I couldn't put this memoir down. Fascinating, frightening, sad--yet with warmth, love and humor. Primarily this is a story of a young boy who cannot live up to his father's cruel ideal of manhood. He is from a insular Romany clan known for fighting. But Mikey does not fit with the family expectations. Beaten down by cruelity and abuse, without skills, education, connections and because he is gay Mikey is and outsider among outsiders. He is virtually trapped in a life that becomes unbearable. He escapes, however, to tell this amazing, train-wreck of a story.