Customer Reviews

Reflections of a Rock Lobster: A Story about Growing Up Gay (An AlyCat Title)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being a graduate of the class of 1980, Cumberland High School, I find it so interesting that I and others who spoke out against Aaron are now living openly gay lifestyles. I enjoyed the book itself because it reminded me of just how anti-gay a gay person can be (i.e. myself). Aaron had guts and was a pioneer for the gay rights movement as we know it today. I only wish that I had the willpower at that stage of my life to have stood up with him rather than condemn him. Thanks for the book Aaron--you did well and we all owe you a debt of gratitude.

When I came out at fourteen my mother bought "Reflections of a Rock Lobster" for me as her way of showing support. This book was very helpful to me at that time in my life. It was well written and kept my interest. The fact that it dealt with feelings and issues many gay teens face made me feel more comfortable to be myself. I would recommend anyone who knows of a gay teen who has just come out and needs support, or any teen for that matter to have them read this book. If you have read this book and liked it I would also recommend "Not Like Other Boys--Growing Up Gay, A Mother and Son Look Back" by Marlene Fanta Shyer, Christopher Shyer.

Like I said in my summary, this book portrays a realistic and unglamorized portayal of the life of a gay teen. As an educator, I would highly reccommend this book to any of my juniors or seniors that are facing discrimination or living in a world of confusion. Without being overly political, Arron Fricke tackles the world of homophobia, exposing the lies that work as the foundation for many arguments.

This is a great book for both teens and adults who are coming out, along with Best Little Boy in The World. The author of the latter revealed himself to be Andrew Tobias a well-known financial writer, and he wrote a sequal to let us know how things turned out for him. But, I haven't been able to find out what has become of Aaron Fricke. (He hasn't written anything since the book that he wrote with his father in the late 80's). I hope that he is doing well. Does anybody know what has become of him?

I went to Cumberland High School in 1978 after my parents were killed in a car accident in Texas. Needless to say, it was not only hard to experience such a trauma but to also start at a new high school was terrifying. Aaron was in my drama class. I will never forget his interpretation of a butterfly in heat or his home movie, "The Blob". His humor, friendship and honesty helped me through a difficult time in my life. I am grateful that I knew him then. Only after reading Reflections of a Rock Lobster did I realize how difficult it was for him at that time in his life.

The first person I 'came out' to was a great friend, he reccomended this book to me, and it was the most worthwhile book I'd ever read. Anyone who is coming out, has come out, is thinking of coming out, or knows someone who is coming out should read this book. The first person perspective is endearing, and you can really feel for the author.

This is a very down to earth easy to read book, one that any gay teen could easily understand. This was written in a time before AIDS, though I found it somewhat disturbing that he engaged in sex with other elementery students as a child, that certainly didn't take place on our playgrounds! It's a quick read also, and flows smoothly, and the author has good dialogue with the reader. Full of humor and emotion, I would recommend this book for gay teens to read to realize they are not alone with these feelings.

Reflections of a Rock Lobster: a story about growing up gay by Aaron Fricke was a quick read about a young gay man's childhood and adolescence in Rhode Island. This book, originally published in 1981, has become a groundbreaking work in gay youth autobiography. I bought the book years ago yet it was one of many books I have waited until close to two decades to read.

I will start off by saying that while I do appreciate the author's uninhibited candor, I don't buy that he was an oversexed first-grader. "I lived a busy homosexual childhood", Fricke writes, where "a small group of us regularly met in the grammar school lavatory to perform fellatio on one another". Fricke may have known that he was gay from as young as six, but his stories of giving oral sex to boys in some sort of BJ club does not ring true.

The focus of this book is his court case where he sued his high school principal for the right to take another boy to his prom. I remember the unspoken ban on gay couples at the time of my very own formal. (We do not use the word "prom" in my area of southern Ontario yet in the past few years I have heard it more often in place of "formal".) I graduated from grade thirteen in 1985, and during the announcements in June at the beginning of the high school day, appended to all the talk about how to buy formal tickets and the formal rules was the sniggered code that "all guests must be of the opposite sex". This was not an isolated Rhode Island restriction; in the early to mid-eighties, same-sex couples were not welcome at my own high school.

Fricke won his case and brought his gay friend, who in fact was not his boyfriend. During Fricke's high school years he was constantly taunted and beaten, and it is amazing that he never upped and quit school, took to drugs or attempted suicide. Fricke did, however, suffer depression and found solace in food. In spite of all this he remained out of the closet, and used his openness to teach his fellow students about tolerance and by the time of the prom, he and his friend Paul were congratulated and accepted, even by some who had taunted him years before.

Reflections of a Rock Lobster has a quick pace that you burn through. Compared to the printed molasses that was Prick Up Your Ears (which had smaller pages and fewer words on each page), I welcomed the speedy read.

I knew Aaron quite well. Not in 1980, but from about 1985 - 2000. We even lived as roommates together on more than one occasion. Reflections of a Rock Lobster is a great read. It is also mostly a work of fiction. Sure, Aaron did sue for the right to go to his senior prom with a male date. His reasons for doing so - fiction. Aaron was catapulted to prominence when he unknowingly arrived at his prom to TV cameras and the news media. His law suit received an enormous amount of attention and soon Aaron was being asked on to the talk show circuit. He knew a good thing when he saw it. It was then that he became the gay spokesperson people believe him to be. In fact, Aaron's initial motives were only self-serving: he wanted to get back at his high school principal. After years of bailing Aaron out many jams - including drug addiction, shoplifting, prison, etc. I finally said good-bye to Aaron by having him forcibly removed from my home in San Francisco. Aaron wrote an important book. That is for sure. It has touched many people's lives including my own. It is definitely a good read, but please let's get the story "straight".