Rating: 
Summary: Wordy and Overdramatic
Review: I was looking forward to begin this trilogy of White's work. I received the "The Farewell Symphony" and decided to start from the begining. I found this piece to be overly wordy and over dramatic...I often found myself skipping through the painstaking descriptions White feels necessary for the reader to know. I does appear, however, that he's trying to stretch out the book as to add pages to the novel. It is my hope that the other two novels are less wordy and more to the point.
Rating: 
Summary: A Classic Coming of Age Story
Review: It is December, 1983. I am a twenty year old on a subway train, and I have an embarrassing itch. I scratch it, which in turn is interpreted as a signal that I want to get laid by the young man sitting across from me. When I get off the train, this handsome young man, a light skinned African American with an intoxicating look, also exits the train and asks me if I have a match. He realizes I am clueless and then tells me bluntly what he wants to do. He also tells me not to fear AIDS because if we do it that night, he will not do it with anyone else. I ran as fast as I could. I had yet to deal with being gay, speak less of the remote possibility that someone could be attracted to me. Some friends told me I should have beaten him up, others that I should have given in. I decided what I really needed to do was buy a book. The only gay themed book I could find was A BOYS OWN STORY. The cover of the book had a young man who was skinny and not very handsome, but still cute. He had slightly effeminate features, but he was still a guy. The cover alone interested me so I purchased it. I got home and began to read it. And could not stop. I was vicariously interacting with another gay person, and we both understood each other. We understood knowing love in our heads, but not our hearts. We understood parents who wish we were different, which translates into being someone else. While the young man had many sexcapades, more than most people probably have, he still fears exposure and a lack of acceptance. Though this is often termed a gay coming of age novel, it is far more universal. Edmund White creates a Holden Cauffield sort of character that speak to all people who have ever felt left out. As I look back, though my sexuality promoted me to read this book, the connection that remains is based on loneliness and acceptance and the need to feel loved.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated and disappointing
Review: Not only is the ending a tribute to absolute betrayal, but the entire book goes in circles without ever getting anywhere. Graphic description of feeling, sights,sounds, etc. is wonderful but when it is overused as much as it is in this 'story' it becomes extremely tedious. The entire book is almost one long string of tiring metaphores. The main character starts out confused and ends up hopelessly lost. It is obvious that the main character doesn't have a clue what he really likes or is attracted to. Utter confusion of this magnitude is a very poor way to convey a point. This work is a tragic insult to the entire gay culture.
Rating:
Summary: all the wrong messages
Review: The ending of this book outraged me so much that I threw it across the room. True, White writes with a nice prose style. But what does he have to say? Nothing that young gays should read, unless he's trying to teach them how to stab people in the back who try to help them. The message is so disturbing to me that I doubt if I'll ever try to read this author again.
Rating:
Summary: an old friend
Review: This is one of the first "literary" books I read when I was several years younger than I am now (though I am far from ancient at the age of 18), but the impact it has had on me remains; I approach it, perhaps, with a little more maturity and insight now than I could have them. I was recently elated to note the publication of the 20th anniversary edition by Modern Library; while White has long been adored by the literary community (with praise from the likes of Joyce Carol Oates, Gore Vidal, and Michael Ondaatje just to name three), the Modern Library edition might make him more generally read by the "mainstream" literary reader--a term which strikes me as odd, but I am sad to report the adjective is a necessary distinction that must be made in describing many in the United States. This book is daring, unapologetic, and very well crafted. I now feel compelled to defend A Boy's Own Story from a particularly misguided criticism I've seen made by another reviewer. The narrator has been attacked for his perceived "selfishness" by someone who not only missed the sociological significance of the character and his place in the novel and the 1950s, but also the fact that in great literature, characters are not bound to stereotypical renderings and predictable personalities. There are reasons important to the tone and theme of the novel for the character's personality; White is also basing his narrator on an amalgamation of his own life and the lives and experiences of others he has talked to about their coming-of-age and coming out. This is one of the finest pieces of contemporary fiction by one of its finest practitioners.
Rating:
Summary: Growing up gay in middle America
Review: This is the autobiographical story of the boyhood of this famous gay author. It tells the story of his late childhood and early adolescence. The dominant feature of White's story is his discovery of his gayness, and his coming to terms with it. This theme is handled with great sensitivity. We the reader can feel for the boy as he travels down this rocky road of growing up. His father is a distant person, so is his mother, so the young lad is quite isolated. He is with his family, but he is not part of it. One can sense his quandry at knowing that he does not quite fit in with his family's concept of a proper son. For those who have read the later novels by White, this isolation shows its early roots. There are some graphic yet tender sex scenes. The boy is amazed to discover that a younger lad looks up to him, and is willing and eager to serve him sexually. They pass a very pleasant, yet transient, few weeks at the summer cottage by the lake. Each boy is able to explore and learn his sexuality. Yet there is little affection, and no love. The themes of this novel are complex, and would make good study subjects. This novel ought to be one of the texts used in teaching English Literature. No doubt homophobia would prevent this. But many a teenager would benefit from exposure to this story, if only to learn that they are not alone. That other boys have travelled, survived, and even enjoyed this journey of sexual discovery.
Rating:
Summary: This book is incredible!
Review: This is the most incredible book ive ever read. I was hooked from the start. Whit pays great atttnion to detail, putting the reader right in the story. The unnamed protaginisit reminded me of Holden Caulfield. This book is not just any boy's story it is EVERY boys story on some level.
Rating:
Summary: One word: Amazing.
Review: This is the most profound book I have ever read. Congrats go out to White for an exemplary title!
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully told literary classic.
Review: This story is a very beautifully told literary classic. The intimate proximatey of such a well developed character is truly amazing. White tells a wonderful sotry of a gay boy growing up in the 50's--though he never truly accepts it; not until the second book of the series, anyhow. Warnings: Many people reviewed this book negatively and I wish to use this space to share who will NOT enjoy this book. First of all, you must enjoy the "literary" style of writing; if you don't enjoy classics and works by the likes of John Irving than this is not for you. A fine example is to compare it to J.D. Salenger's "Catcher in the Rye"--if you read this in your schooling years and hated it, you'll probably hate this also. If you like a solid and clear course of plot you may not enjoy it; this book is written much like life is lived, and that is with a degree of chaos. Also, if you are homophonic, this book is obviously not for you unless you are attempting to open your mind. Finally, if you are the type of person who is offended by the unappologetic beliefs of the 50's that homosexuality is an illness, etc., then you may not want to read this; this was an issue with me, but I came to understand that this would be the thought process of someone in the narrators posision at his age and time. I loved this book, and hope that other readers will expierience the same amazement as I did.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: When i stumbled upon this book in the library, i decided that it looked interesting enough to read. As soon as i got home, i read it all the way through, and was not impressed in the least. As i look at everyone elses reviews, i am confounded as to how this book has garnered so much praise. i have no idea why this is considered a classic, or why it is published by Modern Library. It doesn't deserve it. If you want a good book about homosexuality, read Giovanni's room by James Baldwin. Don't waste your time, as I did, on a book that fails even to elevate itself above bad soft-core porn.
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