Lyle and Robert, a gay couple, are visiting their wealthy straight friends, Marian and John, in upstate New York. They swim and relax and discuss life, but old lovers and new arguments disrupt the peaceful surroundings; objects are thrown and someone gets a black eye. The reader is carried swiftly along by a beautiful balance of dialogue and exposition. It feels very naturalistic and yet elegantly written. Here’s Lyle speaking to Robert as they travel by train from Manhattan: “When you’ve been alone in your life in the way I’ve been alone, you may be sad, and you may be lonely, but you have control of your life, because you have complete possession of it. And then when you meet someone – when something like this happens - you feel, one feels - I feel - I feel that control vanishing. And that frightens me.”
