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A Boy's Own Story: A Novel (The Edmund Trilogy #1)
by
Edmund White
Originally published in 1982 as the first of Edmund White's trilogy of autobiographical novels, A Boy's Own Story became an instant classic for its pioneering portrayal of homosexuality. The book's unnamed narrator, growing up during the 1950s, is beset by aloof parents, a cruel sister, and relentless mocking from his peers, compelling him to seek out works of art and lite...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
February 24th 2009
by Penguin (Non-Classics)
(first published 1982)
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edmund white portrays his younger life in a strangely poetic, almost narcotic style. not exactly the most flattering self-portrait...the protagonist's travails are emotionally affecting yet he remains creepily distanced from the events and people in his own life - and, in particular, from his equally creepy, distant, self-absorbed father. the apple does not fall far from the tree, i suppose. overall, the language is some of the most beautiful, in my experience, of all of gay fiction - rivaling e...more
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There's a kind of bittersweet loneliness/excitement at sexual awakening that most gays will intrinsically understand and that White always manages to caputure so perfectly. Somehow, he romances the unromantic, charming us with images of cruising in parks and getting STD's.
An account of growing up queer when growing up queer wasn't as mainstream as it is today. I think will appeal almost universally to a gay audience, but also to anyone who has felt different or like an outsider. It also deals with some interesting father-son issues.
This book starts out well, giving an interesting evokation of a gay man's youth in the Midwest, small town America, but when the main character enters boarding school, it veers off course and I lost interest. In the end, White's story supposedly autobiographical comes off as a bit difficult to believe, as though halfway into the composition he decided his goal was not to write a realist rendering of his life, but to shock and be sensationalist. Perhaps in the time it was written, there was some ...more
The last of White's novels that I picked up, and to be honest I wasn't expecting any surprises. Was I stupid! I sometimes cringe when I hear this book praised as if it were the first and best thing White ever wrote...but it is a masterpiece. After the somewhat fervid manner of 'Nocturnes for the King of Naples' (still my favorite of his books) White took to heart Isherwood's advice to write more plainly. The style he achieves in this book is a marvel. A formal chasteness that doesn't trammel ly...more
Haengbok92
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who grew up to the beat of their own drummers
Shelves:
mainstreamliterary
This book is chock-full of beautiful prose and a cast of varied and unique characters that cling to you after the pages are closed. It's a window into the life of a young homosexual boy growing up in the fifties, his relationships with his parents, friends, and other mentors--both positive and negative--in his life. I think there is a lot to relate to here, whether you are gay, straight, or bi. Some sections definitely made me laugh out loud, others raised by eyebrows to my hairline.
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"A memoir of gay teen's coming out journey in the 50s" might sound a bit precious, or pretentious, or too navel-gazing. It is all of those things, for better or worse. But the prose is stunning - florid, and perhaps too studied and measured for even the most precocious teen, but that's its strength. White's use of language is lyrical, dreamlike (almost narcotic), surprising and yet precise.
On one of his sexual encounters:
"Well yeah, but since there aren't any girls...more
On one of his sexual encounters:
"Well yeah, but since there aren't any girls...more
First-- I pretty much am always embarrassed for old white guy authors who write bad black dialect (how can you not cringe on something like "Good. I goan back to mah TV shows."). Otherwise, this is a book for which I'm decidedly not the target audience, but it was there in the library and I figured I ought to read some E. White at some point, so here we are. The descriptions of people and settings are often pristine; absolutely precise, vivid, evocative. The narrative kind of slogs ...more
K.D.
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommended to K.D. by:
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
A book about a gay boy in the US during the 50's. This coming-of-age story is peppered with lyrical prose and said to be an instant hit when it was first published in 1982. Considering that the setting of the story is in the heartland of the conservative US and it was in the 50's (before the rock n roll era), the difficulties that the author of this semi-autobiographical novel went through to fight for his desire to be loved (by men including his father) are something worth knowing. As the blurb...more
I think the book was enjoyable and certainly broadens the mind.
