Each of the three novels in this series assumes a progression in tone and style which may be measured in part by the sexual content, which starts in A Boy's Own Story, expands in The Beautiful Room Is Empty and becomes more detailed in The Farewell Symphony.

Another distinguishing characteristic that sets The Farewell Symphony apart from its predecessors is the former were largely concerned with struggle, whereas in the third volume White/the narrator encounters gradually increasing professional success and is thus initiated into the American literary elite, whilst continuing to deal with the struggles he encounters.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, the journalist James Wolcott suggested that the book "might have been more honestly titled Hilly Buttocks I Have Known," wherein the author "invites us to join him as he revisits the beloved rear ends of yesteryear.

"[1] Review magazine Publishers Weekly gave the novel a starred review, praising the "luminous snapshots of New York, Paris and Rome and [...] vital parade of men--dowdy, forbiddingly gorgeous, sylph-like, ephebic, closeted, defiantly and militantly out--that crowd its pages.

"[2] Katherine Knorr, in a review for The New York Times applauded The Farewell Symphony for its handling of the AIDS crisis, and noting the novel's "dramatic" nature.