"Camp"

Lev Rosen writes books for people of all ages, most recently Depth, Jack of Hearts (and other parts), and the newly released Camp. He lives in NYC with his husband and a very small cat.

Rosen applied the Page 69 Test to Camp and reported the following:

From page 69 of Camp:

"I guess your makeover really made the right impression if he pulled that story out of nowhere," George says. "Who knew little boy butch was such a closet drama diva? I mean, could you imagine what he could bring to the stage with those improv skills and that level of commitment?"

"I don't know how he thinks we won't tell you," Ashleigh says.

"After your giggling fit I wouldn't be surprised if he think you're too amused by it," George says. "Or he doesn't think we know enough about his love life to comment."

"Are you really going to go through with this?" Ashleigh asks, her voice a little hoarse from laughing. "I mean, you playing Del, him playing Hudson-not-Hal? Neither of you will get to know each other."

"I already know him," I say. "And he'll know me. Just me in different clothes."

"With different mannerisms and interests," Ashleigh says.

"Plus a very slightly lower pitch to your voice and a slower way of speaking - Oscar worthy."

Yes, I think the page 69 test works pretty well for Camp. Here we have the characters discussing the plan which is the whole plot of the book - Randy remaking himself as 'butcher' Del to win the heart of masc4masc Hudson. At this point, Hudson is also trying to present himself as someone not quite who Randy already knows he is. It's a love story of hidden identities of the 60s screwball variety, and I think this conversation sums up a lot of what's going on - will this plan work? Will it not? Doubts are here, the plan is here, plus the idea of Randy playing a part - he's a theater kid - is here. I also think the page shows the fun and funny (to some at least) dialogue - it brings the reader into who these campers are immediately, with the theater references and turns of phrase. This is a good page because you get a sense of who these kids are. The only thing not here is the queer summer camp setting, but hopefully a browser would figure that out from the title - Camp. The title refers to not just the summer camp setting, but the camped up masculinity that Randy puts on as Del. Of course, as the story goes on, Randy realizes that maybe his plan of being butch Del to win Hudson, and then easing back into himself, isn't going to go quite how he planned. But here we get Randy's confidence it'll work, and also the big problems with it laid out. So yeah, it passes the test very well.

Visit L. C. Rosen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue