Helpful Score: 3
Hysterically funny and very touching novel about a gay man coming out and becoming whom he was meant to be Loved it
Highly enjoyable memoir of a gay man's New Jersey childhood. Equal parts funny and poignant.
I like this book because the author was candid, and really laid it all out there. It isn't graphic but comes from the heart. He talks about how he viewed the world from glasses that were just a little bit different than everyone else and how he made it work.
This witty reminiscence of growing up gay amid the pop culture of the 1960s and 1970s is filled with dating, dieting, and disco. A fine complement to Aaron Fricke's poignant early-1980s memoir, Reflections of a Rock Lobster (Alyson, 1995. reprint).
This is a very funny memoir! If you grew up in the 70's/early 80's, read it for a dose of nostalgia.
[From Publishers Weekly] Peppered with one-liners and pop-cultural references ranging from a mention of the TV series H.R. Pufnstuf to one of the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, DeCaro's memoir of growing up gay in an Italian Catholic family in Little Falls, N.J., sweetly and vividly recalls the bonds and breaches of parent-child relationships, a theme that provides the backdrop to his anecdotal chronicle of childhood tormentors and of recognizing, accepting and eventually celebrating his difference. Ostracized by classmates who knew he was gay before he did ("I'd always put the 'boy' in 'Flamboyant'") and an enigma to his loving if somewhat inept parents, a young DeCaro finds hope in the extravagance of role models Elton John and Paul Lynde and ensuing validation in his high-school theater department. All this is revealed in ironic turns of phrase, deadpan wit and pinpoint characterization, sparing not his mother: a "pear shaped bundle of Aqua Net"; his father: "a big lug who hated only two things in the whole world: dogs sniffing his crotch, and stepping in chewing gum"; his live-in grandma: "With upper arms that hung like parade-float bunting, the constitution of a battleship, and the salty vocabulary of a sailor on shore leave"; and not, least of all, himself.
I first learned about this book by listening to Frank on Sirius Out Q radio. Channel 108. I really liked the book. Learned more about Frank and would recommend the book to friends.
