Customer Reviews

Cross Dressing

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After defying the sophomore slump with the excellent "The Organ Grinders," his follow-up to the hysterical "Pest Control," Bill Fitzhugh has established a bona fide winning streak with "Cross Dressing." It's mood inhabits a middle ground between the first two books--more emotional depth than "Pest," not as intense as "Grinders"--but is no less hilarious. His characters are, as always, instantly recognizable and relatable (if that's a word), and he accurately and fairly skewers both the media and the Catholic Church (and I know from where I speak--I'm a practicing Catholic who works in the media!). If you enjoy a very funny and (this is key with Fitzhugh) very VISUAL read, by all means read this book and everything else he's written or has yet to write.

Pest Control was one of my favorite books....too funny. OK, now we have "Cross Dressing" as another favorite book. Brothers, church, prostitute, what a wonderful scenario. I love hysterical reads...Fitzhugh provides me with this. Laugh and love the characters. The rich vs. poor, sainted vs. slutty, moviedom vs. churchdom. Hey, I am having a wonderful time with Fitzhugh's book. It all makes for a wonderful ending.

This was Fitzhugh's first book, although it came out after Pest Control and Organ Grinders. That's because it was actually written as a screenplay when Bill was taking a writer's workshop in LA, I think, and he had to go back and do some rewriting to convert it into a book.

It's not quite as funny as the other two books, but then, it's still damn good as a first effort, and it shows Fitzhugh's great nascent talent which would come to full fruition in Pest Control and Organ Grinders.

Sister Peg and Dan Steele are interesting characters, and the obvious chemistry between two people who in normal life would be unlikely friends, is a nice touch. One reviewer objected to the occasional preachy passage and some off-the-cuff theologizing, but I didn't mind it. I've read a lot of theology myself, including many of the most important western writers on religion (such as Tillich, Niebuhr, Barth, Rosenzweig, Buber, Marcel, Berdyaef, and Bultmann, to give a partial list), and, notwithstanding the respect I have for the above writers, nobody can say their theology is any better than anybody else's, since there's no way to prove any of it, as much as I would like to believe otherwise.

But to get back to the book, Fitzhugh has another winner in this novel. I only give it four stars since the other two were so exceptional and deserved more like 8 stars. But if this were any other writer than Fitzhugh, it would rate five stars.

I'm a Bill Fitzhugh fan in general but I totally love this novel which covers quite a lot of ground. It's also one of my fave romantice novels and so deliciously bizarre. Fitzhugh has not only a distinct voice but an irrevent wit that I worship, bless his pahtooties. And, the man can write ... very well indeed. Did I say he can write? Woohoo, finest kind!

Bill Fitzhugh will make fun of anything. Whether it's the smarmy world of organ transplants, the political system, industry, technology, and even pest control, and Cross Dressing isn't any different, except this time his target is slightly higher. Fitzhugh tackles another controversial subject with his satirical spanking of organized religion. Dan Steele is a bit of a jerk. He lives the life of a highly paid and successful ad exec, except he's run out of ideas. But that's not a problem when you can just steal one. Dan's twin brother is a priest, but a priest with his own problems, and they are literally eating away at him from the inside. When Dan's brother needs medical attention and is lacking medical insurance, the ethically challenge Dan has no problems switching identities. The his brother dies, and takes Dan's identity with him. Now having to take over his brother's more saintly life, which holds it's own secrets, leads Dan into the path of hitman, disgruntled former coworkers and a very attractive nun, also with secrets. Where would good fiction be without secrets?
So once again Fitzhugh handles a touchy subject with humor and disrespect. If you are highly sensitive about the reputation of the Catholic Church, this may not be you best bet. If you could look past this little problem, this is a crazy, fun book with lots of twisty, turny fun that only this master of satire can write.

I don't know if you will find this as hilarious as I did if you have no Catholicism in your past. However, if you do, this cross-pollinating of the Roman Catholic Church with the advertising industry was LOL funny. An ad man, on the lam from the law, is forced to pass himself off as a priest using his twin brother's clothes and job. Naturally, he brings all of his talents for media spin and hype to use against the church when it tries to close down his job site, The Care Center. This could have only been set in L.A. for maximum effect and it is. I must read Fitzhugh's earlier books now that I've read this one.

