History Literature / LoveAndDeathOnLongIsland

The narrator, Giles De'Ath, is a middle-aged British novelist from a wealthy family who's so cut off from pop culture that he's never even heard of home video. But after he stumbles into a cinema playing a tacky teen sex comedy and falls for one of its actors, an American TeenIdol named Ronnie Bostock, Giles becomes obsessed with the young man, to the point of tracking down Ronnie at his home on Long Island, UsefulNotes/{{New York|State}} to try and break up his engagement to his girlfriend Audrey.

The narrator, Giles De'Ath, is a middle-aged novelist from a wealthy family who's so cut off from pop culture that he's never even heard of home video. But after he stumbles into a cinema playing a tacky teen sex comedy and falls for one of its actors, a TeenIdol named Ronnie Bostock, Giles becomes obsessed, to the point of tracking down Ronnie at his home on Long Island to try to break up his engagement to his girlfriend Audrey.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/love_and_death_on_long_island.jpg]]
A 1990 novel by Gilbert Adair, giving a modern and humorous update on Thomas Mann's ''Literature/DeathInVenice''. The narrator, Giles De'Ath, is a middle-aged novelist from a wealthy family who's so cut off from pop culture that he's never even heard of home video. But one day he stumbles into a cinema playing a tacky teen sex comedy and falls for one of its actors, a TeenIdol named Ronnie Bostock. Giles becomes obsessed, to the point of tracking down Ronnie at his home on Long Island to try to break up his engagement.

In 1997, the novel was adapted into a film starring Creator/JohnHurt, Creator/JasonPriestley, and Fiona Loewi.

!!Love and Death on Long Island contains examples of:

* BlatantLies: While some of the things Giles claims seemed plausible at first, Audrey and later Ronnie start to see through the charade. Perhaps the most suspicious of all was Giles using a flimsy excuse not to call his (non-existent) God-daughter, allegedly a big fan of Ronnie's.

* StylisticSuck: The clips of Ronnie's terrible movies with clunky dialogue, wooden acting, etc.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Giles attempts this creatively by cutting and pasting images of Ronnie's head onto a gay porn magazine.

* NiceGuy: Contrary to expectations about a young, handsome teen movie heartthrob, Ronnie isn't at all arrogant about his fame, and he was more than happy to welcome Giles, an eccentric complete stranger, into his life until Giles' real motives became obvious. Even after the reveal, Ronnie showed Giles a surprising amount of compassion.

* DinerBrawl: Happens in the movie scene where Giles first sees Ronnie.

* ShoutOut: In the film, Ronnie's pose at the end of the DinerBrawl resembles Henry Wallis' painting [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Chatterton The Death of Chatterton]]
* StalkerWithACrush: Pretty much the whole plot.
* StylisticSuck: The clips of Ronnie's terrible movies.
* TeenIdol: Ronnie.

In 1997, the novel was adapted into a film starring Creator/JohnHurt, Jason Priestley, and Fiona Loewi.

* ButtMonkey[=/=]TheWoobie: Giles notices that Ronnie is typecast as "one of nature's victims, as one whose blood is meant for shedding."
* CelebCrush

* CastingGag: Jason Priestley, young TeenIdol famous for a [[Series/BeverlyHills90210 TV series]] who was trying to break into movies, plays Ronnie Bostock, young TeenIdol famous for a TV series who's trying to break into movies.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The novel is an interesting look at how much harder it was to have invoked information about celebrities before the Internet became widespread. Giles is reduced to scrounging through a teen magazine for scraps about Ronnie.

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In 1997 the novel was adapted into a film starring Creator/JohnHurt, Jason Priestley and Fiona Loewi.

* CastingGag: Jason Priestley, young TeenIdol famous for a [[Series/BeverlyHills90210 TV series]] who was trying to break into movies, plays Ronnie Bostock, you TeenIdol famous for a TV series who's trying to break into movies.

In 1997 the novel was adapted into a film starring {{John Hurt}}, Jason Priestley and Fiona Loewi.

* {{Altar The Speed}}: The acceleration of Ronnie's wedding plans goads Giles into desperate action.

* {{Butt Monkey}}/{{The Woobie}}: Giles notices that Ronnie is typecast as "one of nature's victims, as one whose blood is meant for shedding."

* {{A Date With Rosie Palms}}: Giles attempts this creatively by cutting and pasting images of Ronnie's head onto a gay porn magazine.
* {{Diner Brawl}}: Happens in the movie scene where Giles first sees Ronnie.
* {{Hopeless With Tech}}: When Giles eventually learns of the existence of home video, he orders a VCR without realizing that he needs a television to plug it into.
* {{If Its You Its Okay}}: Giles says he had no sexual interest in men before meeting Ronnie, despite the fact that his [[OneGenderSchool British boys' school]] upbringing gave him plenty of opportunities.

* {{Lighter And Softer}}: Adair took the pedophilia and disease out of ''Death in Venice'' and turned it into a humorous tale of culture clash. The film makes it lighter still.
* {{Longing Look}}: In the film, Ronnie's fiancée starts suspecting Giles' motives when she sees him doing this.

* {{Punny Name}}: Giles ''De'Ath'', for Pete's sake.

* {{Stalker With A Crush}}: Pretty much the whole plot.
* {{Stylistic Suck}}: The clips of Ronnie's terrible movies.

* {{Unintentional Period Piece}}: The novel is an interesting look at how much harder it was to gather information about celebrities before the Internet became widespread. Giles is reduced to scrounging through a teen magazine for scraps about Ronnie.

* {{If Its You Its Okay}}: Giles says he had no sexual interest in men before meeting Ronnie, despite the fact that his British boys' school upbringing gave him plenty of opportunities.

* KnuckleTattoo: Giles is a regular customer at a (nonsexual) massage parlor, where the masseur has the classic LOVE-HATE tattoo.

* {{Love Confession}}

* {{Dawson Casting}}: Lampshaded. Ronnie plays teenagers in movies and Giles at first assumes he is one, but Ronnie is actually in his 20s.

* {{Incredibly Lame Pun}}: Giles ''De'Ath'', for Pete's sake.

* ButtMonkey/TheWoobie: Giles notices that Ronnie is typecast as "one of nature's victims, as one whose blood is meant for shedding."

* {{Stalker With A Crush}}