Boys Like Us

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Twenty-nine original coming-out essays by some of the country's most prominent gay writers are assembled here by Merla, former editor of Christopher Street and New York Native. The settings of the pieces span the nation and the entire postwar era. Among the several gems are "Cinnamon Skin" by Patrick White (A Boy's Own Story) and "He's One, Too" by Allan Gurganus (Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All), both of which transcend the personal essay and become literature. The stories by poet J.D. McClatchy, "My Fountain Pen," and playwright Tim Miller, "How to Grow Fruit," are wholly personal, poignant and poetic. Unfortunately, one must also wade through much that falls short of these, and the book ends on an off beat with poet Carl Phillips's annoyingly cloying "Sea Level." And yet, overall, this anthology conveys concretely the rite of passage on which it focuses, providing an impressive, if uneven, complement to American gay literature. 25,000 first printing. (Oct.)

Library Journal

A literary agent, editor, and prominent figure in gay publishing, Merla has assembled an extraordinary collection of 29 gay "coming out" stories from writers such as Edmund White, Andrew Holleran, and Stephen McCauley. The authors describe encounters with strangers or friends or even family resulting in revelations that they were gay. Each event may have been dramatic or funny or poignant, but all had a self-defining moment after which their lives would never be the same. Whether the stories concerned coming of age in the South (Allan Gurganus) or having the first sexual experience in Hawaii (Norman Wong) or having a crush on a high school friend in California (Michael Nava), the common thread is firsthand experience. Aside from the sheer literary quality, this book is an important step in providing role models to ease the pain of young gay people as they approach their own self-identity. Highly recommended for all public libraries and especially for gay/lesbian collections.-Richard S. Drezen, Washington Post News Research Ctr., Washington, D.C.

Kirkus Reviews

A collection that transforms the "coming out" story, examining its meanings and challenging its conventions.

Too often, "coming out" is a narrative formula rife with clichés and shortcuts that tend to underemphasize individual experience. This collection regrettably, does have its share of boys who "always felt different." But most of these essays go far beyond such stock condensations. Allan Gurganus describes his erotic fascination with and love for Dan, a golf buddy of his father's, who ended up being arrested for fondling a young boy in a shopping mall restroom. Edmund White describes a trip to Acapulco with his stepmother and racist father, in which he loses his virginity to the hotel bar's Indian pianist. Some stories involve coming out to oneself: the specific crush or sexual experience that lets the narrator know he was homosexual. Others focus on the disclosure to others, usually parents, friends, or girlfriends, but David Drake amusingly relates coming out to his broker. The essays are arranged chronologically, a sound editorial choice, given that the dramatic changes—and equally startling continuities—in gay experience over the past 40 years make compelling stories in themselves. Samuel Delany provides a thoughtful analysis of the changing meanings of "coming out"—at first, taken from the parlance of debutante balls, it referred to an entrance into gay society and gay life. Post-Stonewall, it meant "coming out of the closet." The contributors to Boys Like Us intend both meanings and many more; this diversity of interpretation, as well as of prose styles and experience, is an important part of the anthology's richness.

Not all of these essays are stellar, but there is enough truly artful material here to elevate the "coming out" story into a literary genre.