Tramps Like Us: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Abused by his father and stifled by closeted life as a teenager in Kansas City, Joe, the wide-eyed narrator of Tramps Like Us, graduates from high school in 1974 and hits the road hitchhiking. But it isn't until he reunites with Ali, his hometown's other queer outcast, that Joe finds a partner in crime. When the two of them finally wash up in New Orleans, they discover a hedonistic paradise of sex, drugs, and music, a world that only expands when they move to San Francisco in 1979. Told with openhearted frankness, Joe Westmoreland's Tramps Like Us is an adventure of self-discovery and belonging set across a consequential American decade. In New Orleans and San Francisco, and on the roads in between, Joe and Ali find communities of misfits to call their own. The days and nights blur, a blend of LSD and heroin, new wave and disco, orgies and friends, and the spontaneity of youth-all of which is threatened the moment Joe, Ali, and seemingly everyone around them are diagnosed with HIV. But miraculously, the stories survive. As Eileen Myles writes, "I love this book most of all because it is so mortal." Back in print after two decades and with an introduction by Myles, Tramps Like Us is an ode to a nearly lost generation, an autofictional chronicle of America between gay liberation and the AIDS crisis, and an evergreen testament to the force of friendship.

Reviews

"Joe Westmoreland's Tramps Like Us is irresistible: a spare, unflinching, generous & lusty masterpiece of adventure writing, that great adventuring queer quest for sex & friendship & love & home." --Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

"An achievement, in the major category." Hilton Als, author of My Pinup

"Tramps Like Us is charming and sweet, even when it's about sex and drugs - even in the face of the inevitable loss of health, life and innocence. A necessary reminder of the beauty of being young and queer and free. This book is a gift. Thanks, Joe." Imogen Binnie, author of Nevada

"The journey queer people must take to understand the odd hand that fate has dealt them is one of the great dramas of our time and Joe Westmoreland's trip is one of the best I've ever come across. For younger gay people it's a first hand look at our culture being formed. For older queers it's a heart-breaker. I was crying by the end but strangely proud of my own life and struggle. This is a very important book." --Robert Plunket, author of Love Junkie

"Joe Westmoreland has created a story that's epic and intimate, raunchy and reflective, a love letter to exploration, sex, and the glorious messiness of trying to survive while the ground keeps shifting under your feet. Most of all, it's a story about the meaning-making power of friendship and the families we create as we stumble through the world. Clear eyed, funny, and deeply moving, Tramps Like Us is a marvel." --Thomas Grattan, author of In Tongues

"Wow, once you get on the Tramps Like Us train, you'll never want to get off. What a gorgeous, drug-fueled, scrappy, raunchy, hilarious, and heartbreaking adventure. In the most wonderful way, Joe Westmoreland disrupts the traditional coming of age storyimagine if Tom and Huck were queer and loved getting high and sleeping with each other! It was by the skin of his teeth that Westmoreland escaped his abusive father and hitched a ride to freedom, where he found his best friend, his true family, and his true self in the hedonistic, pre-AIDS era of New Orleans and San Francisco. Though, of course, things fall apartfreedom's just another word for nothing left to loseand AIDS does rear its head, and so this is also a story of unimaginable loss. Most of all, it should be required reading." --Alexandra Auder, author of Don't Call Me Home

Author Bio

Joe Westmoreland is the author of the novel Tramps Like Us. He lives in New York City with his partner, the artist Charles Atlas.