Customer Reviews

Sons Talk About Their Gay Fathers: Life Curves (Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies)

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The title and the cover are deceptive. One may think this book is an anthology of sons writing about their gay fathers. It is not; it's one writer analyzing information that he compiled. The cover shows a young man. However, most of the interviews came from sons well into their adulthood.

Something that could have been a really good chapter in an anthology was stretched out into a poor full-length book. It makes sense that the first anecdote would concern Oscar Wilde, a gay man and a father of sons. However, there is a whole chapter that speaks of sons and has nothing to do with sexual identity matters. The conclusions could have been quickly summarized in a few pages, rather than being two substantial chapters.

The author admits that those sons willing to be interviewed were either gay-friendly or at least tolerant of their fathers. Talk shows and other media works provide countless examples of sons who abandon their fathers once the fathers come out. This book does not help you to step into those males' shoes. I applaud the non-prejudiced interviewees here. However, this book provides only the positive slice of a large pie. This makes the book fill gushy and incomplete.

Perhaps, future authors can improve upon the important work that this author began.