Customer Reviews

How to Survive Your Own Gay Life: An Adult Guide to Love, Sex, and Relationships

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

 

 

Long story short, I picked up this book at the A Different Light Books in NYC (R.I.P.) for my partner at the time who was dealing with coming out of the closet at the age of 38yrld. I read it right away, and although I had been out since I was 19yr it really made an impression on me. Even though I had a been out for some years at the time Perry's book still taught me a lot about coping with all the adversity of being gay, coming out to family, friends etc. His experiences with his southern/religious upbringing struck a note with me because my partner at the time was dealing with a similar situation with his family and friends. Perry's whit and prose of such a complicated issue in many gay mens lives is charming and enlightening. I recommend this book to any gay man, no matter if you've been out of the closet for years or fresh off the truck. I was so moved by the book that I had contacted Perry and we've been friends ever since. What young gay men need most in their lives are mentors like Perry, if it wasnt for mentors in my life (since I came out in 92) I wouldnt be the man I am today. How To Survive Your Own Gay Life is a great read.

This is a beautifully written book addressing the problems gay man have living today. Perry Brass is wise and cares enormously about gay men and wants us to have more fully realized and happy lives. Perry offers many practical suggestions on how to cope with life today and how to make our lives better. He covers many aspects of our lives, including relationships and anti-gay violence on the streets and in the workplace. This is a very readable book many gay men will find useful and touching to read. I highly recommend reading this lovely gift to our community

Perry Brass has his lighthouse of gay orientations on full blast, and everyone is going to see some light. Here are one gay man's uninhibited, intuitive, sensitive and spiritual ideas superimposed over gay life as most experience it. In purely intentional and non-abrasive ways Perry Brass willingly becomes your new best friend for the length of the read, and encourages all who "listen" openly, to spend time reinventing themselves in positive, meaningful ,surprizing and lasting ways. This is the book that convinced me I was my own best friend.

If you are depressed, this is a fine place to rest.

I originally bought the book for my partner who cam out recently, he is 37 years old and is a bit behind in the knowledge of Gay Liberation. I am a twenty-seven year old who came out when I was 19 thankfully, I think coming out at a young age is the best time. I was inspired to let you know that this book is very informative and clever with a wit rarely seen in books like these. I thank you for the historic knowledge, some I already knew after living in San Francisco and now in New York, discovering this book was good timing for my partner and I. This book is real, as real as it gets and I highly reccomend it to every gay male, in the closet or out of the closet.

For those of us who sometimes feel like the "gay world" we live in is full of cattiness, vacancy and stress, here is a perspective that might just make you feel like your not alone.

I'm not saying that what Mr. Brass is writing is the total truth, or for that matter "words to live by", in fact some of the book, so far, has been written in a self help manner that some readers might find you are beyond. BUT, if in reading the book it makes you question your own actions and INTERactions with others, then it was worth the money to buy it and the time to read it.

In the end, what I have been looking for (and have been for the past 3 or so years), is a way to bring more KINDNESS to MY own gay life and I think this book has the potential to bring me closer to that goal. And to you, potential readers, I wanted to share this discovery. To maybe turn you all on to a way to bring more KINDNESS into YOUR own gay life and then perhaps for all of us to extend this KINDNESS into OUR own gay community.

The book started out as something I enjoyed reading and it gave me at least some level of understanding about my own feelings towards myself, other men and specifically other gay people. I was not impressed with the heavy focus on sex and the way he allowed it to permeate the book. Ultimately, I lost interest about where he starts in on how dangerous it is to be gay. I cannot live my life in fear and I refuse to take some of "anti-gay" precautions the author suggests. Sex is important and it is good but it isn't the basis of my life. I appreciate the effort the author put forth in any case.

Sorry, but I am NOT a victim, though I am gay. This book sounds like an endless talk show. To read this, you would think that we were living in Nazi germany, not the USA. This is NOT my experience of being gay-that we are constantly being victimized by others. It is my experience that those who don't understand that private sexual activity does not have to determine public dress, bumper stickers, behavior, etc, do ruffle other peoples feathers. But the same goes for straight people who refuse to tone down their blatant sexual preoccupation (putting pin up posters in their office, women who dress outrageously suggestive, etc). I hated this book. I also thought some of it was creepy-sexually obsessed. The author needs to get out of the gay ghetto and accept that 90% of the world's population is NOT gay.

This is another self-help book for gay people. I liked the title but did not get much out of the book. The author is very touchy-feely-sensitive and this got on my nerves after a while. Grow up! There isn't a lot of practical advice here, which is what I was looking for. I guess it is hard to actually give practical advice to gay people as a group since we are so different from each other.