Fellow Travelers

By: Thomas Mallon

Narrated by: Christian Barillas

Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

NOW A SHOWTIME LIMITED SERIES STARRING MATT BOMER, JONATHAN BAILEY, AND ALLISON WILLIAMS

• A searing historical novel set in 1950s Washington, D.C.—a world of dominated by personalities like Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and Joe McCarthy—and infused with political drama, unexpected humor, and heartbreak.

• From the acclaimed author of Watergate and Up With the Sun

In a world of bare-knuckled ideology and secret dossiers, Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate and devout Catholic, is eager to join the crusade against Communism. An encounter with a handsome State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leads to Tim's first job and, after Fuller's advances, his first love affair. As McCarthy mounts a desperate bid for power and internal investigations focus on “sexual subversives” in the government, Tim and Fuller find it ever more dangerous to navigate their double lives while moving between the diplomatic world of Foggy Bottom and NATO's front line in Europe.

©2007 Thomas Mallon (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

Was everyone repressed?

The book was good, the story was worth listening. But geesh the 50's seem so sad and depressing. It seems no one was allowed to be happy. My favorite character was Tim's sister because she was the most accepting. At times i found myself yelling at Tim to stop trying so hard and that he deserves better than Hawk. Hawk seems like a guy who's fun for an hour but Tim you would settle down with. Overall, good book but I finished feeling sad.

Gay Life in Federal Service

I loved the book!!! It gave me a great idea of what it was like to be gay in the 1950s and the need to hide it from your family, employer, and the government. The book also illustrated the government's overall treatment of the LGBTQ community and that community is used as a pawn in politics. Additionally, the book tells a beautiful story of hopes, dreams, temptation, love and loss between two gay men. It is an incredibly moving story; one that resonates in my soul. Very well done.

The sadness of it all.

This gave me a glimpse of the LGBTQIA history and how far life has progress

A very well told story

This is a long story time ever at the moment. It was well. I highly recommend.

Well done!

I grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, in the 50’s. So much of life revolved around the political goings on and everyday actions of DC and the surrounding bedroom communities. I remember the Lavender Scare. Having to hide takes its toll.

Excellent snapshot of DC during McCarthyism

Wow! This book is wonderful and heartbreaking and strangely appropriate given the shenanigans going on in the current political climate. This has been in my TBR list for ages but the new Showtime production with Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey bumped it up the list. The narrator’s interpretation of some of the female characters (especially the Southerners) was a little rough, but otherwise the performance was good.

Heavy on history, but still good

The story itself was interesting and the characters were realistic and well-written. I like the author’s writing style and it never felt too long or wordy. My only criticism is that there was so much history incorporated that it often became perhaps just a bit much. I wish there had been more of a balance between the character and plot portion and the history and references involved. It seems tilted toward history a bit more. Still, I liked the book and would try another from this author.

Sad romance Good political setting

I related a lot to what Tim endured in this romance. The polifacts are great. Gossip isn't gossip unless someone does something. The performance is stellar.

The tying together of the story threads at the end.

The narrative wanders and delves into politics to an extreme. so much so that it was necessary to stop listening for long periods of time. The characters are interesting but the story languishes in self deprecation.

Ten stars, if it were possible!

The Web has been full of articles and reviews about the Showtime series based on this book, and I've been much chagrined to not own Showtime. Not willing to wait for the series to become more widely available, I opted for the audiobook, and have not regretted one single second.

Although the story was based before my own birth, the storytelling style was so direct and approachable that I had no trouble relating to it. It incorporated the 'Red Scare' and 'Lavender Scare' political/social upheavals from an insider perspective, which, although the details about the key players' personas and actual activities were admittedly fictional, some of the key events described did occur. Unless one has conducted focused study on those times, those descriptions are actually bonus content, which, in fact also help to provide context to our current political shenanigans.

The personalities of the main characters, the reaction to them by the peripheral characters could have been people you or I have known, and the arc of the plot easily imagined in those acquaintances. The behavior of the characters highlighted the toxicity of repressed societies, even among those being repressed.

I very much enjoyed the narration by Mr. Barillas, who went beyond simply reading and performed the voices, sometimes amusingly and always extremely empathetically.

Even if you watch the series, which I intend to do as soon as feasible, reading the book will help to bolster the understanding and enjoyment of the story.