Robert Gover

Poorboy at the Party Robert Gover

One of Gover's key novels, Poorboy at the Party explores American economic class differences from the perspective of Randy, a university student from the "wrong side of the tracks," who is brought to the party by his friend Arnold, a homosexual and "old money" heir. The party is held at a large, ornate beach house containing art objects collected by the owner.  Everyone at the party except Randy is a son or daughter of the rich and powerful.  As the party begins, Randy entertains the possibility of marrying into this privileged social realm.  Then, as the party disintegrates into a drunken gang bang and orgy of wanton wrecking, Randy "reads" the party's dynamics as an omen suggesting that those who have confiscated the nation's wealth will eventually self-destruct.  Although this novel was written and published in the sixties, its theme is as contemporary as the Occupy Movement of the two thousand teens.