Customer Reviews

Band Fags!

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For those of us Gen Xer's, the 80's, a much maligned area, played a significant role in our development ... Reagan, AIDS, Madonna, Dallas, and the premiere of MTV. It's a wonder any of us survived this decade, much less thrived in it. But somehow we did, such as the characters did in Frank Polito's new book, the appropriately titled "Band Fags".

Polito takes us on a journey in what appears to be a semi-autobiographical journey through his adolescence in the Detroit suburbs. He writes about Jack, a top-notch student, lead trumpet player, and questioning homosexual, and a bevy of friends that accompany Jack through his school years. His first and foremost friend is Brad, whom he meets almost casually, but then develops a quickly close relationship that somehow only teens seem to be able to pull off. Brad, discovering his sexuality and accepting it quickly , poses an unspoken threat to Jack, who seems to exhibit signs of "gayness" but is ultimately unsure of his path. The duo form an interesting pair, and it's their story that really drives you through the book.

True to high school, Polito throws in a bevy of friends, characters that sometimes get confused, despite his attempt to clarify them through Jack reminding you of who was who. Soon, however, the important ones bubble to the surface, as Jack goes through different events that shape his social standing with the groups. As Jack reunites with a former best friend Joey, and develops a crush on him, the "am I" or "am I not?" question rears its ugly head in an all too familiar and painful way. Ditto with another guy he develops a crush on, Tom. How many of us developing homosexuals fell in love with our best friends who were straight? The pain was intense, and captured well by Polito.

The 80s feature prominently in the book, but I felt sometimes it was too much. Especially at the beginning, Polito had 80s cultural references on nearly every page. At first, it was a fun walk down memory lane, but then it became a little too much. Fortunately, Polito eases up a bit with them as he allows his story to progress. Also, not being familiar with suburban Detroit, Polito's insistence on including driving routes around the area, and specific place names, made the reading drag a bit; although I imagine that people from that area love that aspect!

Overall, Band Fags was a easy, and very enjoyable read. You find yourself rooting for Jack, even in his less positive moments, because overall, anyone who was gay has been in his situation before. And as you turn the last page of the book, you find yourself wondering what happened to Jack in college ... and what happened to Brad ... and you realize this book is absolutely begging for a sequel.

I agree that the book is overly long and doesn't really seem to have a cohesive theme. However, "Jack Paterno" graduated from high school one year after I did, and it brought back a lot of memories of high school, some painful, some tremedously happy. If you went to school in the 80's, there are so many wonderful references to popular culture from the banal to the famous. So I give this book a mixed review: more than "it's ok", perhaps a hair on either side of "i like it".

Hilarious and angst-ridden, "Band Fags" is a wonderful trip down memory lane for those of us who came of age in the eighties, sort of a gay version of that fantastic television show Freaks and Geeks - The Complete Series. Especially if you came out and enjoyed / endured high school band - and the stigma that goes along with it, you'll love this. Am I, or am I not? All the intense soul-searching - Frank captures it in a funny way, with wit and charm. He's also a superb writer and I whipped through the pages in mere hours, wanting "Jack" to hurry up and make the right choice! Whether you were a teen in the eighties, the sixties or the two thousands, you'll relate to these emotions, as they're universal. Read and be entertained.
Rich Merritt, author of Code of Conduct and Secrets Of A Gay Marine Porn Star

That's the question that thirteen year old Bradley Dayton poses to his new friend Jack Paterno. Jack had never met anyone quite like Brad before, and sensed a connection he knew was more than the friendship he felt for other boys and girls in his junior high. Having little in common, except for the fact that they both played in the school band (and thus had to accept being referred to as "Band Fags!" by a certain element in the school) and were caught up in the current popular trends and tastes of the mid 1980's, they nevertheless became best friends, and would be there for each other - with a few detours due to arguments and incompatible "crowds" they'd go with temporarily - throughout their high school days.

