TRAMPS LIKE US
Joe Westmoreland © MCD 2024
384 pages

Originally published in 2001 and quietly fading into the background, Tramps Like Us has reemerged — reissued with an insightful introduction by Eileen Myles — and it demands to be read. This book isn’t just a novel; it’s a fictionalized memoir — a raw, honest reflection of a bygone era in Queer history.

Joe Westmoreland’s narrative follows a young gay man named Joe who escapes a difficult childhood in Missouri and spends nearly a decade wandering across the United States — Miami, New York, New Orleans, San Francisco. His journey is a series of snapshots — hitchhiking, crashing on couches, fleeting romances, drug highs, and moments of connection and disconnection. There’s no traditional plot, no sweeping arc. Instead, the book feels more like a journal — an unvarnished record of life as it happened.

What makes Tramps Like Us stand out is its unpretentious honesty. Westmoreland refuses to dress up his stories or impose meaning where there is none; he simply presents what occurred — one event after another — mirroring the unpredictable flow of real life. This approach might frustrate some readers expecting a conventional narrative, but for others, it’s a breath of fresh air. It’s a candid, unfiltered window into a time before AIDS cast its shadow over the community — a time of freedom, experimentation, and raw vulnerability.

The book doesn’t shy away from the more explicit aspects of that life: sex, drugs, and the pursuit of pleasure are laid bare, unembellished and without apology. It’s part of the fabric of the era — a snapshot of a generation unencumbered by the fears that would later define the AIDS crisis.

And when the crisis arrives, the tone shifts — not dramatically, but subtly. Westmoreland’s calm, straightforward voice remains, and that’s what makes the impact so profound. He doesn’t write about grief with melodrama; instead, he quietly shows friends disappearing, one after another, letting their absence speak volumes. It’s a heartbreaking reminder of loss told with unflinching honesty.

Tramps Like Us is honest, raw, and sometimes tender — a vivid portrait of what it meant to be young, Queer, and free in America’s seventies and eighties. It’s not about crafting literary perfection; it’s about truth. And in its truthfulness, it’s a vital, powerful read that resonates long after reading.

This book is available wherever books are sold, including on Amazon.

Feature Photo: Ali and Joe at Lands End, San Francisco, 1979 / Joe Westmoreland