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Rating: 
Summary: HUNKY GOLIGHTLY: A Life of Name Dropping
Review: "Young Man from the Provinces" begins as a fifties fairy tale, in which Alan stars as a kind of muscleboy Audrey Hepburn character-a hunky golightly. Apparently he met everyone worth meeting. (He generously provides a list: Rock Hudson, Laurence Olivier, Katherine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Gore Vidal, Williams & Albee & Inge, Jackie Kennedy and the Dalai Lama, to namedrop a few). He lived upstairs from Noel Coward, dropped in for late-night tête-à-têtes with Judy Garland; dated Tony Perkins and played houseboy for Luchino Visconti.
But vita is notoriously brevis and even goldenboys turn to brass. We move fleetingly from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" into "Days of Wine and Roses" and end up with "The Night of the Living Dead." All of Alan's brilliant stories bubble down to one tedious tale: we were young, rich, famous, beautiful and had copious sex with the same; we took too many drugs and drank too much; we were unhappy. Oh, that story.
This morose motif seems to puzzle him. "How odd that in setting out to describe the pleasures of those sun-filled days, I end up with this waste of a life. I begin writing about what I recall as a good thing, & it turns into a bad thing, or a sad thing, a thing that mars the past, another lame lament of memory." To which the reader can only respond, Well, Alan, yes it does. Get a clue.
You can read my entire bitchy review at:
http://www.daimonix.com/fictions/helms.html
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: very candid memoir
Review: I will say this about the book. The author has an entertainingstyle, and he does give us somewhat of a personal glimpse
into thelife of the rich and famous. He most certainly has a long list of names. That the author's life seemed a wasteland of superficial
values, encounters and self hatred was a bit on the depressing side. But then, he now claims he is where he wants to be, even though we are not quite certain how he got there.
Confusing? Thats pretty much what the book was all about.
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: A Touching Biography of a Gay Man's Life
Review: This book is a touchiing biography of almost every gay mans life. It deals with everything from parents to posessive lovers. The feeling of isolation and the evental realisation that there may never be that one true love for the rest of your days. Life for gay men is usually good, but it is at the same time hell on earth. Helms captures this very eloquently in his novel.
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.
Rating:
Summary: This is not giddy memories, but spiritual autobiography
Review: This is the only autobiography of any former glamour-boy worth reading. The first third could stand alone as a powerful story of an abused and lonely childhood. The second third is the record of the glamorous period, but even there, the author is discreet about details--disappointingly discreet, perhaps, to some readers. There's actually nor more name-dropping than necessary to establish the author's credentials. The author wrote this book not to record social highlights or sexual highjinks, but to share his evolving thoughts and feelings. The last third is the story of his crash, his efforts to come to terms with who he was/could be, and to build a new adult life. We have manny giddy reminiscences of crazy days, but this book is actually what used to be called a spiritual autobiography. It's real. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: A journey from gay social stardom to ordinary happiness
Review: Want to know what it was like to be a young, attractive gay man living in New York in the 1950s and '60s? Was it Glamorous? Sexy? Intriguing? For Alan Helms, it was all those things. However, that's only a small part of the fascinating story of Alan Helms' life, and although Alan has experienced some extraordinary things, his search for self-awareness and ordinary happiness is one many gay men should find familiar and insightful. Helms is a talented writer and he delivers a message with his honest and very entertaining style. As Alan observes, "life is a mixed bag of blessings and an endless paradox." He's right, and that's what makes it so interesting.
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