Rating: 
Summary: "Rambling Confession"
Review: I thought this was going to be an exciting read, with all the hype, advertisement, and promotion this book has been receiving. However, I was a little disappointed. Yes, this would make a great story, but......after so many chapters of indecisive plotlines, it gets a little annoying. The numbered outlines about his depression all become a little redundant when repeated again and again through-out the book. And the fairy tale chapters intermingled through-out the book really ruined the flow of the book, and for no good reason. The author states in Chapter 16, "Sometimes I think Sadie should be the one writing a book", "But not a rambly (his spelling), confessional sort of one like this". I think that explains the whole problem with this book. It rambles on a little too long, to the point where you do not care about these characters and their lives anymore.
I gave this book three stars for one reason only, I found the story itself interesting, even if it was over-dramatized. The story's protagonist is 29 year old Tommy, who lives in London. He has a fear of commitment, doing without his daily drugs, and being unable to live a free and wild lifestyle. He begins to question his life when he meets a new boyfriend with a son named Finn. Can Tommy make a commitment, and at the same time become a father? Can he give up drugs, and his wild nightlife? This is a easy read, but I found by the end of the book, I could care less about the Tommy character, who is too self-centered, dramatic, and lacking in real emotion. Charlie, Sadie and Bobby were much more likable. Will I read the next book by Cumming's? Yes. This is a debut novel, so we will see if this fine screenwriter and actor, turns out to be a fine novelist in the future, too.
Joe Hanssen
Rating:
Summary: "Sense and Sensibility" it's not
Review: I wanted to love this novel, I really did. I think Alan Cumming is an amazing actor and huge talent. Besides rethinking the emcee role in the revival of CABARET a few years back, he had a scene-stealing cameo as the [homosexual] hotel clerk fawning over the handsome young doctor (Tom Cruise) in EYES WIDE SHUT. But if you saw THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY which he co-wrote with Jennifer Jason Leigh, you'll recognize that Cumming has great ideas, a penchant for caustic cleverness, and an inability to contain his excesses. THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY, however, benefitted from the fact that real actors had to stand in front of a camera and utter the dialogue. In such situations, I suspect, threats of an actors' strike forced the much needed rewrites. TOMMY'S TALE is very much about excess. Excess clubbing, excess drugs (too many and too various), and excess sex (too much and too various). Tommy is a bisexual photographer's assistant on the verge of his thirtieth birthday whose life is coming to some sort of critical head (thanks in part, we're told, to what Saturn is doing in his astrological chart). Does he want to commit to his "sort of" boyfriend? Have a child? Pursue his supermodel ex-girlfriend? Tommy doesn't know, and the reader barely cares. Although Cumming is a weak novelist (i.e., creator of compelling characters, spinner of plotlines, revealer of deep truths), he is an amusing observer. The things I enjoyed most in his writing were his little excurses, the points in his story when he rambled on about something totally innocuous, like Americans' obsession with hygiene and their preference for showers over baths, or the advantages of having sex in the handicapped toilet stall (which he calls the "disabled loo"). Also, amusing are the five or so fairy tales that Cumming places in the midst of his story. They are quite adult in their cynicism and seem to cast light on the mental state of Tommy at the point at which they are inserted. Coupled up with the right illustrator (can JJL draw?), he could quite possibly have a nice line of tales for post-modern children of excess. Just the sort of thing I'm sure they're waiting for in Alphabet Land. If you're a fan of Cumming, give this short novel a go. If not, you may find it frustrating, predictable, and banal. In either case, catch his scene in EYES WIDE SHUT.
Rating: 
Summary: wow ...
Review: is this ever bad! I suppose some people may get into it, but I am not one of them. First of all the narrator is really, really annoying. Shallow, dramatic (mostly self-created...), whiney, narcissistic,and way too chatty. It's difficult to get beyond a character that you really want to hit up-side the head and say "shut up, already!" There a couple of not bad supporting characters, some sloppy sex and drugs, and way too many asides. It's hardly as witty as it claims to be. Proceed with caution. By the way: I left my copy on the Delta shuttle. If you found it, don't hate me.
