Pulling Taffy- P [Paperback]

Matt Bernstein Sycamore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 6, 2003

Pulling Taffy inhabits the boundaries between fiction, autobiography, and truth. It's about choosing to remain dangerous and unrepentant, struggling to survive this ravaging world without losing a sense of integrity and charm. Moving from mid-nineties Boston, to post-grunge Seattle, to Giuliani's New York, Pulling Taffy is about searching for home and not necessarily finding it.

Editorial Reviews

Review

I admire this beautiful, anguished, funny novel. I have seen the future and it is Pulling Taffy. -- Edmund White, author of A BoyÂ’s Own Story

I admire this beautiful, anguished, funny novel. I have seen the future and it is Pulling Taffy. --Edmund White, author of A Boy's Own Story

If David Lynch and David Wojnarowicz created a rebuttal to Will and Grace, it could very well be this book. -- D. Travers Scott, author of Execution, Texas: 1987

Matt Bernstein Sycamore's fiction debut is a sharp and sparkling picaresque of queens and k-holes, grandmothers and tricks, friends and freaks. If David Lynch and David Wojnarowicz created a rebuttal to Will and Grace, it could very well be this book. Sycamore's keen eye reveals the everygay as not merely absurd but grotesque. Like good drugs, Sycamore's writing leaves me craving more. --D. Travers Scott, author of Execution, Texas: 1987

The exuberant rhythm of Matt Bernstein Sycamore's over-the-top honesty sent me into an erotic trance. --Annie Sprinkle, Prostitute/Porn Star turned Sexologist/Author

The exuberant rhythm of Matt Bernstein SycamoreÂ’s over-the-top honesty sent me into an erotic trance. --Annie Sprinkle, Prostitute/Porn Star turned Sexologist/Author

I admire this beautiful, anguished, funny novel. I have seen the future and it is Pulling Taffy. --Edmund White, author of A Boy's Own Story

The exuberant rhythm of Matt Bernstein Sycamore's over-the-top honesty sent me into an erotic trance. --Annie Sprinkle, Prostitute/Porn Star turned Sexologist/Author

About the Author

Mattilda, a.k.a. Matt Bernstein Sycamore, is the editor of Tricks and Treats: Sex Workers Write About Their Clients and Dangerous Families: Queer Writing on Surviving. Pulling Taffy is his first novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Suspect Thoughts Press; First Edition edition (February 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971084637
• ISBN-13: 978-0971084636
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #305,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, sexy and smart, June 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Pulling Taffy- P (Paperback)

I read about this book in the Hot issue of OUT Magazine where Sycamore was the Hottest New Novelist, and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. This is the most exciting book I've read in a while-- I really couldn't put it down! Sycamore's voice is raw, smart, and flamboyant. This tale of searching for meaning and sustenance in a world that wants to squash all difference and beauty is emotional in such a direct, unflinching, honest way. He really knows how to pare language down to it's essentials, while revealing so many unexpected twists, like grandmothers talking to their grandson about hustling, the startling beauty and danger in anonymous sex, and a sudden love for a girl in a diner singing "Lean on Me" or an old lady at the post office. The Provincetown section is absolutely hilarious-- Sycamore really knows how to present the gore of gay culture. What Edmund White says is right, "I have seen the future and it is Pulling Taffy."

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outrageous, Transgressive and Touching, January 9, 2006

By 

Eli (Seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pulling Taffy- P (Paperback)

I'm just blown away by how exciting this book is -- I couldn't put it down! The narrator's story is such a thrill -- I don't think I've seen a queer narrative like this before. From painting his nails in the Boston subway to wondering whether he could get AIDS from tasting his own come to ranting at conformity to dressing up in crazy outfits and dancing, this is the story for every queer person who doesn't quite fit in -- and doesn't want to. It's also incredibly sexy.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Way We Are, April 12, 2003

By 

Wayne Courtois "author of 'A Report from Winter'" (Kansas City, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pulling Taffy- P (Paperback)

There's a whole literature waiting to be written about the ways in which gay men truly relate to each other and to their culture. Some of our braver writers, like Dennis Cooper and David Wojnarowicz and Gary Indiana, have chipped away at this wealth of material, and now Matt Bernstein Sycamore adds his name to the list. As befits a novel composed of fragments, the best moments in this story are exactly that--moments, often unexpected, when men connect in very real, very familiar ways which somehow haven't been portrayed quite this accurately before. "Pulling Taffy" is an original accomplishment.