The outgoing, "tell it like it is" Brad was an interesting influence on the more conservative and quiet Jack, daring him to put into actions and words some ideas that he would have otherwise kept to himself. Brad had no problem telling Jack everything, including his progress in the self-realization that he was gay. Brad was pretty sure that Jack was too, and tried to draw him "out" at his own pace, usually to be met with Jack's innate self-denial based on the fact that - in this pre-Internet era - young gay boys often had no role models or other gay peers with which they could talk out their feelings. As Brad became more and more open (at least to Jack) about his sexuality, Jack held steadfast to the conviction that, although he admits felt "funny" when he saw a good-looking guy in school or on television, he also felt an attraction to a female character on his favorite soap opera, and enjoyed the company of many of the girls at school, so he therefore must be straight. Even being dragged along by Bradley to a gay bar didn't change that.

"Band Fags!" is a novel about coming-of-age in the 1980's, overflowing its 430 pages with pop cultural references, yearbook musings, song lyrics and television shows of the day, and adolescent insecurities about being part of the right "crowd" in school. On a deeper level, it is about self-acceptance, not just of one's sexual orientation, but of one's own self-worth as a friend, family member and person striving for a good life. Over the six years (7th-12th grade) covered by the book, Jack and Brad, as well as a myriad of other characters that pop in and out of their lives at various times, fall in and out of love, face disappointments, deal with both bad and good times and luck, and mature into young men who are ready to deal with whatever life throws at them. An interesting light summer read, a bit overly detailed and too long for my taste, perhaps best suited for those who "came of age" in the era (1983-1988) portrayed in the book. The author based the novel on characters from a stage play he wrote. I give it four stars out of five.

Band Fags! (and actually being a Band Fag doesn't mean you are gay, it means you are one of those kids who tags along with all the other kids in the high school band, and usually they are not exactly the most popular kids in the school...) is probably the first "real" coming of age novel I have read; it's centred around Brad and Jack, band fags and best friends all though-out high school, and even if the external reader can easily see that both of them are gay, they don't know, or at least Jack doesn't know or better doesn't want to know.

The novel is a long run along with Brad and Jack in the middle of the '80, with all the icons of that time, soap-operas, movies, music and glossy magazines. It was somewhat a fake world, but to the eyes of young Jack that was the real thing. Jack who is in love with a soap-opera soubrette, an imaginary girlfriend he considers real and for this reason tries to replace in his real life with similar look-alikes. Jack who always played girl games, who has always preferred to tag along his girl best friends and who, when Brad comes into the picture, finds finally the perfect best friend: Brad likes soap-operas and fashion, and Brad understands Jack perfectly.

But while Jack growing up is trying to find the perfect girlfriend, all the time trying also to hide his secret fantasies for various young and hot same age boys, Brad never once shows any real interest for girls; again there is an obvious reason, and again it's not that Brad is trying to hide it, by Jack doesn't want to know, doesn't want to see. When finally Brad finds the courage to "come out" (i.e. to force Jack to see the plain truth), the tragedy fall down upon them, a tragedy that is as big as few are their years; again to an external reader everything is simple, why Jack cannot admit he is gay? Why is he being so mean to Brad, his best friend, the only guy who has always understood him and more than once helped him? The reason is as the same simple: they are teenagers, they are not "little men" with a adult mind, and they are behaving like kids, as they should.

What I want to highlight is that, even if Jack is gay, he is also "in-the-making": he is still trying to understand himself, to put together all the pieces of his existence, and no adult, or best friend, can rush this process; they can encourage him, support him, like Brad and also Jack's mother do, but he has to arrive to the final solution of the puzzle of his youth alone, and conscious of his evolution. Maybe Jack is a little slower than other teenagers, than Brad, maybe the reader will think "but how you cannot understand yourself, when we have understood everything already?", but this is Jack's life, not ours, not Brad; even if Brad is an important part of that life.

I'm loving this book. I got it as a gift (after strongly hinting that I wanted it) and I'm so glad that I got it. I haven't finished it yet, but I don't think it will be long since it is a pretty quick read and a nice trip down memory lane.

I bought this book after reading a review on a random blog. I am so happy that I read the review and purchased this book. Even though a child of the 80's will get a flashback, those born after will still get a great story. I was not a band geek, but after reading this, I kinda wish I were.

