Customer Reviews

Queen of the Oddballs: And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording to Plan

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From the hilarious cover of this little treasure of a book through the insightful writing and gifted comedic tales of reality pushed over the edge and happily falling with it, QUEEN OF THE ODDBALLS is not only a book that defies us to read a few chapters at a time, but instead finds us placing this tenderly and warmly funny memoir at bedside for a chuckle and smile before retiring. Hillary Carlip may have found a means to entertain the reader: she has also discovered the path to the heart and conscience and mind that is bound to make some changes in the way the public perceives a gay persona.

Beginning with the year 1965 and continuing through the year 2004 Hillary Carlip provides us with several valuable and insightful sources of information. First, she opens each of her chapters with the events of the particular year during which the brush with celebrity occurred (listing such events as the Vietnam war, Nixon and Watergate, Apollo 15 landing on the moon, the banning of cigarette ads, Roe vs. Wade, Chippendales, Rubik's Cube, Jenny Craig's arrival on the weight scene, Tom Cruise's debut in his underwear, the Rodney King incident, Princess Di's death, the OJ Simpson trial) and then following each of these bongers with an experience of her own relating to such figures as Carly Simon, Carole King, The Gong Show, Olivia Newton-John and making those incidents feel as full of impact as the real historical events. And she decorates her action with scrapbook photographs of a crazy life shared.

Hillary Carlip, like of many of the silent multitude, has spent her life of feeling unnoticed by drawing attention to the fact that she is alive and well, uniquely gifted, hilarious, poignant, and brave. After reading QUEEN OF THE ODDBALLS once, we get the importance of the strange title (full of metaphors!). Reading it again we begin to wonder if Carlip is just a fine writer, or that perhaps she is a philosopher of sorts, a Foucault in funky costume, or perhaps just one of the more gifted communicators to come around in the past few years. This is a wonderfully entertaining, sensitive journey through a life not always friendly on the surface: Carlip knows how to make the most of a bland or bad situation. Recommended Reading! Grady Harp, July 06

From the teenager lurking in Laurel Canyon stalking Carole King, to the adult finding a way to forgive Oprah, Hillary Carlip has lived with a capital "L." The facts of her life are amazing enough - how many of us have become "best friends" with Carly Simon, or out-danced Michael Landon and his daughter, charmed Art Linkletter, got a perfect score on "The Gong Show," made love to a cast member of "Xanadu" or wrote a movie for Debbie Gibson of all people? But that she can write about them so brilliantly is even more amazing. You will love this book - her stories of life on the outskirts of celebrity will make you laugh out loud - the stories about her family and growing up "unusual" might also make you cry. You will want to give copies to your friends ("a book? for me?... um, thanks") - no really, it's that good. And, after you've read it the second time, it might inspire you to write about your own life, and to live it with as much nerve as the author.

I call essayist/memoirist Hillary Carlip a female drag queen in the most flattering and admiring way possible. She's witty, a terrific storyteller, and she's led a fascinating life. Always uncomfortable in her own skin, Carlip was a born actress/impersonator who worried about showing her true colors as a childhood TV guest on Art Linkletter's House Party. She has enjoyed careers as a singing telegram performer who could adapt to any situation or moment, an over-the-top nightclub opening juggling act, a Gong Show contestant, a actor, a musician, and probably as dozens of other incarnations/personalities that wouldn't fit in her must-read memoir.

Carlip's life story is told via a series of essays, each of which is introduced by a quick series of facts about "this time in history," and concludes with black and white photos of Carlip and her cohorts during that time period. The essays cover the years from Hillary as an eight-year-old in 1965 to her 2004 work on the John Kerry campaign. There's no way to sum up the years in between, during which a teeanged Carlip befriends both Carly Simon and Carole King, she acts in a movie with Olivia Newton-John,[...]Plus lots, lots, more, including some gripping relationship drama.

This memoir comes recommended by Laurie Notaro of the Idiot Girl fame, and that's darn high praise. It is any reviewer's nightmare, because what can we write to compete with the brilliance of the author's prose? I advise you to stop reading my praise for this memoir and go pick it up already. The opening chapter will suck you in.

For someone I'd never heard of before, Hillary Carlip manages to drop an awful lot of big-time, not-so-big-time and used-to-be-big-time names. Which is not a complaint. It's actually one of the things that makes the book so enjoyable. A warning though. It will make you feel like your average, go to school, go to college, get a normal job life was a horrible mistake. But then, you probably already knew that.

In her book, QUEEN OF THE ODDBALLS, author, Hillary Carlip not only celebrates quirkiness, but she takes the reader on the journey through it. It is filled with sharp, witty, insightful stories that validate every emotion that "outsiders" often feel. I'd like to say that I read the entire book in one sitting, but I can't, because for me, these stories were savored and they punctuated my reading experience with multiple reasons to celebrate my own individuality and peculiarity.

