The Way Out: The Gay Man's Guide to Freedom No Matter if You're in Denial, Closeted, Half In, Half Out, Just Out or Been Around the Block

by Chris Nutter

Book by Nutter, Chris

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, LGBT

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

A friend of a friend is the author of this book, but I really doubt that it would be much help to someone struggling with the issues it takes on.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nutter emphasizes his philosophical/spiritual approach to life and how that helps in the coming out/living out process. For me, this was a helpful book.

[Ivan Warner Torregroza · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was enlightening and put me on a path of self seeking, made me reflect on the seek of spirituality of the gay man. I Need a revisit.

[James Garman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another jewel of a book found in one of the roadsides "take one leave one" libraries scattered across the city of New Orleans. In it Chris Nutter details his life and how he moved from feeling tried in a world that was against him in so many ways to feeling nothing but love from himself and others.

Some of it, I admitted sounded "hocus-pocusy" to me I am 68, almost 69, and even if this stuff worked could I really achieve anything following the path he outlines? Interestingly, I had a moment of recognition this past weekend when I wasn't even though reading the book.

I locked myself out of my apartment on black Friday in the middle of the afternoon. No, i wasn't rushing off to shop. In fact, all I was doing is running a few errands. However, I am not the most organized person and had my house key simply tucked in my pocket, not on a key chain.

The apartment office was closed this weekend so I was "out on the street" for the duration. I have savings so I could get a hotel room for three days but as time went on i was terrified of what the process to get back into my apartment was going to be like. In my mind, I worked up to be an hours-long struggle to find the landlord and then convince him to let me borrow his key to at least check and see if I had left one, as I thought I had, in the apartment.

I was totally freaked out, and then suddenly an incident that happened when I was a young boy suddenly popped into my head. I had done something that annoyed my mother and she locked me out of the house. It was temporary, obviously, and only lasted, probably 20 minutes if not less than that. But I remembered being horrified that she would never let me back in and I was out in the yard, or the streets totally abandoned...at the age of about 8 or 10, sometime in that time period.

When I realized what was going on, to some relief, the fear let up a bit, and Monday when the landlord came in at about 10 am, I got him immediately, he let me borrow the key, I opened my door and found a spare, and he even helped me put the key on the chain with my car keys.

Now I am not going to brag that because of the book, I was immediately upon realizing what the fear came from, it was suddenly all over. However, I do see this as a sign that things are often far less scary than i almost always assume they are....and it was "oh my, another link in the chain."

Since this book was found in the "take one, leave one" box, I think this book will NOT be returned, and I will substitute and perhaps try to use it as a resource.

[Paul P · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED Chris Nutter's memoir/guidebook, which I read during a period of intense transition in my life. Very fond memories of how this book inspired and supported me during the challenges of coming-out. It also connected spirituality POSITIVELY to sexuality: this was earth-shatteringly wonderful to me! It allowed me to see through the sex-negative, especially gay-sex-negative, claptrap that I had been taught--at church and at home.

I enthusiastically recommend this book for anyone genuinely interested in self-discovery and self-love. Buddhism strongly runs beneath the surface, guiding the search for truth and liberation.