"Out East: Memoir of a Montauk Summer," by John Glynn

Readers of this blog may remember that I am easily seduced by books about beach towns on the East Coast, especially those on Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Cape Cod, and the like. So when I saw the book “Out East: Memoir of a Montauk Summer”(Grand Central, 2019), by John Glynn, I was sold. The only thing that stopped me from checking it out of the library, just for a minute, was – being honest here – that it was by a male author; most such books are by women. But I quickly got over that. In fact, I read the whole book in a four-hour sitting (OK, the last two hours I was lying in bed). The book, as the title says, is a memoir, rather than the usual novels in this genre. (Yet another memoir, like the last three posts here! But very different than two of them in that it is about a fairly privileged, young white man, in contrast to the two memoirs about young African-American men who, despite their talents and ambitions, have had to struggle with racial discrimination.) It has some of the same elements as the aforementioned summer/beach novels: many scenes at the beach, in beach houses, and at bars and restaurants. There are also a few scenes “back home” in New York, but even those scenes are filled with thinking about, planning for, and talking about one’s time in the beach town. Montauk is, as the book helpfully explains for those of us (let’s say, those of us who live on the West Coast) who know the mystique of the place but are a bit unclear on its actual location, on Long Island, a sort of extension of the fabled Hamptons. The author, Glynn, is a man in his mid-twenties, loving living in New York as he starts his career and life there. He is thrilled to be invited to join in on a “share house” in Montauk, where some old friends (mostly from his Boston College days) and many new ones have an elaborate schedule of who can be there which weekends (eight weekends per guest) and holidays, along with a list of fees, rules, responsibilities, and room assignments. I can summarize the share house participants’ activities in Montauk as follows: going to the beach, eating, drinking, partying, and hooking up with various others in the house or that they meet in bars. I must say -- not judging but just observing -- that a huge part of the book has to do with the constant drinking. Glynn is in heaven; he loves the people, the partying, the feeling of belonging. But he is also lonely because he doesn’t have a partner. Although many of the house members are gay, Glynn sees himself as straight. However – and readers can see this coming a mile away, so I am not giving away suspenseful plot points – he falls for a male housemate, and realizes that he is either gay or bisexual. The setting in Montauk becomes the context for Glynn to finally confront his own sexuality. Glynn writes well about the experiences of being a house sharer, and more generally about being a young person starting off his adult life. He also writes well about his gradual understanding of his true self. The author interweaves these aspects very well. He is in essence taking a generally lightweight (but great fun to read) genre and delicately infusing it with important life realizations.