- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Modern Library; New edition edition (May 7 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0679642544
- ISBN-13: 978-0679642541
- Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 13 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 249 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,744,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“The subject of this book might be that brief eloquence between the fantasies of a dream-bound child and his implementing those through charm, sexuality, his wits. . . . This work of principled sweep and great observational power also champions the centrality of Art as a governing quest. It offers this view with a faith that must recall Proust’s life project, his attempt to hold all of time, its characters at synchronous ages, all its warring textures, in one head, one work.” —from the Introduction by Allan Gurganus
Book Description
For more than two decades, Edmund White has been widely recognized as America’s preeminent gay writer. “He has a novelist’s eye for the telling detail or the remarkable phrase and, like Proust himself, concentrates upon the minutiae of the past so that it might live again,” wrote The New York Times Book Review. “White possesses the rare combination of a po-etic sense of language and an ironic sense of humor,” declared Newsweek. “[He] is unquestionably the foremost American gay novelist.” Commemorating the twentieth anni-versary of A Boy’s Own Story, this Modern Library edition presents White’s autobiographical novel together with an Introduction by prizewinning novelist Allan Gurganus and a new Afterword by the author himself.
A Boy’s Own Story, with equal parts stunning lyricism and unabashed humor, traces a nameless narrator’s coming-of-age in the 1950s. Struggling with his homosexuality, the narrator seeks the consolations of a fantastic imagination and fills his head with romantic expectations (“I believed without a doubt in a better world, which was adulthood or New York or Paris or love.”) His distant, divorced parents exacerbate his hunger for emotional connection, and he endures the unhelpful attentions of a priest and a psychoanalyst. In time, he recognizes the need to be loved by the men in his life and, in the surprising conclusion, escapes his childhood forever with one unforgettable act.
“With A Boy’s Own Story, American literature is larger by one classic novel,” wrote The Washington Post Book World. “No reader, straight or gay . . . can fail to experience shock after shock of recognition in these pages, and few, I would bet, will be able to withhold a one-to-one sympathy from the unnamed narrator, even when he is being, by the standards of only yesterday, ‘shocking.’”
A Boy’s Own Story, with equal parts stunning lyricism and unabashed humor, traces a nameless narrator’s coming-of-age in the 1950s. Struggling with his homosexuality, the narrator seeks the consolations of a fantastic imagination and fills his head with romantic expectations (“I believed without a doubt in a better world, which was adulthood or New York or Paris or love.”) His distant, divorced parents exacerbate his hunger for emotional connection, and he endures the unhelpful attentions of a priest and a psychoanalyst. In time, he recognizes the need to be loved by the men in his life and, in the surprising conclusion, escapes his childhood forever with one unforgettable act.
“With A Boy’s Own Story, American literature is larger by one classic novel,” wrote The Washington Post Book World. “No reader, straight or gay . . . can fail to experience shock after shock of recognition in these pages, and few, I would bet, will be able to withhold a one-to-one sympathy from the unnamed narrator, even when he is being, by the standards of only yesterday, ‘shocking.’”
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
High quality writing,
By A Customer
This review is from: A Boy's Own Story (Paperback)
An excellent and very readable account of teenage years of growing up, and of aspects of life, parents, sexuality, duplicity and human beings. Vivid and clever use of language. An interesting combination of words, ideas insights, growing maturity and honesty. A book that leaves the reader wanting more. A book with hidden depths. A book that probably needs to be read over more than once, to get its full effect.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Classic Coming of Age Story,
By Ed Bassilio (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Boy's Own Story (Paperback)
It is December, 1983. I am a twenty year old on a subway train, and I have an embarrassing itch. I scratch it, which in turn is interpreted as a signal that I want to get laid by the young man sitting across from me. When I get off the train, this handsome young man, a light skinned African American with an intoxicating look, also exits the train and asks me if I have a match. He realizes I am clueless and then tells me bluntly what he wants to do. He also tells me not to fear AIDS because if we do it that night, he will not do it with anyone else. I ran as fast as I could. I had yet to deal with being gay, speak less of the remote possibility that someone could be attracted to me. Some friends told me I should have beaten him up, others that I should have given in. I decided what I really needed to do was buy a book. The only gay themed book I could find was A BOYS OWN STORY. The cover of the book had a young man who was skinny and not very handsome, but still cute. He had slightly effeminate features, but he was still a guy. The cover alone interested me so I purchased it. I got home and began to read it. And could not stop. I was vicariously interacting with another gay person, and we both understood each other. We understood knowing love in our heads, but not our hearts. We understood parents who wish we were different, which translates into being someone else. While the young man had many sexcapades, more than most people probably have, he still fears exposure and a lack of acceptance. Though this is often termed a gay coming of age novel, it is far more universal. Edmund White creates a Holden Cauffield sort of character that speak to all people who have ever felt left out. As I look back, though my sexuality promoted me to read this book, the connection that remains is based on loneliness and acceptance and the need to feel loved.
2.0 out of 5 stars
not so much,
By Duke Marine (Newbury Park, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Boy's Own Story (Paperback)
I didn't really like this one. In a way its worth reading as a coming out story and the writing was good enough to keep me reading. But the story...not so much. I found alot of the stuff that happened wierd at best and ridiculous at worst. And the end {bites}. I mean I got to the end and was like...um...ok...? I can't say I regretted reading it but at the same time its not something I need to remember. It jumps around alot, and it lacks valid plot points as far as I'm concerned. But I think its the kind of book you need to make up your own mind about.
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