Customer Reviews

How I Learned to Snap: A Small Town Coming-of-Age and Coming-Out Story

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Kirk Read's first book is one of the most refreshing, entertaining books to come down the gay pipeline in quite some time. Most people will find something that they can relate to, even if they aren't gay. Part David Sedaris (the "not in-your-face" gay humor) and part Judy Blume (the coming of age part...although I don't think Judy's ever written about gay teens!), Kirk's words read like a gentle, Southern, summer breeze. He is very matter-of-fact and really does not make much of an issue out of being gay.

Some of the things that Kirk writes about might be a bit shocking for some (sex with an older guy at such a young age, for instance) but the writing is so warm and honest, that I really didn't think about how serious some of the situations were. I don't want to imply that the book makes light of these situations, because it doesn't at all.

The other thing that I loved about this book is that each chapter is quite short. It's the exact opposite of "wordy"- Kirk gets right to the heart of each story he tells. This book would be perfect for someone who likes to read a little before going to bed. I was able to read the entire book in a day.

Don't miss out on this great book! It has a permanent place on my bookshelf!

Ok, so i didn't grow up in the 80's, but i'm growing up now, and i thought this book was great. I just finished it seconds ago, and I really don't know exactly how to phrase what i'm feeling, but i enjoyed it so much. it's like you get to spend 200 pages having someone interesting, wise, and experienced talking to you, and you have their undivided attention. it made me feel really great...but that's from the point of view of a person who is basically in the situation that he is discussing in the book, so i can't speak as anything but a teenager. but as a teenager...read the book.

If you enjoy some of Kirk Read's syndicated columns in the gay press, prepare for an equally insightful and amusing voice, but with a sweet anecdotal and utterly Southern charm.

Read recounts his teenhood as an ongoing process of learning, suffering and coming out bit by bit, yet he dispenses with self-tortured misery, and offers an uplifting and often hilarious take on the horrors of high school.

Read provides an updated version of the teen coming out memoir, with modern updates. It made me wonder how many other new queer kids cut out pictures of Sir Ian McKellan and put them on their lockers. Read recounts his personal activism in rural Virginia. Diet Coke, Casey Donovan, gym teachers, Judas Priest, drama club; "Child," this is a fun and uplifting account with all the style and richness of the best young adult fiction. But it's all true!

I grew up near where Read did around the same time. There were probably times we crossed paths at area malls or movie theatres. This canvas gave me motivation to read the book.
Apart from that, our lives are incredibly different -- I am the straight mother of a toddler living in the suburbs. Yet Read's conversational tone and personable writing style made this accessible and enjoyable. Reading the book gave me the sense of having had a conversation into the wee hours of the night with a new friend, where incidents from the past become valuable character insight and cause for endearment.
I am not always a fan of memoir/autobiography, and found this more entertaining and freshly original than most in its class.

This book is a snappy series of short chapters that give an interesting, multi-layered look at a young man growing up in Virginia in the 1980s. The many references in the book to that era will really resonate with those who grew up with them, and for those who didn't, there are many universal themes you'll recognize.

The chronological thing didn't bother me: he seemed to arrange the events in a way that is intelligent. I do see a bit of David Sedaris in this writing, but this is entirely different than Sedaris' stuff.

I thought Kirk's refreshing, positive handling of circumstances was nice `n' different. We've had a lot of books about suffering related to coming out and being gay, and it was nice to see a character that handled the gay life with finesse. This is different! I highly recommend reading this.

Kirk Read is as irresistible in print as he is in person; his talent is more than skin deep. For all this book’s cuteness, Read knows exactly where he’s going. Between the prologue and epilogue he serves up fifty-one snappy sound bites, vignettes of growing up gay in conservative Lexington, Virginia. The beauty of the book is that its humor more often than not is self-directed. A quick study for survival, Read finds the folk who give him strength, and overwhelms (gay)-baiting rednecks with sheer force of his sweetheart personality. Throughout his puberty he’s on a roll and doesn’t have time to be a victim. Persecuted, he’s the ultimate good sport, and in the end his good-natured refusal to become anyone he’s not wins over even his tormenters.

