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Tango: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels [Paperback]

Justin Vivian Bond

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Book Description

Aug 16 2011

WINNER OF A 2012 LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD

"Like Bond, the memoir is droll, pensive and filled with zingers teetering between funny and ferocious."—The New York Times



"Bond's fabulosity is matched by a trenchant wit, and [V's] over-the-top stories are smartly edged with politics, sexual or otherwise."—The New York Times


Recently hailed as "the greatest cabaret artist of [V's] generation" in The New Yorker, Mx. Justin Vivian Bond makes a brilliant literary debut with this staggeringly candid and hilarious novella-length memoir.


With a recent diagnosis of attention deficit disorder, and news that his first lover from childhood has been imprisoned for impersonating an undercover police officer, Bond recalls in vivid detail coming of age as a trans kid. Always haunted by the knowledge of being "different," Bond was further confused when the bully next door wanted to meet secretly. Their trysts went on for years, and made Bond acutely aware of sexual power and vulnerability. With inimitable style, Bond raises issues about LGBTQ adolescence, homophobia, parenting, and sexuality, while being utterly entertaining.


Singer, songwriter, and Tony-nominated performance artist Mx. Justin Vivian Bond is an Obie, Bessie, and Ethyl Eichelberger Award winner. As one half of the performance duo Kiki and Herb, Bond has toured the world, headlining at Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, and starring in a Tony nominated run on Broadway, Kiki and Herb Alive on Broadway. His film credits include a role in John Cameron Mitchell's feature Shortbus. Bond is currently releasing a record, Dendrophile, and is writing a play with Sandra Bernhard.



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Product Details

  • Paperback: 144 pages
  • Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY (Aug 16 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1558617477
  • ISBN-13: 978-1558617476
  • Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 1.3 x 19.1 cm
  • Shipping Weight: 249 g
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #427,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Product Description

Review


“Thank you, Justin, for your courage in writing the truth of what you went through as a transgender child in this society. Thank you, also, for your sense of humor. This book is very important, and fun to read as well.”
—Yoko Ono

"Tango is a raw nerve touching an electric soul, a beautiful book, written with honesty, pain, and joy from one of our great modern day shamans."
—Sandra Bernhard

"Justin Vivian Bond is a lightning rod, a solid steel structure in heels that attracts burning chaos and disciplines it into orderly submission. Am I allowed to say that Justin is God?”
—Rufus Wainwright

"Tango should be in the hands of every child who can read, and of
every adult who cares about that child."
—Michael Warner, author of The Trouble with Normal

“Reading Tango is like listening to your favorite eccentric cousin or auntie tell you hair-raising tales of innocence lost and found, friendships forged of adversity, and bullies bewildered by their own perversity. Justin spins a one-of-a-kind story that you won't be able to put down.”
—Kate Bornstein, author of Gender Outlaw

“When I say Justin Vivian Bond is a true original, what I mean is, Justin doesn’t resemble anyone else on the face of the planet. When I say Justin Bond is touched by genius, I mean exactly that.”
—Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours

About the Author

Justin Bond: Singer, songwriter, and Tony-nominated performance artist Mx Justin Vivian Bond is an Obie, Bessie, and Ethyl Eichelberger Award winner. As one half of the performance duo Kiki and Herb, Bond has toured the world, headlining at Carnegie Hall, The Sydney Opera House, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, and has starred in Kiki and Herb Alive on Broadway. His film credits include a starring role in John Cameron Mitchell’s feature Shortbus.

Website: justinbond.com
Twitter: twitter.com/mxjustinbond

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.1 out of 5 stars  9 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A powerful, deeply-moving tale of innocence, awkwardness, and confusion Aug 8 2011
By Sally - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Largely stripped of any sense of celebrity (Mx. Bond is, after all, an award-winning singer, songwriter, and performer), Tango focuses on the experiences of Justin's childhood, inviting us into a world of innocence, awkwardness, and confusion to which any reader can relate. Told in a casual, almost conversational style, this is a memoir that truly hits home - even if it sometimes hits harder and deeper than we may always be comfortable with.

Powerful and motivating, even (or, perhaps, especially) when uncomfortable, Tango is the story of the kind of childhood that I suspect is more common than most people would like to think. The sexual experimentation between adolescents may be too much for some readers, and the violence between them too much for others, but you can't truly appreciate the "luxury of normality" that Mx. Bond has achieved without first understanding where v came from.

My only complaint about the book is that it's too short, and ends rather abruptly, but it is the tale of a childhood, not a life, and not a career. Hopefully, the lovely Mx. Bond has another story inside vself, one that we'll get to share. Until then, however, Tango serves not just as an entry in the "It Gets Better" theme of literature, but of a welcome glimpse into vs origins.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars "Ma Vie en Rose" in real life Sep 21 2011
By glitterlips - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Powerful, heartbreaking but also very funny (at times) story of the early childhood of Mx Justin Vivian Bond, a trans cabaret performer who I've had the pleasure of seeing live a few times. (excellent show!)

Reading Mx Bond's account of growing up trans, I had flashbacks of my own childhood growing up as a tomboy and also having some of the same issues with being boxed into gender stereotypes. (think "Scout" in To Kill a Mockingbird - that was completely me) Now it would have been much easier for me to go to school wearing lipstick, but when Bond does it, it causes a huge scene with V's mother. Classic! Bond's tales accurately capture the awkwardness of discovering one's own sexuality. It also reveals the recent discovery that V has Attention Deficit Disorder and how that came to light.

I feel that this book greatly helps promote understanding of what it's like to not easily fit gender "norms", also enlightening and encouraging to those who feel a bit different. <3
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A hilariously REAL romp through childhood Sep 25 2012
By Kitten Draper Calfee - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This book serves the same wit & panache Vivian delivers onstage, in delightfully direct printed form. A quick, hilarious read, TANGO is a wonderful glimpse into adolescent tranny angst that reveals that yes indeed, it does get better. Mx. Bond has a charming way of telling her stories, and I highly recommend her book for anyone who enjoys the New Yorker or David Sedaris. Highly recommended!

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