Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest
by
Will Fellows
Homosexuality is often seen as a purely urban experience, far removed from rural and small town life. Farm Boys undermines that cliche by telling the stories of more than three dozen gay men, ranging in age from 24 to 84, who grew up in farm families in the Midwest. Whether painful, funny, or matter-of-fact, these plain-spoken accounts will move and educate any reader, gay...more
Paperback, 360 pages
Published
March 15th 1998
by University of Wisconsin Press
(first published 1996)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
123)
Well, at least I'm back to reading, perhaps. Ang Lee had his 'Brokeback Mountain' leads read this before filming. I can certainly see why. For someone like myself - transplanted from the east coast - 'FB' is an illuminating read. The reasons for not coming out in the midwest do differ in some unexpected ways. But it's not surprising at all that all of these guys grew up in an environment in which homosexuality simply was not mentioned - or, if it was, it was thought of as that which dare not spe...more
I read this book as research for a story I wanted to write, and it completely changed not just the book I was researching but my perception of Midwestern gay men in general. I think this book also single-handedly turned me from a gay rights empathizer to a full-blown LGBT advocate. The pain revealed by the men in this book, all true stories, broke my heart and got me off my chair and into the One Iowa volunteer corps.
Most fascinating (and hopeful) is how vivid the progression through the genera...more
Most fascinating (and hopeful) is how vivid the progression through the genera...more
view 1 comment
True stories from gay boys growing up on farms. Painfully true. My sister had to read it for a class and hated it. I picked it up because, really, gay cowboys could never be bad. I was shocked by the honesty and shamelessness of these stories. It's refreshing.
I picked this up because my cousin and his partner were one of the stories told in it...ended up reading the whole thing! A really interesting exploration of what it was like for real-life gay men growing up in rural areas, from the 1930s all the way up through the 1980s. Glad to see how much more accepting of themselves they became as the book progressed chronologically. Fascinating!
Nov 16, 2012
Arlie
added it
Just call me Connie. (Sanders) I'm in the youngest of the three cohorts by decade.
And yes, Ang Lee gave Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger a copy of this book to read at the recommendation of Annie Proulx!
From IMDB: "Director Ang Lee gave Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal copies of the book, "Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest", by Will Fellows, a book that had been mentioned by both Annie Proulx and Diana Ossana as an excellent reference source, to help them understand their char...more
And yes, Ang Lee gave Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger a copy of this book to read at the recommendation of Annie Proulx!
From IMDB: "Director Ang Lee gave Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal copies of the book, "Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest", by Will Fellows, a book that had been mentioned by both Annie Proulx and Diana Ossana as an excellent reference source, to help them understand their char...more
Good, but somewhat monotonous after awhile. Interesting insights into the rural culture and men transitioning (often) to city life. I have a lot of farm relatives so this gave me food for thought.
Dec 23, 2009
Tjlerkin
added it
excellent
Jun 18, 2013
Pete
marked it as to-read
Jun 12, 2013
miguel
marked it as to-read
May 18, 2013
Cornic
marked it as to-read
Apr 30, 2013
Eve Studnicka
marked it as to-read
Apr 23, 2013
Helena
marked it as to-read
Mar 13, 2013
Pol
marked it as to-read
Feb 20, 2013
Gay City LGBT Library
added it
Feb 11, 2013
Jim Labay
marked it as to-read
Feb 11, 2013
Jim
marked it as to-read
Feb 05, 2013
A. Kuhlii
added it
Feb 04, 2013
Gus
marked it as to-read
Jan 29, 2013
Mary Havens
marked it as to-read
Jan 17, 2013
Christopher
marked it as my-list
Dec 28, 2012
Joao
added it
Dec 18, 2012
Rodrigo Barreto
added it
Dec 14, 2012
Cynthia Stauffer
marked it as to-read
Nov 22, 2012
Pedro
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
