Young Man from the Provinces: A Gay Life Before Stonewall

Rating:
Summary: Perfection - What's it really like?
Review: Finally a book that dares to discuss what being an object is like. We put people on pedestals so high that anything they do is subject to judgement. A sneeze or a burp is cause for us to re-evaluate their worth of our desire. This indepth look at what a man of intellignce went through as a object is wonderfully frank, sweet, unusual, hopefull and well worth a read. Nervous envious types should open their minds and let this experience overwelm them. Everyone can learn something from Alan Helms

Rating:
Summary: Past out of the Present
Review: I don't want to give away the ending, but most readers can tell that this memoir is about re-assessing the past - using some insight gained later in life to review and accept what was bewildering in the rush of living it. This raises it above autobiography and makes it a work of art searching for meaning. Those who thought the book an exercise in name-dropping have totally missed the point. For those readers searching for some sense out of life, this can be a valuable and moving experience. Although certainly not limited to this audience, it will have special relevance for gay men in one form of recovery or the other. You will feel as if you are reading your own story - and that is a gift. The fact that it is also beautifully written and captures a history now lost only adds value.

Rating:
Summary: Enough already
Review: My dad of all people recommended this book to me, telling me it was absolutely fascinating. Unfortunately, reading page after page of stories about someone who is smarter, more talented, and better looking than anyone else around doesn't fascinate me... it does help me go to sleep a little faster at night though.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely fascinating
Review: This is a wonderfully insightful book. Filled with both uplifting joys and terrible tragedies, Helms' story brings together the most potent emotions from homosexuality, alcoholism, substance abuse and even aging. The broad range of the piece is staggering and, in such a short book, quite an accomplishment. There's something in this book for everyone with a troubled soul, and troubles enough for those without. Its end, though, brings some closure. No empty promises of a bright tomorrow, but hope for better today.