's sexuality?


2. Travis had managed to make himself "invisible" to the rest of the school to avoid being bullied. When he becomes friends with Craig, he loses this defense. What other ways does Craig change Travis? How does Travis change Craig?


3. Craig suffers no repercussions from his classmates because of his relationship with Travis, even when Craig publicly rescues Travis from the school bully by pelting him with baseballs. How does this affect their relationship? How does Travis rescue Craig?


4. Discuss the ways in which Travis and Craig's magical summer mirrors the story of Brigadoon, where the characters come to life one day every100 years. Are there other parts of the story that remind you of Brigadoon? What about other musicals?


5. Could an obsessive neatnik like Travis actually live with a slob such as Gordo? Aside from comic relief, how does their relationship push the narrative forward? Can straight and gay men forge strong bonds, without sexual tension, as Gordo and Travis do?


6. After they part, Travis and Craig create their own extended families, which ultimately become intertwined. How would you define "family" as it means to the characters in this novel?


7. Is dating in real life as dismal as Travis's dating life post-Craig? Is a checklist such as Travis's useful for finding love? What would be on your checklist? To what lengths would you go for a chance at love?


8. During Travis's quest to find Craig, he nearly decides to stop several times. What keeps him pushing forward? Craig tried to find Travis one time after they parted. Does this mean Craig doesn't love Travis as much as Travis loves him? Why did Travis wait so long?


9. Describe how Gordo's relationship with his father changes. Does Craig's relationship with his mother change? How do you know? Compare Gordo's relationship with his father to Craig's relationship with his mother.


10. Eventually, all the characters find love in Almost Like Being in Love. Does the story end in the way you wanted? Why did the author choose this title?

About the Author

Steve Kluger shook hands with Lucille Ball when he was 12. He's since lived an additional 39 years, but nothing much registered after that. A card-carrying baby boomer whose entire existence was shaped by the lyrics to Abbey Road, Workingman's Dead and Annie Get Your Gun, he has written extensively on subjects as far-ranging as World War II, rock and roll, and the Titanic, and as close to the heart as baseball and the Boston Red Sox (which frequently have nothing to do with one another). He's also forged a somewhat singular path as a civil rights advocate, campaigning for a "Save Fenway Park" initiative (which qualifies as a civil right if you're a Red Sox fan), counseling gay teenagers, and -- on behalf of Japanese American internment redress -- lobbying the Department of the Interior to restore the baseball diamond at the Manzanar National Historic Site. He plans to run for public office himself, provided he can be persuaded not to propose Carol Channing's birthday as a federal holiday. Meanwhile, he donates half of his spare time to Lambda Legal Defense and gives the rest of it to his nieces and nephew: Emily and Noah, Bridgette, Audrey, Elisa and Paloma -- the six cutest kids who ever lived.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Travis and Craig

The Beckley Bugle

McKenna Earns Victory Cup

All-star quarterback and shortstop Craig McKenna has been awarded Beckley's Victory Cup as the year's most outstanding athlete, in the first unanimous vote since the Cup was instituted in 1943. Leading the Black-and-Grey to a 10-0 gridiron record in the fall, and with an unassailable eleven-game hitting streak in the spring, McKenna will be presented with the Cup at commencement exercises next month—a fitting farewell as he departs for Harvard and law school in September. Way to go, Craigo!

First Senior Projects Turned In

Three weeks ahead of the curve, Travis Puckett is the first to submit his completed Senior Project to Mr. Naylor and the English Department. Puckett—this year's Sheet Monitor in the dorm's laundry room—has titled his thesis, "Put the Blame on Mame." In it, he examines the purported ties between Patrick Dennis' fictional aunt and the Marxist-Leninist dogma of the late 1940s. "Auntie Mame was a despot," he insists. "The House Un-American Activities Committee would have had her shot on sight." If you say so, Trav.

Stagehands Needed For Brigadoon

This year's spring play, produced by Beckley's boys and Mary Immaculate's girls, will be Lerner & Loewe's timeless and everpopular classic, Brigadoon. Under the capable direction of art teacher Pauline Hawkins, the musical will run for three performances during the weekend before commencement. Though the leads have already been cast (sorry, guys), Mrs. Hawkinsadvises this reporter that "we still need a stage crew." Those willing to volunteer should do so immediately. All others will be drafted.

Craig McKenna
Beckley School
Room 311
Tarrytown, New York

5/5/78

English Assignment
My Obituary
by Craig McKenna

(Note to Mr. Naylor: I'm pretending it's being written for the Village Voice, so there may be some profane words in it. But not alot.)

A legend has left us—buried beneath the epitaph he long ago chose for himself: Craig McKenna, laid at 15. And who among us can forget the many things he was?

A world-famous Jets quarterback who threw a 98-yard pass during sudden death in Super Bowl XVI. Namath shit a brick.

A world-famous Red Sox slugger who single-handedly brought the World Series title back to Boston for the first time since 1918.

A world-famous rock and roller who packed the Garden with his bass guitar, his T-shirt off, his jeans way tight, and sweat pouring off the body that made them all horny.They called it McKennaMania.

