Customer Reviews

Breakfast with Scot

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although I am gay, I have to admit I am completely missing "the parenting gene," so when a friend recommended to me a novel about two gay men raising a child, I nearly tossed my cookies at the saccharine possibilities. Imagine my surprise to find this very funny, sharply written, richly characterful story so compelling that I blew off a day of work to read this book in one sitting. In the span of its too-short 194 pages, I became almost irrationally attached to the three main characters -- especially Scot, one of the most delightfully eccentric and least sentimental child characters I have ever encountered. This kid could melt the crusty resolve of W.C. Fields. Sorry, but I am just completely besotted with this book, and I will be seeking out everything else Michael Downing has written. BREAKFAST WITH SCOT is a small but perfect gem.

A rare and lucky find: sweet, sweet, sweet.

I plucked "Breakfast with Scot" (one "t") from the local library's "New Books" shelf. Read it first and then purchased my own copy, the highest praise I can give. That and the fact that I plan to follow up by reading this author's previous works.

Michael Downing's characters are as real and loveable as any by Anne Tyler, but without the latter's sometimes contrived zaniness. This last book I remember reading with this much heart and humor is Clyde Edgerton's "Walking Across Egypt."

Certainly nothing here to offend, and much to praise.

It's a bit of an emotional roller-coaster ride, too. I had a tear in my eye at least once and laughed out loud (and I mean LOUD) more than twice. I even gasped a few times at the author's insight into life's little moments: looks, gestures, behaviors... Mr. Downing is a real writer, and "Breakfast with Scot" is a beauty. Highly recommended.

Ah, what a gem! Breakfast with Scot made me laugh and cry, frequently while reading the same sentence. When I grow up (if ever) I want to write just like this. Downing is a very gifted man with insight and compassion that can only come from more than one lifetime of experience. Much of the book derives from between the lines...between the chapters. It is about letting people be themselves and what can happen when you try to change them into something acceptable by society. It is about raising children.....it is about family.....it is about acceptance....and about how the human heart can so quickly become attached to another heart and never want to let go. Yes, this is a keeper! It ranks on the top of my 99' list and maybe even the decade. PS: I loved the cheerleading and splits scene! Bravo!

Michael Downing is an author possessed of a singular wit. "Breakfast with Scot" brings forth the creation of characters so lovable in the fact that all are completely genuine. They all admire Scot for his uniqueness, although they find it troublesome. Scot comes sashaying into creation as one of the most likeable characters in modern literature. He is honest, innocent, and genuinely doesn't understand why some people can wear make-up, lace stockings, and charm bracelets while others cannot. As one reviewer suggested, this novel is filled with people that you will wish you knew. This is my all-time favorite novel. Kudos to Mr. Downing!

Ed and Sam are a gay couple striving to blend in among their middle American, somewhat conservative neighbors and friends. Suddenly, they become the guardians to a unique 11-year old boy. A boy with a love of make-up, wild outfits, and zest for living. Scot shakes up Ed and Sam's relationship, their friends, and their lifestyle, ultimately redefining everyone's notions of family. Downing's story is a zany one, full of poignant moments and hilarious episodes. This book is an utterly delight to read. I found the beginning rather without depth, and I couldn't connect with the characters or the story then, but as I became enraptured by Scot and his effect on Sam and Ed, then I found I couldn't put the book down. This would make an excellent movie, in the vein of "The Object of My Affection"!

My impression based on the first few chapters was not good. I thought the author's first-person narrative was all over the place and I just was not in tune with his writing style. But then I adjusted to the style and I have to admit that there was quite a bit of charm and a whole lot of really funny, dry wit.

The story revolves around a gay couple who never planned or wanted to have a child, but through some unusual circumstances became guardians to 11-year-old Scot, who was the son of the girlfriend of the brother of one of the couple. (Got that straight?) Scot's mother was a drug addict and had just killed herself by OD-ing, and her boyfriend was too irresponsible to take the kid, so he pawns him off on his gay brother, Sam. Naturally Scot is pretty emotionally mixed up and he's a quirky kid who is a bit of a sissy and seems destined to become a drag queen.