A touching, nostalgic coming of age story about self-acceptance. Recommended.

This book is set in a neighboring city to where I grew up, set during my teen years, and with characters close to the age I was at the time, so on that level alone, it was a complete blast as the author does not skimp on place and pop culture references. On the other hand, I can't say how it would read for people unfamiliar with the suburbs of Detroit, and constantly having the author explaining pronunciations like Gratiot and local trivia.

Jack's voice was spot-on, using the slang and vocabulary at the time. More amazingly, the author does a beautiful job of seamlessly having Jack grow-up. Mr. Polito respects his characters, never treating their concerns, interests, or faux sense of maturity as something to mock, but simply allowing them to grow and evolve.

This is the story of Jack and his friendship with Brad. Both of the characters are in the band and both are gay, but Jack is in denial -- grasping at any spark of interest in girls, even if it's a pale shadow of what he feels for Joey or Tom.

Brad, his friend, is more self-aware, and aware of Jack's struggle too, but always willing to accept him -- and to forgive him when needed.

I enjoyed the large cast of characters, most of whom remained at least peripherally in the story, and giving a sense of a populated teen community. They grew up with Jack and Grad too, even if we only see it out of the corner of our eyes.

If I have any complaints, it's that Jack -- while always likable -- was frustrating with his hokey-pokey dance of I'm straight/very straight/so straight/maybe I'm not straight/no, I'm straight/okay, yeah, I don't think I'm straight/straight as an arrow/Or not so much... I understand completely that this was a hard decision, and growing up in the eighties know why the closet would seen safe, but it was still hard to read, especially since I'd like to have read more of his explorations.

Still, one of the best books I've read in a while.

I really thought that this book was outstanding. Not only does it fully emerse you in the 80's and suburban Detroit, but what is most incredible about this book is how real the characters are. At times, you want to reach into the book and strangle Jack, the main character. In fact, with about a fifth of the book left I started yelling at the book, for real, shaking and yelling. Anyway, the relationships and characters jump out of the book, and the feelings that motivate them are completely authentic. The only problem is that because of the fact that some of the characters are gay, people who would absolutely love this book won't ever read it. It's really a great read and completely true to the emotions of anyone who ever felt like a "band fag" "drama queer" or just a plain old outsider.

Frank Anthony Polito is an actor, playwright and author. His debut novel. Band Fags! is based on his play, John R.

Band Fags! follows Jack Paterno and Brad Dayton from 7th grade in suburban Detroit through high school in the mid-to-late `80s. You are invited to take the roller coaster journey of growing up with the boys. It's not an easy ride; growing up never is.

Jack and Brad are best friends. It wasn't always that way. The two faltered a bit before discovering they were `meant' to be best friends. They are different, but they are band fags (they play in the Varsity band) and that is a start, and sometimes the glue that holds them together.

Jack is devastated when his girlfriend dumps him, but he really never got any `thrill' from kissing her or even looking at girlie magazines. Brad feels the same way. But both guys dance around the feelings that are awakening inside of them. Each knows at some level that they were not like the other guys. And Jack continues to deny who he is in the face of a physical attraction to a pretty `hot' guy.

Yes, Jack and Brad are gay guys growing up in the `80s. But lest you think you'll pass on the book, I'd suggest you ponder that decision.

Polito delivers the most realistic and detailed view of high school, friends, family, enemies, lost love and emerging sexuality of any Young Adult author I've read in the past several years. He takes a sensitive subject and handles it with sensitivity. Polito makes you think, breaks your heart with the pain of having to `hide' who you are and tosses in a whole lot of fun while showing `us' how it is for gay teens.

When Polito introduces the reader to "Days of our Lives" star Kristian Alfonso, it's delightful. But Polito goes further and litters the landscape (in a good way) of his novel with her. Jack is a member of her fan club and when he meets her--well you've just got to read it. I laughed out loud.

I wish I had Band Fags! when my kids were growing up. It might have eased the way to understanding and acceptance.

Note: There is some sexuality depicted, but it is not gratuitous.

Armchair Interviews says: Band Fags! is a realistic look at growing up gay.