A Woman Like That: Lesbian and Bisexual Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Writing on an Important Topic
Review: A Woman Like That is an incredible collection of extremely intelligent and fascinating coming out stories. Each of the writers here take us on an adventure, albeit an often harrowing adventure, into the world of their youth. From Heather Lewis's tale of how her father's involvement with the Nixon White House affected her coming out to Minnie Bruce Pratt's moving tale of custody dispute, these writers transform the coming out story into a work of art.

These stories are much more than just biography, they are poetry, pure and unfettered. These authors are not hampered by the desire to be political correct, but only by the desire to tell some truth about their lives, and all are incredibly moving. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the stories kept getting better and better, even though I didn't think that was possible. The diversity of ages, races and geographic territory covered here further adds to this collection's fullness. Lest you think I mean there are token accounts, there are not. Each is fully developed and stands proudly on its own, as well as fitting in with the other works. Tristan Taormino's entry about visiting her queer father as a teenager, and her adventures with her first girlfriend, and Cecilia Tan's amusing and honest tale of her mother coping with (and celebrating) her bisexuality and erotic writing, are especially enjoyable reading.

These tales will be welcome comfort to the lesbian or bisexual reader, but also to any teenager or other person who has every felt alienated, or who simply enjoys biography. The fact that this collection's contributors are all established, published writers adds both fascination to their stories and a quality of writing that is very welcome. These stories stay in the mind long after one closes the book.

Rating:
Summary: A must-read for everyone
Review: I was going to title my review "a must-read for all lesbians and bisexual women". But truthfully, everyone would benefit from reading this outstanding collection of coming out stories.

Any woman who is struggling with coming out will love A Woman Like That; it is fascinating, thought-provoking, funny, and wonderfully reassuring. Like me, you may wish this book would never end.

Here's hoping we see Volume 2!

Rating:
Summary: A Dose of Heavy-Handed Realism?
Review: I was going to title my review "a must-read for all lesbians and bisexual women". But truthfully, everyone would benefit from reading this outstanding collection of coming out stories.

Any woman who is struggling with coming out will love A Woman Like That; it is fascinating, thought-provoking, funny, and wonderfully reassuring. Like me, you may wish this book would never end.

Here's hoping we see Volume 2!

Rating:
Summary: A Dose of Heavy-Handed Realism?
Review: When I finished reading this, I felt like a heavy burden on my back was emerging, mostly because of the several outcomes that were portrayed in the book. It amazes me as to how much of themselves these authors are willing to reveal about themselves. Some accounts were quite disturbing, by the way, so I'll tell you now that it's not light reading. Others were all right, but the reason why I gave it 4 stars was because sometimes the varying narrative styles were so different it was difficult to really understand what these women were really referring to.