Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: "You Are Here" was definitely an enjoyable read, as it tells a brief moment in history of a gay man coming to terms with moving to New York City from a town in Virginia. This is not to say that it is directed solely toward gay readers; anyone can enjoy this book, as its lessons and learnings apply to people of all genders and sexual orientations. It was a quick, enjoyable read, and Gibson's descriptions about certain events are dead-on. Some make you laugh, some make you cry. I will be on the look out for future books by this author.
Rating: 
Summary: You Are Here...or at least you should be.
Review: "You Are Here" was definitely an enjoyable read, as it tells a brief moment in history of a gay man coming to terms with moving to New York City from a town in Virginia. This is not to say that it is directed solely toward gay readers; anyone can enjoy this book, as its lessons and learnings apply to people of all genders and sexual orientations. It was a quick, enjoyable read, and Gibson's descriptions about certain events are dead-on. Some make you laugh, some make you cry. I will be on the look out for future books by this author.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book from a exciting new talent
Review: Do yourself a favor and pick up this book. Funny, touching , and moving all at the same time. The book is a great read by an author that I feel is going to be well known very soon.
Rating:
Summary: A True and Funny Memoir
Review: For many young gay men who live in disparate communities around the country, New York City is the golden promise land that they strive to merge into once age and finances allow. The tale of an obscure individual arriving in the city with nothing and achieving fame beyond his wildest dreams has become an American myth. Wesley Gibson has written his own tale of travelling to the famous city where he hopes to establish himself as a writer. He lives under the threat that if he doesn't make it he will have to return to his hometown as a failure.He casts the physical landscape of the city under the terms of a gay sensibility. For instance, he remarks: "Central Park is Martha, as in George and Martha, braying at you, 'I do not bray.' It's too much of muchness." In this redefinition of the city he marks it as his own territory. It's also a clever way for the author to introduce his environment as a character itself. While the tone of the book remains that of a memoir, the people Gibson encounters are transformed into eccentric characters that stand alongside the colourful caricatures of Dickens' fictional world. In fact by the end he remarks that he feels a growing kinship to one of Dickens' greatest tragic females. This fictional cast to his life is borne out of a self-consciousness playfulness that comes through in his thought process, usually spurred on by morbid premonitions of doom. After hardly speaking to his new roommate he is on the phone to a close friend fearing that he's moved in with an axe murderer. Dramatic events are conceived in his mind and then the reality of the city asserts itself as stranger than anything this writer could have imagined. Gibson describes the typical life of a writer, where little actual writing is accomplished, and a mass of experience is acquired. To make ends meet he tries different jobs and finds a room through a gay housing agency. These lead to hilarious encounters which highlight the absurdities of life like in the best writing of David Sedaris. However, much of the book is also concerned with the serious problems Gibson encounters such as depression, AIDS and isolation. He finds that having abandoned the threatening homophobic environment of his home in Virginia, the liberal big city does little to comfort this gay man. His first potential romantic encounter turns out to be a hustler looking for money and a place to crash for the night. A potential roommate with a large collection of extremely anatomically correct GI Joe figures proclaims that Gibson isn't a normal gay man. This lingering resentment of being outcast for not conforming to a certain image of a gay man haunts the memoir. It leads me to believe that Gibson has a much bigger fictional work ahead of him. Nevertheless, YOU ARE HERE remains a funny, thoughtful account that many people will no doubt identify with for it's witty observations of cosmopolitan life.
Rating:
Summary: LOL Funny!
Review: I happened on this book and boy am I glad I did. This book is witty and just beautiful. This book is very clever and some of the insights into life are exhilirating.
Rating: 
Summary: Get over yourself.
Review: I read "You Are Here" as a recent vacation read... the cover design alone was inticing. I'm not sure I had an expectation of the book, but I found it to be dull and uninspired. Like the author, I moved to New York right out of college, but a lot of his experiences seemed more whiney and priviledged than pithy or universal. Can't live well in New York at a young age? Join the human race! Most people don't live well at that age. At times he seems grandiose, such as in passages where he talks about being depressed that he isn't a published author yet. Considering that his writing isn't much better than a lot of aspiring writers, his egotism (which may just be poorly expressed irony) detracts from his storytelling. All in all, "You Are Here" reads like the memoirs of some guy who lucked into a publishing contract. David Sedaris, breathe easy.
Rating:
Summary: Get over yourself.
Review: I read "You Are Here" as a recent vacation read... the cover design alone was inticing. I'm not sure I had an expectation of the book, but I found it to be dull and uninspired. Like the author, I moved to New York right out of college, but a lot of his experiences seemed more whiney and priviledged than pithy or universal. Can't live well in New York at a young age? Join the human race! Most people don't live well at that age. At times he seems grandiose, such as in passages where he talks about being depressed that he isn't a published author yet. Considering that his writing isn't much better than a lot of aspiring writers, his egotism (which may just be poorly expressed irony) detracts from his storytelling. All in all, "You Are Here" reads like the memoirs of some guy who lucked into a publishing contract. David Sedaris, breathe easy.
Rating:
Summary: Who Has Time To Write?
Review: Just finished this book and man this guy gets it dead on.
This book is for everyone who wonders what it's like to live in New York trying to be a writer when there ain't no time for writing what with all the hours slaving for tips at the restaurant and all the TV shows that have to be watched while you lounge on the couch talkin on the phone and all the cigarettes and all the sittin in coffeeshops and takin care of your cancer ridden roommate. Who has time to write? Time's running out and you're getting too old to be the enfant terrible of the literary world. I love his honesty about not feeling hot enough to really be gay and also how the restaurant days really aren't that bad. This is a book about the chase and admitting that's usually the best part. If only you knew it at the time. I hope he's working on a novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time
Review: Maybe a requirement of reviewing a book is actually finishing it - but I just couldn't get through this one. The book basically details a gay man moving to New York and attempting to make it..... I thought it would be a great book, but I was mistaken. The author's language was obtuse... the phrase: TRYING TOO HARD comes to mind.... I'm sorry Mr. Gibson if I am being unfair - I'll try to finish your next one.
Rating:
Summary: Very touching story of a gay man in New York City
Review: This book is generally good. I liked it and am glad I purchased it new. The problem is that it's almost like Gibson wrote this novel like a session on a psychologist's couch, with every little detail of every person he ever met and everything he ever experienced - without full regard for what the reader would like to hear. There are some details in here I find too graphic and disgusting, such as when he helped a morbidly obese neighbor off a toilet.
The book gets a lot better halfway through, and continues to become more moving through the end. The story of Wesley's roommate John and his eventual death from lung cancer paints a beautiful picture of human frailty and the bonds that exist between us.
I am enraptured of New York City and like to read people's accounts of it. I am also a writer like him. Gibson did not disappoint.
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