Cross Dressing is one of the best novels I have read in a long time. If you are a fan of Carl Hiaasen, Max Barry, Dave Barry and other surreal humorous authors then you won't be disappointed with Bill Fitzhugh's Cross Dressing which is up there with those authors' masterpieces.

In Cross Dressing twins Michael and Dan couldn't be more different. Michael is a priest living in the poorest areas of Africa devoted to his faith and helping his fellow man. Dan gave up the church a long time ago along with morals and as for caring for his fellow man, well he couldn't care less. Dan is a highly successful advertising agent who thinks nothing of stealing one of his employee's ideas to further his career. Dan's life seems to be about to get even better with Michael returning to America and telling him he will take their eccentric mother off Dan's hands which will lift a huge financial burden from Dan's shoulders. Only thing is Michael keeps annoying him wanting to borrow money to see a doctor but he never paid back the money he borrowed a long time ago so that is out of the question. Michael is obviously getting worse so Dan tells him to impersonate him and use his insurance for the morphine injection or whatever he needs. Next thing Dan knows is Michael who the hospital assumes is him is dead and if he lets on with the truth will be doing some serious jail time for fraud and also lumped with the $300 000 plus hospital bill which he can't afford. With everyone thinking he is dead and repossessing his car, apartment and everything else Dan has no choice but to become Michael the priest until he figures out what to do. He soon learns that the life of a priest is even more cutthroat and unethical than the world of advertising and that he fits right in.

It may interest you to know, and save you money if you were going to purchase them, that Fitzhugh's novels McJesus or Cross + Dress are in fact the exact same novel as Cross Dressing, just published under different titles in these overseas market places.

I missed Cross Dressing when it originally came out, so I was happy to see it released on paperback. I only just recently finished "Fender Benders" also by Bill Fitzhugh (see separate review) and enjoyed "Cross Dressing" so much more!

This novel has the laugh-out-loud situations and interwoven storylines that made "Pest Control" such a funny and utterly delightful read. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

Dan Steele and his twin brother Michael grew up poor. Dan vowed long ago never to go back to this lifestyle, so he dives head first into the world of advertising and print/television commercials. Michael is a Catholic priest, who lives his life in service of the church, mostly helping starving tribes in Africa.

An ailing Michael returns home to "visit" his brother and their whack-a-loon mother. Lacking insurance coverage, Dan sends Michael into the hospital posing as him. Michael dies. Dan becomes Michael in an attempt to escape the snowballing events surrounding his own life. (Read the book, no spoilers here!)

The sequence of Dan first masquerading as a priest in the hospital as he receives the bill for services rendered is funny enough to warrant buying this novel. The litany of tests, surgeries, probing and prodding that the poor priest went through is absolutely hilarious.

Can a 30-something, money-grubbing, Glenlivet drinking, conniving ad-man on the run pull off the ultimate performance?! And what's Dan going to do about celibacy around the knock-out nun, Sister Peg?! (Read the book and find out.)

"Cross Dressing" ranks second for me of the Bill Fitzhugh books. Just behind "Pest Control" and one place above "Organ Grinders" and "Fender Benders".

Without giving too much of the wonderful story away... know this much...There's a lot of fun to be had! Give this novel a try.

This is my second Fitzhugh novel and boy, am I glad I stumbled across this irreverant novelist. This sometimes sad, sometimes slapstick novel was an absolute joy to read. Was the ending a bit too 'Hollywood?' Sure - what else would you expect out of this L.A. story?

Other reviewers have expressed concern over the perceived 'anti-church' bias in the book. While I am not a Catholic, I am a devout Christian and I had no problem with the jabs and pokes at the Church bureaucracy. Every denomination and organization has people that forget what the goal is and are more concerned with maintaining power and status and control than with the mission. I have no problem with anyone gently reminding (or in this case, not-so-gently reminding) everyone to keep themselves focused.

If you're looking for the outrageous, eccentric, with a laugh in at least every paragraph, you just can't beat Bill Fitzhugh! Plus , his books are great satires on contempary America. CROSS DRESSING is perhaps his most realistic, with no sci- fi overtones such as those found in PEST CONTROL, an even wilder ride! Here we have a socially aware nun with an unusual past, meeting up with an ad huckster in some of the funniest scenes ever written, yet everything here is certainly very possible, if not likely. His barbs at organized religion, and the huckster consumer society are all too real! Truly, Mr Fitzhugh strikes a solid punch, and one wishes for more success for this unique, zanily- inspired author!