From Boys to Men: Gay Men Write About Growing Up [Paperback]

Ted Gideonse (Editor), Robert Williams (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 2006

More than an anthology of coming out stories, From Boys to Men is a stunning collection of essays about what it is like to be gay and young, to be different and be aware of that difference from the earliest of ages. In these memoirs, coming out is less important than coming of age and coming to the realization that young gay people experience the world in ways quite unlike straight boys. Whether it is a fascination with soap opera, an intense sensitivity to their own difference, or an obsession with a certain part of the male anatomy, gay kids — or kids who would eventually identify as gay — have an indefinable but unmistakable gay sensibility. Sometimes the result is funny, sometimes it is harrowing, and often it is deeply moving. Essays by lauded young writers like Alex Chee (Edinburgh), Aaron Hamburger (Faith for Beginners), Karl Soehnlein (The World of Normal Boys), Trebor Healy (Through It Came Bright Colors), Tom Dolby (The Trouble Boy), David Bahr, and Austin Bunn, are collected along with those by brilliant, newcomers such as Michael McAllister, Jason Tougaw, Viet Dinh, and the wildly popular blogger, Joe.My.God.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ted Gideonse, is a film critic for Maisonneuve and has written for Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Salon.com, The Advocate, and Out. Rob Williams teaches English in San Diego, and his writing has appeared in M2M: New Literary Fiction, Fresh Men, I Do/I Don’t, The Gay and Lesbian Times, and Maisonneuve.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (September 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786716320
• ISBN-13: 978-0786716326
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some Things Never Change, September 6, 2006

By 

H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: From Boys to Men: Gay Men Write About Growing Up (Paperback)

This for-the-most-part very fine collection of 21 essays by gay men writing about growing up (there are two or three selections I would have omitted) reminded me of how much alike we all are and that their experiences and mine, even though we are separated by a generation, are essentially pretty much the same: wanting to be accepted by others, both at home and at school, the crushes on male straight friends, the trauma of playing center field, the fear of taking communal showers, being labeled sensitive or different and the feelings of utter aloneness. There was not so much the name calling then ("fag" and "faggot"), however; our differentness was just not talked about. Or as Lily Tomlin says so aptly in one of her monologues, in the 60's nobody was gay; we were just shy.

The editors include writers, some of them established, many of them publishing for the first time, with fascinating backgrounds: one writer whose parents tell him they are both gay ("Sleeping Eros" by Michael McAllister), another whose twin is also gay ("Competitive Lives of Gay Twins" by Michael Gardner), and finally one writer whose family lived in a converted school bus ("Aplysia californica" by Jason Tougaw).

The best essays in alphabetical order by author are "No Matter What Happens" (David Bahr), "Dick" (Alexander Chee), "Terrence" (Joe Jervis), and "Mom-Voice" by Vestal McIntyre. Chee writes with humor of his obsession from the age of eight with the male body and sex organ, both McIntyre and Bahr's essays are extremely moving accounts of a gay child's relationship with his mother, as is "Terrence," for that matter. Many of us have had a Terrence in our lives. Mine was "Daevid with and E." He wore expensive women's long mink coats, diamond ear studs; and when I drove him to the hospital on what would be his final visit, he wore a black lace baseball cap to complete his ensemble. Reading "Terrence" reminded me of how much I miss Daevid's humor, wit, courage and, most of all, his honesty. That essay alone is worth the price of the book.

Finally a word about "Inheritance" by Lee Houck. I cannot be objective about this essay as I have known his parents for over thirty years and Lee his entire life as well as most of the other people he writes about. Like a parent who looks up his child first in his school yearbook, I of course read this essay first-- and again-- and then a third time. This extremely well-written essay about Lee's alcoholic grandfather who apparently figured out early on that his grandson was different blew me away.

FROM BOYS TO MEN is a valuable addition to the writings of the gay experience.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Boy I Was, The Man I Became, March 2, 2007

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Terrance H. Heath "terrancedc" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: From Boys to Men: Gay Men Write About Growing Up (Paperback)

Thomas, David, Sean, Marc, Dexter, Johnny, Alex, Brian. I can remember their names and recite them like a roll call of saints and demons; the boys who, largely unbeknownst to them, drew me out of myself and let me to myself all at once in those years between the kindergarten-era dawning of my nascent queerdom to the high-noon of becoming a full fledged 'mo. Some teased, some taunted, and some were tender. But we never, ever touched.

I thought I'd nearly forgotten them, but they're still with me. This book, with its highly readable essays, brought them back to me. But more than that, with every essay it brought back to me parts of the the boy that I was, introduced him to the man became, and let us finally finally embrace each other. Back then he wanted to know that everything would be turn out alright, like the boys in this book. Now I can assure him that it did.

The the rare book that can take you back to a time that wasn't necessarily a happy one when you lived through it, and not only make you want to go there but also make you want to linger. This is one of those rare books.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, November 24, 2007

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Java (Greenwood, SC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Boys to Men: Gay Men Write About Growing Up (Paperback)

This is a terrific book. Each story is different, but there is unity in how the men experienced childhood from a distinctively gay perspective.