Rating: 
Summary: witless wit
Review: Most fiction is a form of self-indulgence these days but nothing is more self-indulgent than this absolutely goofy book. Cummings' hasn't yet mastered trivial literary niceties like plot, character, narrative drive, and any actual facility for writing. But what makes this party boy comedy so grating is the fact that all the supposedly witty characters (we know because we're told, again and again, that they're brilliantly witty) never manage to cough up one memorable, let alone witty line, between them.
Rating: 
Summary: Alan's Book Is Amazing....
Review: One rarely expects a number one hit from an actor, a Blockbuster movie from a singer, or, as in this case, a great novel from a theather performer! But this truly is one of the best books I've ever read. To me there are loads of appealing factors about the book, such as the amazing humour, unashamed style of writing, and gripping plotline etc. It is a book that revolves around Tommy's life, his problems and his desires. And it so happens to be that Tommy is bisexual, among other things, but the book is NOT about being bisexual. It's a step forward from the old and unfair belief that there is nothing more to a Gay persons life then being Gay, itself. "Tommy's Tale" is absolutely fabulous!
Rating:
Summary: This book is a gem
Review: This book surprised me. I have always been wary of actor- turned- novelists, but Cumming manages to pull it off. Ths book manages to deal with some pretty important issues like fatherhood and commitment, while at the same time being a rollicking good read filled with sex, scandal and pithy and bolshie rejoinders. Don't read it if you don't want to laugh or be charmed. This is a book for the open-minded to revel in and sigh a huge sigh of relief that someone is fnally speaking their language. And for those of a more conservative frame of mind it might be just the thing to show you how the other half lives, loves and thinks. A real gem.
Rating:
Summary: Real writing
Review: This book, is very real, it doesn't have the false front of most novels i have read, where they always have much more to say than is needed, and because of that the book flows as if you are sitting down with Cumming and he is telling you this story in person. There may not be the most structured plot or developed characters, but what that only does is leave the reader open to many relations to their own personal life.
Rating:
Summary: A Terrific Tale!
Review: This is a fast-paced yet endearing tale! Though rife with sex and drugs, the story is redeeming because Tommy, the narrator, has a sweet sensibility and levels with the reader about his relationships, his confusion, his ups and downs, his need for love, which takes varying forms. As a writer myself, I very much appreciate the economical and cinematic prose; the flow is absolutely musical. The narrative voice is very appealing from the beginning and takes us rapidly through this journey. I read almost all of this novel on one cross-country flight and enjoyed every moment. I have since thought about Tommy's fate post-novel. Tommy and his relationships with his housemates, his boss, his loves (male and female), and a precocious child are all vivid and endlessly interesting. I should add that I am a great fan of the film, "The Anniversary Party," which I believe Alan Cumming co-wrote with Jennifer Jason-Leigh. I look forward to reading more of his writing as well as seeing more of his films.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it
Review: This was the most fun I've had reading a book in a long time.
I will say, however, if you don't have an open mind, it's not for you. Even if you have to tell yourself you have an open mind, it's not for you.
As a previous reviewer pointed out, the rambling narrative is intentional. You're meant to be inside the mind of this character, and the author does a wonderful job of taking you on the roller-coaster ride that is Tommy's existence.
If you're able to sit back and just let the story take you, I promise you will have a great time.
Rating: 
Summary: a strikingly entertaining and occasionally profound read
Review: To echo past reviewers, this is not a future classic. I'm sure that the plot and character development could be better, the theme less transparent, so on and so forth. But, in the end, Tommy's Tale is one of the best books I've read in a long long time. It's fascinating and, yes, sometimes deep in that unexpectedly-interesting-conversation-with-a-stranger sort of way. We get to know Tommy, the narrator, focal point, and more or less entire substance of the novel. But, in that still rare feat, we get to BE Tommy for those 264 pages. And for those of us who don't actually want to partake in the Drugs, Sex, and Rock n Roll (more heavy on the drugs and the sex) lifestyle, it's a fun ride. I don't mean to disparage this book into a meaningless description of debauchery. It's also often poignant, literally laugh out-loud funny, and almost Jerry Seinfeld observant of the little details of life. True, the ending falls flat. Yes, obvious plot devices abound. And yet isn't it funny how far I'll go to defend it? Maybe in the end that's one of the biggest compliments to a novel: just how much it has wormed its way into your heart.
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