Some readers might find Read’s invariable turning of ill into good to be too facile. Indeed, he comes off well, often with a deserved comeuppance for his detractors. But he never makes himself heroic, and there is his charm. What he learns, he learns from a parade of teachers, librarians, older peers, and a few empathic gay men—or from blindly stumbling (sometimes staggering) from innocence to enlightenment while just trying to be a normal, if over-the-top, boy. His mom’s his greatest ally; his dad—VMI, career military with a bark bigger than his bite—doesn’t understand him. But both love him, and he loves them. He’s open to experience wherever his nature leads him, and it leads him not to football (although he excelled in soccer) but to writing, theatre, and men who love him. With “I am not afraid” his mantra, he learns to dance and snap his fingers like Jesse, an outrageously Out senior, and like the black girls that he hung out with, who danced and snapped with defiance—for freedom and intimidation.

Read understands that experience and identity mean something, and with beguiling humor he grows from naïve kid into a kind of big brother for youth setting out on the same uneasy journey. His memoir is uproarious, but he never forgets its purpose is not only to entertain but to show gay kids a pride and confidence that vanquishes self-doubt and shame—and to assure them that they too will survive. How I Learned to Snap will be read and loved by liberated adults gay and straight, by families wanting to understand and support their gay children, and by those children themselves who far too often suffer self-hate, loneliness, and rejection.

How I Learned to Snap is the story of a boy growing up in the South, gay and out. Instead of a rigid chronological body structure, the story is split up into dozens of shorter vignettes which are interesting to read. Kirk Read writes with a wry sense of humor that makes you smile at times, but not laugh out loud at. It is more of a smiling type of book than anything. My friend got the book and read it in one single sitting. I read it but I wouldn't call it a "one-sitting" book - it's more like a two or three sitting book. It was inspiring as a story however, and pretty well written. If you like good writing, this book will satisfy that, but it sort of leaves you unsatisfied at the end. However, I still highly recommend this book.

Many of the people I know who read this book before me kept telling me it was one of the best books they've ever read. I was somewhat skeptical, but was quickly won-over by Read's wonderful sense of humer. Upon reflection, the book itself is a great read, but has been overhyped among the LGBT Youth websites and magazines. Overall, Read has a very fluid way of writing that seamlessly brings the story of his movement from childhood to adulthood in this funny and beautifully written memoir.

Man oh Man (or better still, man on man) can this guy write! His last name is Read and that is what he makes us do. You all know by now that this is a coming of age, coming out story set in the South in the eighties. What differentiates it is how adorable the author and star character comes across. His swish side is offset by his tough soccer playing and ability to beat up the homophobic bullies. Above all else is his terrific sense of humor. Then there's the writing. Describing a particularly intense right-wing, holy-roller Christian recruiting experience: "If God had to go to such lengths to invite people to his birthday party, He probably wasn't serving very good cake." (Interesting that the "H" is capitalized.) On his "emotional girlfriend's" driving habits: "...we were a pair of crash test dummies waiting for our brick wall to arrive." There are plenty of other examples. Unfortunately, the author's website (kirkread.com) is not nearly as well put together as the book (only two non-descript photos of Mr. Read) but it does indicate that a second book is in the works. Bring it on!

That is one of the numerous quotes that I have taken from this book and completely agree with. Kirk Read is not only a talented and interesting gay man with personality and one hell of a sense of humour, he's also witty. He tells his story of growing up in a supposed homophobic neighbourhood in such a way that makes you want to not put the book down until you have finished it. I constantly found myself breathless from laughter and impressed with his cleverness.

It's practically impossible to not like Kirk. Even the people he was surrounded by that were homophobic or had even the slightest aversion to gays liked him. This book is not only about a gay teenager going through life, encountering obstacles and overcoming them, it's also a lesson in acceptance of others and oneself. `How I Learned To Snap' can easily change your perception of certain people and situations. There were many times in the book that Kirk thought that he would have to fight something and he even got extremely excited in some instances only to discover that things were not exactly the way that he had assumed.

So why did I only give this book four stars? I must admit that it did not flow as well as I thought it could have. I usually have this problem when it comes to autobiographies, it has nothing to do with the book itself, it's just my preference coming into play.

I recommend this book to anyone, not just GLBT people. It will teach you a lot about yourself and the world around you.