I love the fact that Hillary Carlip turned being an ODDBALL into a right-on thing, and after reading this book, I can see why she was declared QUEEN.

I absolutely loved the clever way each chapter or adventure is presented, along with PROOF (pictures, memorabilia, etc) that all these wacky brushes with celebrities, odd jobs and hijinks actually did take place.

Oddball, Indeed!

There needs to be more Hillarys in this world. Then again, if we were all Hillarys, she'd no longer be the hilariously heartwarming oddball that she is. She'd be the norm. But what a wonderful norm that would be. I could live with it.

Too often reviewers confuse accessibility with simplicity. Hillary's book is written with a deceptively conversational voice. It's wonderfully friendly. She's your best grade school friend by the end of chapter one. It's uplifting. I've carried the mood around with me for days.

But there are some remarkably important insights as well. Insights of best kind... the one's that don't whack you over the head with overwrought metaphors. The kind that are actually applicable to the way in which you approach the rest of your life. The kind that linger, prod, and hug.

Read it. Make your friends read it. Most importantly, make your kids read it. It's time we populate the world with oddballs. The squares in charge should obviously be trusted no longer.

It's rare for a book to inspire so much ire within me that I feel compelled to write a review. However, with the majority of positive reviews already compiled at Amazon, I felt cheated after buying this book.

Hillary Carlip's memoir starts out interestingly enough (and I loved the fact that the essays incorporated real life pictures and diary-like entries). However, the farther I read, the more irritated I became. Initially, I was drawn in by my interest to hear Ms. Carlip's stories about "befriending" musicians such as Carly Simon and Carole King. Yet, as the novel progressed (and even though I love gossip as much as the next girl), I found so many instances of name-dropping that I could barely make myself plod through the rest of the novel. Yes, getting to experience a semi-charmed California life must be exciting -- getting to rub elbows with the occasional celebrity must be a thrill. The problem is that when these encounters happen to *you*, they're exciting. When reading about it, it comes off as though the author is simply trying to impress you with all of the celebrities (!) that they've (barely) interacted with.

Certain celebrity encounters were interesting and integral to Hillary's life story. The meeting and "befriending" of a famous musician or appearing on a game show were important (and interesting) enough to be worth the dedication of a chapter to each. However, learning about the author being partnered with Valerie Harper during one communication exercise or that her girlfriend was once friends with Keanu Reeves could be interesting... if there was a further story beyond that. Instead, we're literally given one sentence to let us know which celebrities the author found herself somehow connected to at that point in time. There are honestly so many instances of these types of one sentence mentions (that add nothing to the story except a sense of some kind of celebrity mania) that I truly lost count. I was tempted to go through and highlight all instances of this in my copy, but: 1) I didn't want to waste the time and 2) I was afraid I would be highlighting the majority of text in the book.

The ultimate case of this that left a bad taste in my mouth was when the author starts off each "chapter" by stating the year and all of the important events going on at the time. Current events of 1991 per the author's order: Being in a sauna with Jodie Foster!, Rodney King being beaten by police offers, having a garage sale with Daryl Hannah!, oh, and Iraq states that it has no biological weapons program. The order of important events seems a little screwy to me and gave me a sense of what this author found important.

Yet, we're also shown a side of the author in which she seems to really care about feminism and even volunteers to teach creative writing to disadvantaged teen girls. However, this isn't what becomes the prevalent theme throughout the book, and I wish it would have been.

Overall, I was disappointed in this book because I expected so much more and saw flashes of potential in between the name-dropping. My favorite story was "The Case of the Inexplicable Birthday Treasure Hunt" in which we hear just about an entertaining and unique experience in the author's life -- no celebrities present!

I saw Karl Lagerfeld at a bookshop on the rue de Rivoli today, and I got a little burst of happiness. Seeing him lifted my spirits when I was feeling blue. Last night I watched Star Academy, which is like French American Idol only better. The kids on that show, and the kids on all the reality TV shows, are competing for celebrity, and why not? Celebrities are the gods and goddesses of our time, and I like those gods a lot better than I like the Christian one.

So, yes, I have a small thing for celebrities. I find it embarrassing but necessary to admit that the thing I liked most about Hillary Carlip's memoir was her name-dropping. I totally went for it. I mean HELLO, the woman is friends with k.d. lang and Melissa Etheridge and all those lezzer celebs. How cool is that?

But the real POINT of Carlip's book, is, of course, to stop trying to be "somebody" and to be yourself. Right. Got that. Except did I mention that she is friends with k.d. lang?

Read the book. You'll love it, whether you're moved by her honest journey to learn to just be herself, or whether you just like reading about celebs.

What a riot! I had a blast reading this book and wept when I finished it cuz my ride was over. Will there be another? I believe there are still several years that were not discussed. The humor - the story telling - the historical antidotes - all fun and heartfelt. I would recommend this book to anyone that is breathing.