To live as a queer person in our world can often feel as if you are running directly against the wind, with the might of the world being brought to bear on your very existence. And at that point, there are two choices – follow the breeze, or run harder. Taking us back to the 1970s, Patricia Nell Warren takes readers on a race across America for young gay runners who are seeking the very top of their games.
The Front Runner tells a story from the perspective of Harlan Brown, a track coach at the unknown Prescott College. But when three promising young athletes transfer there after being kicked out of their previous institution for being gay, Brown spots an opportunity to break the mould. Billy Sive standing out, he coaches the boys with the Olympic Games in Montréal in mind, but with his growing feelings towards Sive catching wider and wider attention, their journey will be fraught with challenges, pushing them both to their very limits.
I enjoyed this book a lot more than I had ever expected to. The story, particularly being told from Brown’s first-person perspective, gives his characterisation a real personal tone, and allows readers to connect to his character, even if they are not a gay male track coach themselves. This makes the relationship Brown shares with Sive even more personal, as you can see the challenges they both face, and the tolls they can take on both people, a testament to the weight of pressure piled upon them by an unaccepting society.
The book also doesn’t shy away from the concept of athletic failure. Many stories of sportspeople involve an underdog rising slowly through the ranks, facing a challenge but then overcoming it to achieve the ultimate victory and total adoration by their public. Whilst The Front Runner does share many of these factors, it talks an overall different approach, which makes it a lot more effective than using the same tired tropes continuously. And always a fan of a twist ending, the way this story ended was unexpected, shocking and truly heartbreaking.
I also liked the spotlight it shone onto the realities of the queer community in such a hostile time. Whilst this was emphasised too heavily at times, particularly when using outdated language or going into explicit detail, the starkness cuts through the story’s rhetoric and provides a shocking vision into the past (and present), particularly for readers who do not identify as LGBTQ+.
I was pleasantly surprised by The Front Runner. With sporting stories rarely hitting the spot for me, I was very glad to be wrong about this title, as its no-nonsense yet inspiring words provide a welcome break from the tried-and-tested methods. An effective mix of heroism, heartbreak and hard work, this book is a classic of queer literature and one which you should consider picking up for yourself!
Rating: ★★★★☆
The Front Runner (ISBN: 0-9641099-6-4) was published in 1974. A copy is available to borrow from the LGBTQ+ Lending Library in the LGBTQ+ Lounge
