Rating: 
Summary: Romance novel come to life
Review: This was the first book I read by E. Lynn Harris and it will be the last. It reads like a cheap romance novel, all action and trite physical description. There are hundreds of names dropped, many for no reason other than to establish the author has many friends. The author seems to have little insight into his life. He never addresses the real contradiction in his life: from the earliest scenes to the latest, he is blessed with great support, great achievements, and substantial luck, which he consistently fails to make any use of. Where is the person who is so successful at getting jobs and friends, and why is this super salesman spectacularly unsuccessful at even hooking up with anonymous strangers (when others do not seem to have this problem)? In a novel, the character wouldn't make sense, and I couldn't buy him in an autobiography, either. What does he offer in friendship that keeps his friends providing him with housing, money, even a listening ear? Why do people with his resume in hand offer him jobs-do they never check references? When his breakthrough into sobriety and finally writing comes, it seems an random as all the other events in the book, based largely on an unexplained, unexamined connection. There are many compelling questions to answer about homosexuality/bisexuality in the black community-about the process of overcoming early poverty and abuse, about overcoming depression and substance abuse, about friendship and taking chances and following a dream-and none of them are going to be answered by E. Lynn Harris.
Rating: 
Summary: Just OK
Review: This was the first E. Lynn Harris novel I read, and if it weren't for my co-workers recommending his other books, I wouldn't read another novel he wrote. Too whiny and too many pity parties. I felt like yelling at him "Get a grip man, you're not the only one with problems". Not worth buying.
Rating: 
Summary: Change of heart...well sort-of!! :)
Review: Well I read this book in it's entirety and it was O.K. If you read it from a spiritual point of view, you will not like it, but if you try to feel him, his human spirit while reading this book then you will enjoy it more. People have a right to choose their sexuality, however he is grown, therefore it is his choice. I would not advise anyone to purchase this book because it isn't worth your money or anyone else's money. Borrow it from the library, then if you want to purchase it, then by all means do!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: What becomes of the brokenhearted is an excellent book!!!! I have always been a fan of E. Lynn Harris and this books helps you understand the man behind the stories. After reading this book you will start to evaluate your own life.
Rating:
Summary: A Brokenheart mended
Review: Words can not really express the hurt and pain Mr Harris had to endure. All he really wanted was to give love and to be loved. This memoir is full of emotions some bad, some good at the beginning I wanted to cry I became angry at the way he was treated as a child. Then to grow-up and to think he had found the love he had been trying to find for so long only to be hurt over and over again. His writing draws you into his life I can only imagine the struggle it must have been to relive some of the events all over again. Nevertheless he is an outstanding writer and storyteller. I recommend this book to all its a look inside of a man's soul, a soul that was Broken but now has been mended!!!
Rating:
Summary: Glad to Know that the Brokenhearted DO Go On to Thrive!
Review: Wow! This book is amazing. When I heard that E. Lynn Harris had a memoir coming out, I couldn't wait to get it in my hands. And this book did not disappoint. Mr. Harris is a talented writer and a very soulful and brave human being to share his unvarnished life in this book. I'm sure that this book will save lives! I am really glad that Mr. Harris' survived his suicide attempt, because his books--fiction and non-fiction alike--save lives. His writing about surviving and thriving through racism, homophobia, substance abuse, depression, and suicide attempts will help other people who find themselves in similar situations. His testimony that you really can live happily after struggling for so long is vital for so many people. I'm also so appreciative that Mr. Harris illustrates (in this book and in all of his fiction books) that gay/lesbian/bisexual people are spiritual and can (AND DO!) have meaningful relationships with family, friends, and God. Thank you, Mr. Harris, for writing this book!
Rating: 
Summary: I¿ll Be Searching Everywhere Just to Find Someone to Care
Review: You have read the antics of Basil and Raymond in E. Lynn Harris' fictional accounts of life in the black male Gay world. Now, readers can get the truth up close and personal in this moving, chilling memoir, What Becomes of the Brokenhearted by this New York Times best selling author. Harris' first book, Invisible Life is considered a classic. Not since James Baldwin has a writer dared to venture into the taboo territory of black male homosexuality. Harris exposes his life for the world to see-- straight, no chaser. Raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, the oldest child and only boy, with three younger sisters, he recounts the physical abuse by his father that left him emotionally scarred well into his adulthood. He was constantly belittled, called a sissy, and beaten by this man, whom he only wanted to please. It was not until he was twelve years old that he escaped the torment when his parents divorced, and his father was no longer a part of his life. Harris desperately wanted to belong, but was always self-conscious about his small, slight body. He found he could get attention from the cool kids by acting out but when an incident almost caused his expulsion from school, he buckled down and became a model student. As the new South dawned in the 1970s, he decided he wanted to attend an integrated school and so began his exposure to other neighborhoods and meeting and becoming friends with wealthy whites. But plagued with self-esteem issues, he felt inferior to not only wealthy whites, but middle-class black kids, often envying their neighborhoods and two-parent families. As a result, he concocted an identity with a middle-class background in order to belong. Additionally he was constantly struggling with his sexuality, pursuing girls but having feelings about boys. Harris gives a first hand account of the class issues among African Americans in the south and the social life on a college campus. Education, job status, money, and a Mercedes gave him entry to the Buppie world but was not enough to fill the void that was threatening his existence. In searching for satisfaction, he moved from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville to Dallas, to D.C., to Chicago to New York and Atlanta, always looking for something or somebody to which he could belong; someone to love and to be loved. He found solace in alcohol and struggled with depression that was compounded by his battle about his sexuality. Meanwhile, he had to confront the fact that many of his friends were dropping off like flies, succumbing to AIDS. He recounts how there are many black men who are locked into a down-low situation-- in relationships with women, while cruising the gay bars on the weekend. A recent article published in the New York Times about this very topic validates that this in fact is a dilemma in the homophobic black community This is an emotional book which took Harris seven years to write and one he needed to write as a catharsis. There is no revelation of child sexual abuse, just a boy who had feelings he could not explain nor understand. His journey to self-love and acceptance is inspiring. E. Lynn said at his reading, "Don't feel sorry for me because this has a happy ending." Indeed, Harris has conquered his demons as he has returned to the place he most wanted to leave, Arkansas, as he embarks on a stint as a writer-in-residence at his alma mater, the University of Arkansas for the Fall '03 semester. His fans also finally get to find out what the "E" in his name means. I highly recommend this book. Dera Williams
APOOO BookClub
|
