Customer Reviews

Ready to Male: A Collection of Letters

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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

"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.

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