BOOK REVIEW: Disorderly Men by Edward Cahill
They say that we should “be who we are.” But what if being who you are costs you everything?
The author of Disorderly Men was my professor back in 2023. In fact, he published the novel—his first—while I was enrolled in his class. This made me a little hesitant to post a review of the book, but I’ve ultimately decided to do it anyway. (I don’t have anything crazy to say, after all!)
Disorderly Men is about three gay men who get caught in a police raid of a Manhattan gay bar. Time-wise, the setting is situated in the early 1960s, before the Stonewall riots. There’s Roger Moorhouse, a closeted banker with a wife and kids in Westchester who longs for normality; Julian Prince, a Columbia University literature professor who’s madly in love with his artist boyfriend Gus; and Danny Duffy, a tough Irish kid from the Bronx whose family has disowned him for his sexual orientation.
Though they come from different walks of life, all of these men have a significant price to pay for their private affairs becoming public. I appreciate how distinct the three main characters are. Danny is perhaps a bit too brave for his own good, but through most of the book you feel he’s done little wrong other than fight to be respected the same way as other men, and it’s hard not to root for him. Julian is my favorite lead, since he is both flawed in profoundly human ways (who has not been cowardly—and hurt a loved one in the process—when the chips were down?) and also sympathetic, a genuinely virtuous person. Plus, while perhaps idealizing and expressed too late, Julian’s adoration for Gus is beautiful.
I have the most mixed feelings about Roger. He’s the type of gay character who is so repressed that, to be blunt, you simultaneously pity him and want to smack him in the face. In one way, he’s a victim of society. He would not be so obsessed with appearing “clean” and “normal” if those values were not imposed on him, and if those values were not declared in opposition to homosexuality. In another way, his futile fixation on trying to be something he’s not—and on imposing his rigid standards on others—is his own responsibility. I find him grating at times, but I also find him quite realistic. This is a kind of man I have probably already met several times in real life. And my frustration with him is, I assume, heavily influenced by the fact that I am an LGBTQ+ person who has matured within a very different social climate.
There’s a subtle suspense present in Disorderly Men that keeps you turning the pages, especially once you get to the middle. I do wish the writing was more raw and less intentionally formed at times, but there’s no doubt Cahill has created a novel with a great deal of precision. The book’s pacing is carefully constructed and only falters a bit at the end.
In my opinion, some of the messy emotional strings are tied up a little too quickly and neatly. Julian’s female fiancée Pen feeling no grief over discovering the true nature of their relationship, as well as turning out to be a lesbian, feels a little too convenient. Ditto for Danny’s family deciding to welcome him back—with his new boyfriend—and realizing that his bullying, homophobic brother Quinn is the problem. (Roger’s confrontation with his wife Corinne is more complicated, so I don’t think my previous judgment applies to their fate.)
There are also a few threads left dangling at the end of the book. What about Danny’s friend Gabriel, who is present and discussed often throughout the book until he’s abruptly sent away to get electroshock conversion therapy by his parents? It’s also pretty unclear where Roger will go from here, and though I believe this ambiguity is deliberate in order to account for the complexity of his situation, I find it somewhat unsatisfying.
That being said, these critiques don’t negate the fact that Disorderly Men is an important, intelligent, and well-crafted novel. I would recommend anyone with a penchant for historical fiction, LGBTQ+ narratives, or both to give this book a try.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