Customer Reviews

A Boy Named Phyllis: A Suburban Memoir

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a very well told story of growing up different. I also loved his rememberances of being part of the 70's disco culture.

Autobiographies live or die based on the "tone" and how much the writer shares with the reader. Here the tone is humorous and refreshing - the details are moving.

This is a great book and deserves more attention. I have had my friends all read and love it. :)

A BOY NAMED PHYLLIS is a wonderfully hilarious, touching, and original coming out memoir about the pains of growing up VERY gay in an Italian-American household in suburban New Jersey. Witty, raucous, peppered with one-liners, wacky situations, and even wackier characters, this debut book is a minefield of belly laughs. Whether he's discussing true love in Coordinate Geometry class, true lust for David Cassidy, the enduring pains of sissy torture, the unrefined glories of 70s pop culture, or the idiosyncrasies of his family, Frank DeCaro has created a frothy memoir readers aren't likely to forget. This memoir is one that paved the way for the tres-gay, silly, and shamelessly confessional works of David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs - so if you love their work give it a try.

This book was so humorous. Doesn't matter if your straight, gay, male or female. I loved how Frank describes his family members and his life. It was very touching, witty, and it really opened my eyes to what gay boys have to go through to try to feel excepted.

What I liked about this book is that it is a coming out story that doesn't get too heavy. Decaro definately went through some tough times but his attitude is refreshing. He does not dwell on negatives. Anyone can learn from that.

I, like Frank DeCaro, am from Northern New Jersey, and chuckled at the details of his reminiscences (as could anyone, I believe, from New Jersey, or who is gay, or Italian, or who grew up in the 60s and 70s. And isn't that all of us? :)

But the most remarkable thing about the book as a gay man's memoir (and I have read quite a few) is that you don't hit that point two-thirds of the way through where you start a tragic descent into a personal battle with AIDS (that, of course, has been done masterfully before anyway, for example by Paul Monette.)

Instead, the book, which is not told chronologically but is organized instead into themes, hits you unexpectedly and powerfully, the pop culture details artfully concealing a painful truth until the end of the chapter, as they did in one chapter entitled "Desire Under the Forsythias."

I highly recommend "A Boy Named Phyllis," which yielded for me a very pleasurable catharsis of laughter.

Frank Decaro explores all of the many issues that every gay man deals with while coming to terms with his own sexual orientation, but he injects humor into some of the most serious of situations and has you laughing 'til you're crying. Every queer in America will identify with Frank's family members and will remember experiencing some of the same feelings -- from the first time that you "touched yourself" to the first time you kissed another boy (and more). I thoroughly enjoyed this book and his style of writing. The only disappointment was turning the page, realizing that I had reached the end, and thinking, "but that can't be the end. I want closure." Buy it. Read it. You'll love it

Several times when reading this book of reminiscences by a man who escaped uniform suburbia to become an openly gay New York writer, I laughed out loud. I appreciate any book that can inspire a reader to do that; the author has a very funny, succinct writing style. I also appreciate books about people who are other than "mainstream," so I mostly enjoyed this one. However, as a heterosexual female, I didn't appreciate the writer's graphic descriptions of just what he likes (or liked as a teenager) to do with his male partners. When readers are trying to broaden their minds by choosing books about people not exactly like themselves, that kind of detail isn't what they're normally after. If this author has a second book, hopefully he's gotten that type of thing out of his system.

Very good read. It's funny sad and sweet at the same time. I read it in one day. I could not sepparate from it until the end.

This is an excellent book...one of my favorite memoirs. It was hard to put down and I was sad when it ended. I am surprised it didn't more "buzz" when it first came out. It is light-hearted, funny, and very interesting. It reminds me a little of A Girl Named Zippy. I wish he would write a follow-up book. Definately worth the read!

DeCaro pulled me in with his autobiographical premise, and I never thought twice about not finishing the book. However, I had higher hopes and thought his words might challenge my thinking a bit more than they did. There were few surprises in DeCaro's recollections - just some relatively light humor amidst touches of childhood angst. Easy and pleasant enough to read.