Rating: 
Summary: I feel like I've gained & lost a friend - at the same time
Review: I first heard the Billy Tipton saga on the program "Mysteries and Scandals." I was concerned that the book was going to be handled in the style of the National Enquirer. So I'd like to say, that if you're looking for "the dirt" on Billy Tipton, if you only need to know the sexual aspects in explicit details, then go buy a rag magazine at the checkout counter at Kmart. On the other hand, if you are of a "higher mentality" and can view this book as a chronological trip through Billy Tipton's life, you'll be extremely satisfied. At first,I just had a lot of sympathy for Billy Tipton. But as I read, I found that anyone who knew him, regarded him as a kind, loving and giving person. No one had a rotten thing to say about Billy Tipton. Most of them knew Billy as Dorothy and just accepted and respected that. We seldom see those kind of principles these days.I liked the fact that the author took the time to "paint a picture" of what times were like in places like Joplin, Missouri or Spokane Washington. She included some jazz/musical history, medical terminology regarding cross-gender - a LOT of research was done. The bottom line was that Billy Tipton had a true "passion" for jazz, found a way to fulfill this passion, faced many obstacles, but I doubt that he ever meant to hurt anyone - (And he didn't, really). That's one heck of an epitaph for anybody. Billy Tipton - made a choice, carried it through and did it his way. A person way ahead of their time. Enjoy the book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the strangest books I have ever read.
Review: I remember being called by a friend when Billy Tipton died. "She GOT AWAY WITH IT", my friend crowed. I've been waiting for a biography of this amazing person ever since and was not disappointed with SUITS ME. But it's difficult to realize that the events in the latter half of this story took place within my lifetime--at times they seem to have occurred on another planet. The most surprising thing about the book is the tolerance of Tipton's behaviour shown by a great many friends and relatives in a traditionally conservative part of the country. But rural Oklahoma in the thirties seems to have been full of men with womanish-sounding names and mannishly-named women, and no one thought anything of the occasional cross-dresser (the most hilarious episode is when Tipton meets the radio announcer who also passed as a man). As one friend of Tipton's says in SUITS ME: "There weren't as many mean people around then." The unconditional love some people have for friend and family is the true message of this book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the strangest books I have ever read.
Review: I remember being called by a friend when Billy Tipton died. "She GOT AWAY WITH IT", my friend crowed. I've been waiting for a biography of this amazing person ever since and was not disappointed with SUITS ME. But it's difficult to realize that the events in the latter half of this story took place within my lifetime--at times they seem to have occurred on another planet. The most surprising thing about the book is the tolerance of Tipton's behaviour shown by a great many friends and relatives in a traditionally conservative part of the country. But rural Oklahoma in the thirties seems to have been full of men with womanish-sounding names and mannishly-named women, and no one thought anything of the occasional cross-dresser (the most hilarious episode is when Tipton meets the radio announcer who also passed as a man). As one friend of Tipton's says in SUITS ME: "There weren't as many mean people around then." The unconditional love some people have for friend and family is the true message of this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Billy Tipton Remains a Mystery
Review: I was shocked to find out that the author has received awards for her previous biographies. I think this book is poorly written. I don't think there was enough material to write a book here. The author is thorough in listing Billy's "gigs" but cannot come up with anything concrete about her personal life. This is not actually the author's fault; however, while researching the topic, she should have realized there was not enough information to write an entire book. So what she does is ask question after question about Billy and even writes passages the way things might have been (but we'll never know, she says). If one has to guess and piece together the way things may have been, why even bother with the subject? One can get more mileage out of a subject like this through fiction (such as "M Butterfly" or some of Shakespeare's plays).
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing Story, Mediocre Book
Review: It really shouldn't have taken me as long as it did to get through this book. Dorothy "Billy" Tipton's life was fascinating, bold, joyous, sad and unusual. Her life as a talented male jazz musician, at a time when it was challenging for women to get gigs as serious jazz musicians is well chronicled in this book. But despite all the facts, occasional speculation, and details of Billy Tiptons life, this was a very dry read and at times a chore. Yes, I was fully engaged in the STORY because on it's own it is quite powerful and intriguing. It was expertly researched, but Ms. Middlebrook's prose leaves something to be desired. Read this book to learn how this woman spent most of her life as a man, and had wives, lovers and children (adopted), many who didn't know she was a man. However, if you are looking for exciting reading, this book will leave you dissapointed.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Story, Mediocre Book
Review: It really shouldn't have taken me as long as it did to get through this book. Dorothy "Billy" Tipton's life was fascinating, bold, joyous, sad and unusual. Her life as a talented male jazz musician, at a time when it was challenging for women to get gigs as serious jazz musicians is well chronicled in this book. But despite all the facts, occasional speculation, and details of Billy Tiptons life, this was a very dry read and at times a chore. Yes, I was fully engaged in the STORY because on it's own it is quite powerful and intriguing. It was expertly researched, but Ms. Middlebrook's prose leaves something to be desired. Read this book to learn how this woman spent most of her life as a man, and had wives, lovers and children (adopted), many who didn't know she was a man. However, if you are looking for exciting reading, this book will leave you dissapointed.
