The Man on the Third Floor

By: Anne Bernays

Narrated by: Paul Michael

Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Walter Samson is a successful book editor in post-World War II New York. He has more than enough money, an interesting wife, two smart children, and reason to believe he’s leading the good American life - until a chance meeting with Barry Rogers. Barry is blue-collar, handsome, single, and poor.

Walter is instantly drawn to Barry, and despite the considerable risks, installs him in the Samson’s three-story house on the Upper East Side, where the two men try to keep their amorous relationship secret.

Against a backdrop of McCarthy-era fear, with its doleful consequences and with society’s pervasive homophobia, Walter manages to alter the direction and course of his life, losing much but gaining more.

Anne Bernays is the author of over a dozen books, including Growing up Rich. Her writing has appeared in the Nation and The New York Times, among others.

©2012 Anne Bernays (P)2012 Blackstone Audio

Critic reviews

“It’s what Edith Wharton or Louis Auchincloss might have written had they been free to write about a middle-aged and apparently happy man who finds himself falling in love with another man.” (Michael Korda)

|“I just love this book. It’s my favorite of all her books by light-years.” (Annie Dillard, Pulitzer Prize–winning author)

"Bernays deftly articulates the difficulties faced by homosexuals during the McCarthy witch-hunt years…[She] explores a dramatic era in American history and the psyches of her characters with equal ease in this well-written and entertaining new novel." ( Publishers Weekly)

Excellent

This is an excellent book. The writing is absolutely exquisite, and the narration is perfect! I was actually sad when it was over. I loved everything about it and I highly recommend it.

Surprise delight

I liked the bromance and all the many details of the times in which they lived. It was very real.

Takes me back.

I remember the problems my friends went through, and how NYC was a haven. We have lost our urbanity.

Sweet In Many Ways - Not What I Would Call A Romance Story

This is an overall interesting book - different from others I’d read. As it takes place in a different time, I felt myself hosting a lot of judgements that may not be fair.

I’m finding a disturbing and difficult pattern in some of the “escape” (romance) books. The first being - anything that falls into sexual assault makes me uncomfortable with a “romance” label. Anything that has an assault on a child for sure kicks that FAR out of “romance.”

I really don’t know if it’s fair to classify this as a romance. It is, and isn’t. It’s more about “people” as they navigate a time before Stonewall and Pride parades, and so men having secret affairs - while realistic - I don’t find “romantic.” The other family members and the struggles make me to sad to feel whims of “romance.”

Still - the book is quite well written and the story is very intriguing! But for how it’s classified, if you’re expecting anything romantic or slightly erotic, I’d be concerned if anyone felt “aroused” by this one.

A great book

it was good listen, with lots of history about being gay in the 50's. He was lucky to have a place to keep his love and make him part of his family.

no retribution for being gay

I loved this book, pretty realistic, and Walter was not punished for being who he was.

Imagine Don Draper discovering he’s gay

The story drew me in.
Narrator was excellent.
This book was very entertaining from start to finish.

Dryer than day old bread

If this was supposed to be a love story you can’t tell. While Walter talks about his passionate love for Barry there are no intimate scenes to back these claims up. I don’t mean intimate in a sexual way, necessarily, but also in the way they interact. There is just no tangible feeling of love. Also something about the way Walter expresses things makes it hard to believe and therefore connect with him, and since the story is told entirely from his perspective, that connection to or support for him is vital and yet missing. This book is a pass for me and I wouldn’t recommend it.

No.

I did not enjoy this title. Stilted, Passages border on being antisemetic. Not for me.