However it was quite possible one of the single most self indulgent novels I've ever read.
I also found the novel flicked around moving between subjects - which is an effective technique - though it was sometimes executed rather clumsily. The stream, which should have been smooth, became jagged through poor connections and redundant paragraphs informing the reader on matters the author had already spent eff...more
However it was quite possible one of the single most self indulgent novels I've ever read.
I also found the novel flicked around moving between subjects - which is an effective technique - though it was sometimes executed rather clumsily. The stream, which should have been smooth, became jagged through poor connections and redundant paragraphs informing the reader on matters the author had already spent eff...more
If he wasn't writing about gay men, he would be as famous as any major modern author. From what I've read of the modern canon, he and Toni Morrison are the best writers. I didn't mind the nonlinear, even random, sequencing of the book. His metaphors and imagery are so stunning and so specific. The book isn't the most emotional, by design I imagine, but you can identify with his passing summations of what the character is feeling at any given moment. White really spells out what it's like, more t...more
This is the first book of Edmund White's trilogy of autobiographical novels. A quick read about growing-up "abnormally" and emotionally isolated during the conservative 1950s and his relationships with his divorced parents, a group of friends and his psychiatrist who said that he could cure his homosexuality. I didn't quite enjoy the book but it's worth the time though. Favorite parts include the encounter between him and his friend Kevin and the night when the narrator(obviously the a...more
This is an amusing "way back before your time when I was younger than you (if you can imagine that), sonny..." story. In this case, boy actually MEANS boy and detailed accounts of pre-adolescent boys "corn-holing" each other before the seventies kind of surprised me.
This book is a gay classic and Edmund White is a gay icon. I had been meaning to get around to him as a sort of educational obligation. I read this book 2 years ago, and I suspect I'll pick up the next book ...more
This book is a gay classic and Edmund White is a gay icon. I had been meaning to get around to him as a sort of educational obligation. I read this book 2 years ago, and I suspect I'll pick up the next book ...more
This wasn’t what I expected to find when I picked this book. I expected a story based on a real life experience…what it turned out to be was a collection of anecdotes from a life tied together loosely through a vaguely chronological perspective and a bunch of generously worded descriptions of people, emotions and locations.
The narrative is personal and from the foreword we learn that it is indeed an autobiographical story. The author also lets us know that he was an addict while he wr...more
The narrative is personal and from the foreword we learn that it is indeed an autobiographical story. The author also lets us know that he was an addict while he wr...more
I don't know what the deal was. I just couldn't get into it. I really liked The Beautiful Room is Empty. This one seemed more fragmented. I started getting into the second half, when he went off to boarding school. That was when the pace started to pick up.
I didn't care much for his relationship with his father, though it played a role later in his life. It was kind of interesting that he fantasized about being his father's lover, not unlike Allen Ginsberg. I haven't heard much abou...more
I didn't care much for his relationship with his father, though it played a role later in his life. It was kind of interesting that he fantasized about being his father's lover, not unlike Allen Ginsberg. I haven't heard much abou...more
A gritty journey of a boy into a young man. It is like a train wreck: You can't look, you cant look away. *Contains Spoilers* I have mixed feelings towards this text.
I found that the protagonist unpleasant and manipulative Dispite this White does have a way with words, we can get a good sense of his characters and locations. White is very articulate, this book is very well crafted. Giving us powerful insight into the devides between gender, race and wealth. What kept me going is to se...more
I found that the protagonist unpleasant and manipulative Dispite this White does have a way with words, we can get a good sense of his characters and locations. White is very articulate, this book is very well crafted. Giving us powerful insight into the devides between gender, race and wealth. What kept me going is to se...more
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White's poetic prose is often thrillingly evocative and the story is laced with passages so beautiful that one can't help but reread them. As a gay coming-of-age story it is much better than most. Even so I was often not in synch with the narrator, feeling as if some of the most interesting sections were quickly dispatched while other, less interesting parts were belabored. This is, in the end, a poignant memoir and an account of White's boyhood (not my own); his decisions regarding pacing an...more
ok, it's been a while since i've read a novel. i understand why this is "fantastic", "brilliant," and all that hooplah. there were several descriptions in the book that were beautiful. and the prose was outstanding. however, the book lacked some cohesion and at times still read a bit like a memoir. it definitely deserves its rank among "must read" gay literature. but i don't think that it owned up to all the hype.
