Dress Like a Boy

Rating:
Summary: Boys Do Cry
Review: ...director Quentin Lee's first novel really surprises me. I did not expect that this book would be so poignant and powerful. Although the author is definitely an image maker, he is also very sensitive and creative as to the literary texture in the book. The book starts with seemingly trivials of a Hongkonese American gay boy's life, yet by and by the book exhibits the undercurrents of this life which is not trivial nor ordinary at all...This book also reminds me of the well-reviewed novel BONE, yet I find more complexity and satisfaction in Quentin Lee's book. People who are interested in gay lit and Asian lit and Asian American lit cannot miss this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: From the moment i started the first page, I became hooked. The book is so well written, and so touching for all of us who've ever felt a sense of alienation with the world. I couldn't put the book down for the two short days that I was reading the book. A truly awesome book, one of the most memorable that I've ever read. If only I had enough literary skills to put into words the emotions it brought out in me.

Rating:
Summary: Sexy and brilliant
Review: I love this book. I'm not Asian American, but I bought this book out of a friend's recommendation from the bay area. I was looking for a smart gay novel to read, and it blew me away.

There's quite a bit of gay sex (well, I'm gay and I find it quite exciting) in the book, but it's not really about sex. The novel deals with a poignant sense of profound loss and desire... somewhat tragic.

I'm sort of from the same generation of the writer (or the protagonist at least) and it's very nostalgic. I look forward to Mr. Lee's next novel : ) Definitely a fan.

Rating:
Summary: tedious Joy Luck Club
Review: Quentin Lee, film director of, "Flow", "Shopping For Fangs", and, "Drift", has crafted an powerful first novel with, "Dress Like A Boy". The story is about a student at U.C. Berkeley, who is Gay and Asian. It is a complex tale involving Edward Ng, a native of Hong Kong, and the relationships that he has with his openly bisexual boyfriend, his closeted bisexual cousin, and various other family members and friends. The novel weaves back and forth between the present and the past, and Hong Kong and the United States to help explain why Edward Ng gets involved with, and then remains in a number of complex relationships. The author is also somehow able to tell his story in a way that would enlighten someone unfamiliar with the experiences of Gay Asian men, but in way that might also help to empower a Gay Asian reader of the work. Edward Ng is insecure, and thus he does come off as heroic, but that is explained by his restrictive and unsupportive upbringing, and the fact that he is Asian in a society that does not make much room for anyone who is not White. In the end the main character rises up like a phoenix, although meekly, realistically, and humorously from the wreckage of his life. I had expected Quentin Lee to conclude his tale like Charles Webb had done in his novel, "The Graduate", but instead chooses to keep his tale fresh and original. Having finished a novel that I could not put down, I smiled remembering that this was Lee's first work, and that more would likely come! ...

Rating:
Summary: Boys Do Cry
Review: The director Quentin Lee's first novel really surprises me. I did not expect that this book would be so poignant and powerful. Although the author is definitely an image maker, he is also very sensitive and creative as to the literary texture in the book. The book starts with seemingly trivials of a Hongkonese American boy's life, yet by and by the book exhibits the undercurrents of this life which is not trivial nor ordinary at all. It tells of an Asian American's angst, pain. David Wong Louie once skillfully brings out Asian American presence in his witty "PANGS OF LOVE," yet Quentin Lee's DRESS LIKE A BOY offers a more overwhelming picture of the Asian America. This book also reminds me of the well-reviewed novel BONE, yet I find more complexity and satisfaction in Quentin Lee's book. People who are interested in lit and Asian lit and Asian American lit cannot miss this book.

Rating:
Summary: Too much sex, but not sexy enough
Review: there is a lot of sex in the book. obviously the writer wants to sell "oriental" sex. but paradoxically, the sex scenes are not sexy enough. often they even make me yawn. maybe this book needs more psychological depth to become more sexy? anyway, i hope the writers at large can know that they cannot depend on sex sepectacles only.

Rating:
Summary: superficial......
Review: This book is superficial. Trying to make out much from little. Yet how can one milk a thin book that much? Also, iUniverse is really having something wrong with bounding. The books from it are not solid enough.

Rating:
Summary: Dressed like a boy while reading this great book!
Review: This book was a present from two friends. One who wrote this fine book (who I'd love to meet one day and get it signed) and the one who gave it to me. At first I wasn't interested in reading it, but while trapped on a plane with a talkative passenger, I ripped into Dress Like a Boy. I was moved. I can believe this is suppose to be the authors first novel. He captures a moment in time that feels as if I was living through it with the character. Vivid. Funny. Sad. I highly recommend this to all my friends, but they can't borrow my copy.