The narrator of the story is Ed, Sam's partner. Where the charm comes in is through Ed's hilarious observations, his feeling of being overwhelmed by a situation he never wanted or planned for, and then gently being won over to love and understand this peculiar child, and finally becoming so attached that he couldn't imagine life without him. Once I became acclimated to Michael Downing's writing style, I found the characters to be endearing, and I really enjoyed this book.

Mark R. Probst
The Filly

With all the brouhaha in Massachusetts and nationally over same sex marriage and gay parenting this beautifully written book is more timely now than when it was written. Its world, Cambridge between Central and Harvard Squares, is small, like Jane Austen's, but its insight is very large. Michael Downing is to be congratulated not only for his sensitivity but also for his humor while writing about a subject and people that are usually approached with yawnmaking seriousness. Some organization ought to send this book to every legislator and judge who is faced with the subject; the rest of us ought to read it.

Breakfast with Scot by Michael Downing gives a reader the best of both worlds. This novel is fast paced, with lots of humor and shared emotion. At the same time, Downing asks a great and enduring question: What makes a family? Downing's vivid insights move the reader into his neighborhood, right along with Scot. Scot and the reader attend a new school, shop in Cambridge stores for some acceptable clothes and figure out how to be Scot among new friends. Downing keeps us moving with Scot while we also get to move into his guardians' heads and hearts. We hear them trying to sort out the advice of friends and we share their confusion about how to be good parents and manage their own lives as well. Downing says what all parents and guardians learn: "Having a child is like having an open wound...Everyone assures you that it won't kill you. And then they show you their scars." The reader wants Downing's characters to get themselves onto Oprah so that we can all share our stories and cheer them on.

The reason I liked this book was because it seemed to do exactly what it set out to do: it entertained me. I didn't find the characters particularly engaging or deep and the most interesting thing about the plot was the fact that this nelly little queen-to-be gets dropped into the lives of a gay male couple. Then, almost as a fun extra, Mr. Downing gets to explore the meaning of family, gay and non-gay, and he does so without ever seeming pedantic. Another interesting tributary was a lambent treatment of how two "masculine" gay men deal with Scot's unabashed, unrestrainable effeminacy. Maybe not deep and thorough, but just enough to fit the story he told: it opened up quickly and unobtrusively toward the end of the novel when Scot observed that he might not be gay and that his effeminacy might be an acting out of other issues. That was a very good move on Mr. Downing's part.

This novel pleased and surprised me in many unexpected ways. A novel that deals with a gay couple who "inherits" a flamboyant child can easily drift into caricature, or cloying cuteness, and "Breakfast with Scot" does neither. That is to Mr. Downing's credit.
There is some beautiful prose in this novel, and some wonderful moments where Mr. Downing, through his narrator Ed, makes some profound sentiments about life and love. The novel creeps up on you, and you find things don't turn out as expected, and gosh, isn't life just like that also? There are no big climatic moments, or profound momentous occasions, the characters just find that they and their circumstances have changed. The crux of the novel is how they choose to deal with those changes in circumstance. That is such stuff as life is made of. This text captures quite well that difficult to express aspect of our daily rituals. In fact, the book's narrator sums it up nicely when he says, "That's why people invent rituals-to express the ineffable." It is also why good authors writer great books.
There are moments where this text is laugh out loud funny, and Downing does a great job in creating a believable character in Scot. He is a whip smart eleven year old, and I have met enough of them to know that Downing has captured the spirit of such kids in this text. The title character is one of the strengths of this book.
Some readers have complained about Downing's style, and it is somewhat complicated. It does not bode well for the casual reader. But if you stay involved in the story and text, this quick read (it is only 194 pages) will flow seamlessly.