Rating:
Summary: Meticulously researched, dry and unimaginative presentation
Review: It suprised me that such a fasinating subject could become a difficult to enjoy and ultimately unsatisfying read. The author's avoidance of focussing on Tipton's homosexuality and seeing her life as a pragmatic decision due to her love of jazz and the constraits of her era are a major weakness in this book. It was not a "hard to put down" but a "can't get through it" read.
Rating:
Summary: Who Are You?
Review: It's safe to say that there is another side to most of us. No matter who you are, or how big or little it is, or how serious. There is something there that we don't tell others. But the lies and deception in this book from the man/woman it comes from, top it all. The book details the life of respected jazz musician, Billy Lee Tipton. A bright, funny, good natured and handsome young man, who wanted nothing more than to play the music he loved and to have a career doing it. Sounds nice, right?. Billy was born Dorothy Tipton. A she. From the age of 19 up until his death at the age of 74 in 1989, Dorothy had lived as a man. Billy. The writer of this fine and incredible biography, Diane Wood Middlebrook, can't easily answer most of the questions that anyone who knows the story or reads the book will want to know. Why?. Mainly because there is no real way of knowing. Billy Tipton was an incredible mystery. A mystery that the man himself only had the answers too, and he kept them with him when he went to the grave. Only Billy knows why he did it, and he never let it out. Sure, there were some who kind of had an idea along the way, and some who did know, but nothing came of it. The questions his story raise can only be met with ideas and suggestions of the author, and our own viewpoint. The book goes into detail how this man lived and worked. The details of the gigs he would play around the country. The most interesting thing here is that he was able to have five wives!. And according to them, they never knew anything. I have always known the story and it would be appealing and interesting no matter what, but I have a strong connection to it since Billy spent the last 26 or 27 years of his life here in my hometown. Billy's sexuality is the most mysterious. He went for real women, so was she really a lesbian?. What were her thoughts and wants?. No one knows. And why did she do it?. Some say that because back when she was growing up, women were in the background. Men up front. Women had their parts, and the men went off and did the work. There were some women who may of been in groups and what not, but a lot of them were background singers. Some lucky few broke thru the barriers and had solo careers. So did Billy do it so he could actually get a break in the business he wanted in to play the music he loved?. Who knows. It's an odd and infuriating tale since Billy is still a gigantic question mark at the end just as much as he was in the beginning. Middlebrook writes with such a deep understanding and respect for Tipton, and she makes it such an absorbing and compelling read. You could read the whole thing in one day if you wanted too. It's that good. From his stormy upbringing, to his bizarre adult and senior life, Middlebrook creates a brilliant book about a most peculiar and sensational person. A must read.
Rating: 
Summary: --Brook's Sisters
Review: Middlebrook has probably opened up as many questions as she has given answers regarding the life of Dorothy/Billy Tipton, jazz musician and friend of many. Relying on hundreds of primary sources, Middlebrook spreads out her pattern pieces and sews together a suit that may or may not have fit Tipton. Tipton her/himself defies classification and poses as many questions of existence as the times and places in which s/he lived. How could the United States, Land of Plenty, develop a Depression of such intensity, and to what depths would people go to survive it? Wherein lies the entitlement for men to succeed in a field (the music industry, in this case) and not women? Why do public perceptions form moral "laws" that only hurt the innocent, especially with regard to "private" consents? Middlebrook never claims to have all the answers, but she does uncover dramatically the lives and loves of one person who in order to live a "normal" life must wear a deceitful mask of "normality." And don't we all really wear some kind of mask just to get through the day and get what we want? Although other readers may be titillated by the sexuality inherent in this biography, I was much more fascinated by the will of one person to become exactly who s/he wanted to be.
Rating:
Summary: not great literature, but a fascinating story
Review: Middlebrook's biography has a fascinating subject but a dearth of material, all the better to provoke speculation. Tipton's deception was astonishing, and her success as a man prompts all sorts of questions about the nature and construction of gender. Her decision to continue the charade until her death, and her wilfully obscure life, is a real mystery. What's not so great is Middlebrook's pedestrian turn of phrase, and her constant speculation keeps reminding one of her lean resources; the biog may have been better if cut by about a third. It's a genuinely moving story, though, and when I reached the book's end I burst into tears.
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