This book is considered a classic in the coming-of-age category of gay fiction. It's supposed to be one of White's best works. Frankly, I'm not feeling the love. White is a great writer, but I couldn't buy into someone the age of the main character being so self aware. If there were, I don't think they would have been so unhappy.
remember reading this over 15 years ago and being struck by the harshness and lack of empathy on the part of the 'hero'. Picked it up again a couple of days ago and in just looking at random here and there found my opinion hadn't really changed. Cold and manipulative. I do love White's style of writing but not his characters
One of the things my copy of the book says is that it could be any boy's story. That is credited to The New York Times reviewer. I don't think that's true - I wasn't born in Cleveland to a rich family. But beyond that, Edmund White describes a somewhat familiar growing up as a gay man based on his own childhood. (Nobody but White knows exactly how autobiographical his novel is.) So, it seemed to be any gay boy's coming out story.
The only problem I found with the book is the periodic ju...more
The only problem I found with the book is the periodic ju...more
I love Edmund White's writing. This book is an insightful read for people from broken homes or for people who want to look at adolescence through a brilliant man's eyes. It's also a gay story, so your enjoyment of the story might related to how much you relate to or take an interest in that.
I really doubt I read this "April 1st" like I've marked, but I really did read it sometime in the last year; I just apparently forgot to add it.
Really liked it; enough to reread it someday and add a real review, I think, even.
Let's all hold our breath. {delight}
Really liked it; enough to reread it someday and add a real review, I think, even.
Let's all hold our breath. {delight}
i read this over euro winter christmas holidays.
i love books talking about this era. but this
was so boring.
a celebration of rich white sexist racist gay men!!
woohoo!
i only finished it coz i was drinking everyday and
it was trashy.
i love books talking about this era. but this
was so boring.
a celebration of rich white sexist racist gay men!!
woohoo!
i only finished it coz i was drinking everyday and
it was trashy.
I suppose as a married, mother of two children I wasn't the target audience for this book about a young man coming to terms with his homosexuality. Some of the scenes were graphic, and may make a lesser person's hair curl, but overall the writing was good and the story held my attention through to the end.
I know I started this one many years ago but didn't like it at all. I know I had a copy but as I can no longer find it on my bookshelves I think I may have disliked it enough to chuck it.
I loved the passage on Buddhism because it reminded me of my own juvenile religious experiments. The character of Howie is scary, but I liked how he was treated so humorously. In general, the non-chronological order of certain events the narrator stresses on pleased me.
I'm not sure, though, if one should read this book for its literary values. It's old and its story has been retold in various ways since. The merit of being the first to write down a coming out story (was he?) is fading ...more
I'm not sure, though, if one should read this book for its literary values. It's old and its story has been retold in various ways since. The merit of being the first to write down a coming out story (was he?) is fading ...more
I couldn't really relate to this story, but I guess others can. It's about the adolescence of a homosexual man living in approximately the 1950's.
In memory of my beloved university professor, my days when writing was the prime of my life, and when I romanticized the thought of being a writer.
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Edmund White's novels include Fanny: A Fiction, A Boy's Own Story, The Farewell Symphony, and A Married Man. He is also the author of a biography of Jean Genet, a study of Marcel Proust, The Flâneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris, and, most recently, his memoir, My Lives. Having lived in Paris for many years, he is now a New Yorker and teaches at Princeton University.
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“When we are young... we often experience things in the present with a nostalgia-in-advance, but we seldom guess what we will truly prize years from now.”
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