A world-famous attorney who wasn't afraid to go after pain-in-the-ass defendants like U.S. Steel, the Mafia, and France.

And finally a world-famous gigolo who left a string of broken-hearted heiresses strewn across four continents.

He will be missed.

Yeah, right. The one time I accidentally said "hell" in front of Naylor, he threw up on Othello.

The way I've got it figured, there's three ways I can pull this off—and one's only a maybe.

1. Bite the bullet, see if it flies, and hope that Harvard's not allowed to take back an admissions certificate even if I flunk English at zero hour.
2. Sweet-talk Kerry Fusaro, Tom Lee, or Mike Scherago into making changes, but don't hold your breath. Everybody knows that jocks can't handle words with more than one syllable in them. Except me.
3. (This one's the maybe.) Ask Travis Puckett, the Hello Dolly guy. Even with the blue Van Heusen shirts he's smart, teachers like him, and he was the only one of us who volunteered for Brigadoon without getting threatened first. Come to think of it, he also hasn't said Word One to me in four years, even when we pass each other in the hall. Maybe I called him something slimy in ninth grade back in the days when I was still an asshole. Or maybe he just doesn't like me. (How is that possible?)

Stick with Number 2. You're better off with a buddy who can't spell than an enemy who can.

Read a Sample Chapter

Almost Like Being in Love

Perennial

Chapter One

Travis and Craig

The Beckley Bugle

McKENNA EARNS VICTORY CUP

All-star quarterback and shortstop Craig McKenna has been awarded Beckley's Victory Cup as the year's most outstanding athlete, in the first unanimous vote since the Cup was instituted in 1943. Leading the Black-and-Grey to a 10–0 gridiron record in the fall, and with an unassailable eleven-game hitting streak in the spring, McKenna will be presented with the Cup at commencement exercises next month -- a fitting farewell as he departs for Harvard and law school in September. Way to go, Craigo!

FIRST SENIOR PROJECTS TURNED IN

Three weeks ahead of the curve, Travis Puckett is the first to submit his completed Senior Project to Mr. Naylor and the English Department. Puckett -- this year's Sheet Monitor in the dorm's laundry room -- has titled his thesis, "Put the Blame on Mame." In it, he examines the purported ties between Patrick Dennis' fictional aunt and the Marxist-Leninist dogma of the late 1940s. "Auntie Mame was a despot," he insists. "The House Un- American Activities Committee would have had her shot on sight." If you say so, Trav.

STAGEHANDS NEEDED FOR BRIGADOON

This year's spring play, produced by Beckley's boys and Mary Immaculate's girls, will be Lerner & Loewe's timeless and everpopular classic, Brigadoon. Under the capable direction of art teacher Pauline Hawkins, the musical will run for three performances during the weekend before commencement. Though the leads have already been cast (sorry, guys), Mrs. Hawkins advises this reporter that "we still need a stage crew." Those willing to volunteer should do so immediately. All others will be drafted.

Craig McKenna -- BECKLEY SCHOOL
Room 311 -- TARRYTOWN, NEW YORK

5/5/78

English Assignment
My Obituary
by Craig McKenna

(Note to Mr. Naylor: I'm pretending it's being written for the Village Voice, so there may be some profane words in it. But not alot.)

A legend has left us -- buried beneath the epitaph he long ago chose for himself: CRAIG McKENNA, LAID AT 15. And who among us can forget the many things he was?

A world-famous Jets quarterback who threw a 98-yard pass during sudden death in Super Bowl XVI. Namath shit a brick.

A world-famous Red Sox slugger who single-handedly brought the World Series title back to Boston for the first time since 1918.

A world-famous rock and roller who packed the Garden with his bass guitar, his T-shirt off, his jeans way tight, and sweat pouring off the body that made them all horny.They called it McKennaMania.

A world-famous attorney who wasn't afraid to go after pain-in-the-ass defendants like U.S. Steel, the Mafia, and France.

And finally a world-famous gigolo who left a string of broken-hearted heiresses strewn across four continents.

He will be missed.

Yeah, right. The one time I accidentally said "hell" in front of Naylor, he threw up on Othello.

The way I've got it figured, there's three ways I can pull this off -- and one's only a maybe.

1. Bite the bullet, see if it flies, and hope that Harvard's not allowed to take back an admissions certificate even if I flunk English at zero hour.
2. Sweet-talk Kerry Fusaro, Tom Lee, or Mike Scherago into making changes, but don't hold your breath. Everybody knows that jocks can't handle words with more than one syllable in them. Except me.
3. (This one's the maybe.) Ask Travis Puckett, the Hello Dolly guy. Even with the blue Van Heusen shirts he's smart, teachers like him, and he was the only one of us who volunteered for Brigadoon without getting threatened first. Come to think of it, he also hasn't said Word One to me in four years, even when we pass each other in the hall. Maybe I called him something slimy in ninth grade back in the days when I was still an asshole. Or maybe he just doesn't like me. (How is that possible?)

Stick with Number 2. You're better off with a buddy who can't spell than an enemy who can.

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Excerpted from Almost Like Being in Love by Kluger, Steve Excerpted by permission.
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