The Lost Language of Cranes by David Leavitt

Philip meets Eliot's foster parents for dinner, then they go to a gay bar where Philip meets his old acquaintance Alex Kamarov.

Later, he goes to his parents' flat to look at Derek's books. Philip asks Eliot to introduce him to Derek and Geoffrey. Owen calls Alex Melchor and finds out it was a wrong number. Finally, he recalls going to a gay pornographic cinema when he was seventeen. Philip goes on to remember the way he would masturbate a lot and how he tried to ask girls out - and they refused. Philip and Eliot then talk about their experiences with men. There is then an account of Jerene's childhood up to her coming out to her parents and being spurned by them. Philip and Eliot then wake up Philip seems keen on flatmate Jerene's research on lost languages. Back to the parents, Owen gets back to his apartment, soaked through. He thinks back to how they met through Sally. Philip and Eliot are in bed Philip gets up to do the dishes. Owen then goes to a gay pornographic cinema, where a man leaves him his number.

One Sunday she takes a walk, goes to an automat and bumps into her husband. Rose visits her son, who lives in a shabby neighborhood he says he likes to go to the East Village. Rose and Owen find out that their apartment block is to become a co-op. The Lost Language of Cranes was the second novel by David Leavitt, and deals primarily with the difficulties a young gay man, Philip Benjamin, has in coming out to his parents, Rose and Owen, and with their subsequent reactions. A British TV film of the novel was made in 1991.

The Lost Language of Cranes is a novel by David Leavitt, first published in 1986.

The Lost Language of Cranes by David Leavitt