Let's Shut Out the World [Paperback]

Kevin Bentley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 10, 2005

Whether describing having his hair styled by a gang of eighth-grade bullies; staging a Satan festival in the main hall of Greenvale High; or indulging in inappropriate sex with a caregiver, Kevin Bentley writes with a pen dipped in blood, indignation, and grim whimsy. The autobiographical stories and personal essays in Let's Shut Out the World focus on different pivotal periods and characters in the author's life, from a twisted youth in Texas, to the glittering excesses and sober spirals of life and love in San Francisco in the 1970s, to the monogamous contentment of an unexpected middle age. The narrator of these stories has man trouble aplenty, butting heads and other body parts with everyone from fundamentalist Christians to a slew of "fauxmosexuals" and elusive boyfriends. Bitingly funny and at times harrowingly sad, Let's Shut Out the World provides the back story and sequel to the author's popular memoir Wild Animals I Have Known.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Green Candy Press (April 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931160333
• ISBN-13: 978-1931160339
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,659,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! What a World!, August 10, 2005

By 

Jak Klinikowski "justjak13" (El Paso, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let's Shut Out the World (Paperback)

Kevin Bentley grew up in El Paso Texas during the late sixties and early seventies. In1977 he fled his dysfunctional family to make a life for himself in the gay Mecca of San Francisco. Bentley has been HIV positive since 1982, but remains asymptomatic due to two defective or variant genes that appear to delay the progression of HIV. Over the years he's experimented with drugs, thugs and straight boys, had more sex than any five people might expect, lost two lovers to AIDS, found marginal success in the literary world, and discovered martial bliss with his HIV negative partner of eight years, Paul.

LET'S SHUT OUT THE WORLD is a series of striking vignettes that create a beautifully textured portrait of Bentley's life so far. Through it all the author has remained skeptically optimistic, and steadfastly determined to see where life will lead him. His sense of humor, even in the face of unforgiving tragedy, remains sharp and wildly entertaining, while his grasp of life's ironies will keep his readers riveted to every page. Clearly, Bentley has seen it all, and lived to tell the tale. His is a story that many of us in our late forties and early fifties can relate to. We are survivors and this book is a strong testament to survival. Bentley's memoir is a no-holds-barred look back at gay life over the last thirty years, and provides the next generation of gay explorers with an engrossing history of hedonistic life after Stonewall.

I too am from El Paso, and I knew Kevin Bentley quite well back in the early seventies. In fact, I'd be willing to bet the farm that I am the character known as Art Zelinsky, briefly mentioned in the chapter titled, "Servo-Robots in Bondage." I have to admit, Bentley savagely captures the essence of the screaming little queen I was at the time. I lost touch with Kevin after he moved to San Francisco, but after completing his fascinating book, I feel as if I've re-discovered an old and long-lost friend. If you read one book this year, let it be Kevin Bentley's, LET'S SHUT OUT THE WORLD. It is most definitely a five (*****) star experience.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Witty yet poignant recollections of a life looking for love, August 3, 2005

By 

Bob Lind "camelwest" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Let's Shut Out the World (Paperback)

Autobiographical memoirs in roughly-chronological essay form, Kevin Bentley's "Let's Shut Out The Wor;d" dealves into various periods in the author's life, from his childhood (where a group of eight grade bullies taunted him with "Fag!" and he had to go through a school day with his hair covered in spit) to looking back from his current middle-age perspective at his wild youth. Some explicit sexual content, but am told it is less so than in his first memoir, "Wild Animals I Have Known", which dealt mostly with the San Francisco gay sexual scene of the 1970's and shortly thereafter. Readers of that book may enjoy this sequel to get a better perspective on the author's reactions to that "kid in a candy store"-time in his life.

Bentley is both witty and poignant in his memoirs, with an overall effect the same as if you were sitting around with a friend talking about episodes in your past life. He honestly discusses his HIV status (positive, but blessed with a genetic abnormality that keeps him asymptomatic), having buried two lovers lost to AIDS, and gives an interesting perspective on his mixed feelings of guilt and joy at having been spared. One chapter talks about an old lesbian couple that he and his lover befriended, the relationship having ended when the survivor of that couple shunned Kevin's partner when it was revealed he was HIV+. There are tongue-in-cheek recollections of a couple of visits to Santa Fe to get a mission church's "holy dirt" (reputed to be health-restoring, but revealed to have been carted in from somewhere else), an AIDS hospice worker with a reputation as a "widow chaser" (tries to hook up with his patients' partners), battles with monogamy, fond recollections of his (many) trips to a now defunct San Francisco VD clinic known as "My Clementia", stories of his college years spent mostly stoned and lusting over "straight" classmates, and - something many of us can relate to - stories of dealing with his boyfriends' crazy families. A good light beach or vacation read, which I enjoyed quite a bit.

5.0 out of 5 stars More details from the author of Wild Things I have Known, July 9, 2009

By 

nc guy (NC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Let's Shut Out the World (Paperback)

These stories flesh out the life of the author, providing glimpses into his El Paso childhood and later years. A great read.