Ready to Male: A Collection of Letters [Paperback]

Lamar Ariel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 2008

Ready to Male is autobiographical fiction written in the form of letters. The work infuses elements of short-story and memoir writing styles to provide a snapshot of Lamar Ariel's ongoing journey to creatively examine rather than dismiss his personal thoughts. Using humor, wordplay, poetry, and a healthy dose of sarcasm-each chapter of Ready to Male contains exaggerated interpretations of real life experiences. The work provides an intimate vessel for eaves-dropping on one man's attempt to make sense of his emotions in the rapidly changing world around him.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

This is Lamar Ariel's first series of uncensored responses to the age-old question: What's on your mind? At twenty-something years old, Lamar Ariel is not straight, not white, not uneducated, and-contrary to popular opinion-not unusual. He currently lives in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan with his many beloved personalities.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (September 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1438903898
• ISBN-13: 978-1438903897
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,091,345 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Important Author Blossoms, March 13, 2009

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ready to Male: A Collection of Letters (Paperback)

Lamar Ariel. Remember the name because it is bound to become listed among the top literary talents of the decade. Sounds like puffery? Just pick up a copy of his debut 'novel' READY TO MALE and discover just how original, intelligent, witty, and wise this young writer is.

The clever title of the book suggests the quality of humor and insight the book contains: Ariel has elected to introduce his gifts as a writer by offering 'fictional autobiographical letters' as a means of communicating one man's growth and setbacks in his journey through life, a journey with the 'bumps in the road' to some as being an African American gay man. Ariel both uses these aspects of his persona with polished finesse that never approaches mockery or victimization or radical angry activist. He is simply sharing a vantage from which everyone can absorb, understand, react, and empathize.

Each of the letters is a short story - some as little as one page in book print but far larger in scope. The topics range from letters written about the agony and anticipation and potential self loathing of first date experiences to letters to a funeral director outlining in hilarious detail the modus exodus of the writer (some of the best and original comedy on paper) to letters to former lovers filled with vitriol but still with perspective to anger about the establishment (Missing Persons Bureau) and the telephone barriers that stir emotional quasi-misconceptions. Much of what Ariel writes about gives insights into the 'gay black community' that is refreshingly novel. But for this reader the finest 'chapter' in this book of multiple rewards is the letter that begins 'Dear Hate Taking the Train', an eloquent 'story' about a homeless man on the train and the responses he encounters from his fellow travelers: it is full of truths, of social comment, and of heart-rending realities.

If Lamar Ariel has an area in his writing to watch, that area may be his tendency to overwhelm the reader with clever tricks of punctuation and at times entering into the zone of intellectualizing to the point of stepping past the reader. The book itself has editorial lapses that more careful scanning will doubtless disappear in the second printing - and there WILL be a second printing if enough people catch Ariel fever! Minor flaws in a first book, these, and certainly not sufficient to alter a full 5 star rating. With READY TO MALE Lamar Ariel steps onto the stage with his other young colleagues and winks through his own correspondence just enough to keep us hooked for more! Highly recommended. Grady Harp, March 09

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stanley Bennett Clay Review of Ready to Male, September 29, 2009

By 

Gimme A Book "Loving Innovation" (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ready to Male: A Collection of Letters (Paperback)

"I recently met this boy who has officially made me forget that I am bitter, sarcastic, judgmental, and eccentric as hell," the author accurately self-observes near the end of this funny, poignant, articulate, witty and brutally honest collection of 27 letters based on incidences in his perfectly normal dizzying black gay life, but exaggerated and fictionalized for maximum entertainment value.

Both of Mr. Ariel's barrels are fully loaded with Addison DeWittisms lethal as paper cuts or an arsenal of Dorothy Parker slams, often at his own expense, resulting in a delightfully caustic read; hysterical and humanized by self-deprecation and keen observations of not only the world around him but his deepest thoughts and the bright and dark sides of his heart and soul.

He opens his slight but potent collection (113 pages) with a letter to his best friend revealing deftly the all-too-familiar nuances of such an alliance, especially in the black gay world. A lovely letter of gratitude and love to his mother follows, filled with sentiments all mother-loved sons have felt but have rarely been able to articulate on paper as well as this writer does.
It is sheer poetry, as poetic as the letter to his father, divorced from his wife, but clearly not divorced from his son. I laughed out loud at Ariel's poison-pen-damn-you-to-hell-and yo-mamma-for-birthing-you-too tirade when he saw his ex with another man (come on, we've all written one, if only in our minds) and the about-face apology missive that follows (been there, done that).
Among the many delectable morsels served up by our middle class, well-educated, proudly gay, New York loving-hating narrator is a surreal close-encounter with a fake Prada-wearing she-devil on the crowded A train in the bowels of the city on a hot day when he ain't feelin' it and ends up explaining to the men in blue why he went off and got physical with Shaniqua.


One of the most touching letters is another A train observation; a homeless black man, invisible to most, becomes fully present when a young white `prippy' engages him in a discussion of James Baldwin's "Another Country."
And while Ariel's letter to New York City, a funny-bitter thanks-for-the-memories-but-me-and-my-man-are-about
-to-do-the-white-picket-fence-thing-in-North-Carolina, is a bridge-burning denunciation of urban squalor, excess, and stress, and homage to the joys of country living, his letter to Mr. Funeral Director is a piss-elegant drag queen's list of every filigree indulgence to be served up in honor of his demise.

Oh yes, our narrator is one bourgie, label-loving, class-conscious, color-struck bro, but that's half the fun.
There is much to be admired about this author who is willing to let his mind dance so nakedly on the stage of life. The thoughts he has committed to paper (in prose beautifully and artfully composed) feel authentic, paining us with truth at times, causing us to laugh with recognition quite often, and showing us a way to examine what's really on our minds, as scary as that sometimes might be.
And although Mr. Ariel's non-linear approach renders the ending a bit anti-climatic, even somewhat arbitrary, his collection of autobiographical fiction is as winning and as neat as a very dry martini! A penny for his thoughts? Hardly.

Mr. Ariel's thoughts are worth their weight in gold.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Letters Of My Journey, September 13, 2009

By 

The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ready to Male: A Collection of Letters (Paperback)

READY TO MALE is an autobiographical fiction novel written by an African American gay man, who depicts his real life experience in the form of letters. There are six chapters in this book with four to five short letters, where Ariel expands on a different topic pertaining to his life's experiences; discovering how to love, dealing with emotions after a break-up, choosing the same type of individual in his relationships, his thoughts while riding on a transit, his insight into the future, and the commitment to new changes in his life. My favorite letter "Dear Hate Taking the Train" is a touching letter of a homeless man riding the transit who tries to engage in conversation with the passengers, just to get a small piece of their lives, but they ignore him.

Although there are a few editorial issues, READY TO MALE is packed with wit and cynicism.

Reviewed by Sharon Lewis
of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers