Rating: 
Summary: Explosive start, but a fizzle later on
Review: "Tommy's Tale" is a coming-of-age-a-bit-late story of a man pushing 30 who never emotionally matured past adolescence. He lives with his flat-mates, Sadie and Bobby, each of whom he considers more family than friend. Cumming's portrayal of a person who feels no need to conform to social expectations is refreshing and honest, not contrived. The story begins when the sudden realization that he wants to settle down and have a child clashes directly with his free and easy lifestyle. This novel chronicles Tommy's attempts to reconcile his conflicting desires as his 30th birthday approaches.The first three-quarters of this book are comical, descriptive and all around interesting. Tommy's a funny guy, if a bit of a drama queen; a good natured party boy who considers himself a sensualist, enjoying his sexual and narcotic induced experiences for what they are: experiences. Cumming supplied several laugh-out-loud moments within the first 20 pages; his "rules of depression" are beyond funny in their veracity. However, tension begins to mount as Tommy slips deeper and deeper into the chaos of his own making. And this is when the narrative goes awry. Tommy has more of an ability to rationalize his actions than any character I've recently encountered. This works well in the beginning of the novel, because Tommy genuinely duels with himself, changing his mind and revising his actions. Despite his self-excusing, Tommy does take responsibility for his behavior. However, from his trip to NYC on, Tommy just seems to go into a psychological coma, where his internal jousting transforms into whiny justification. I kept hoping for a surprise character revelation, a tragedy, anything that would bring Tommy back to life. The moment he stepped off of the plane in NY he became a sketch, a caricature. My instinct is that the completion of this book was rushed and so the same descriptive detail is not found towards the end that sang off the first pages. The first part of this book is just too good to not notice the crash and burn ending. I finished the novel and went "Huh? Where did that come from?" The ending was so predictable, it was shocking. And what about Tommy's 30th birthday, mentioned so often in the beginning and completely skipped over in the ending narrative? Cumming's promise as a writer shines through the majority of "Tommy's Tale". He has a unique voice and a shockingly frank sense of emotional honesty (and dishonesty). I recommend this book due to the excellence of the narrative at the beginning, but I do hope that Cumming's next novel is more consistent.
Rating: 
Summary: Stunning
Review: After being a long time fan of Alan Cumming I decided to read his novel, it was spectacular. Truly, a novel for our time. Not many books can make you feel such a wide variety of emotions but this one can. It was stunning, for lack of a better word.
Rating:
Summary: A "Rambly, Confessional" Tale
Review: At one point in this novel, the narrator Tommy says that the book he is writing is "a rambly, confessional sort of one. . ." If that was Mr. Cumming's goal he achieved it although at times I got impatient with his chatty, meandering, self-absorbed and self indulgent hero, if you can call him that. Tommy is a 29 year-old Brit who never met a drug or an orifice as found on either male or female that he didn't want to enter. But he's an equal opportunity type of guy. His orifices are there for the taking too. You see, Tommy lives with two close friends, Sadie and Bob, his extended family, whom he takes baths with; he is seeing Charles who has an eight year old son, whom Tommy adores. Then there are India and other women and men along the way with whom he shares both his body and drugs. Tommy is an arm-chair philosopher as well and has opinions on practically every subject. For example, he abhors the term "making love". "Making love sounds like a hobby, don't you think? Like a kit you'd buy from B&Q. It sounds like a Marks and Spencer frozen meal. It sounds like death, and if you didn't get it you were out of the picture." And in what must be a first in fiction, Tommy gives a page and a half treatise on the dilemma men face in choosing whether to stand or sit while urinating. Mr. Cumming is certainly a clever and amusing writer. A character paints the town puce. Another character is described as "the aforementioned artist formerly known as girlfriend." And Tommy wonders why no one has ever told the queen "how weird her hair looks." (I wonder about that, myself, since the press tells her almost daily how weird her family is.) One of the most entertaining sections of this little tale is Tommy's impressions of New York and the Americans when he arrives in the Big Apple on a two week assignment as a photographer's assistant. ("Tommy Takes Manhattan.") He opines on the bath as favored by the Brits with American's love affair with the shower. "The land of the free is a shower-obsessed country. . ." On seeing New York, "I've also found that the best way to view the city is to look up, always look up. There are treasures to behold that you could easily miss." Finally there's the American woman Tommy meets in a bar who is crazy about the British. She invites him to the ladies' room for fun and games and says her name is Dorothy but misses his tongue-in-cheek remark that he had always been her friend, i.e., a friend of Dorothy. Mr. Cumming, playing the deus ex machina card, ties up all the loose ends of the plot a little too easily in the last few pages by jumping a year forward. ("One Year Later") Although this little novel is not Booker Prize material, it certainly has its moments.
Rating:
Summary: A New Classic
Review: Because of my newfound interest in Alan Cumming as the brilliant actor he is, I was pleased to find Tommy's Tale so readily available. I was pleased as well to see it portrayed in The Anniversary Party, Cumming's "insive and realistic comedy of manners," per Stephan Holden of The New York Times. I have read the book once and suspect I will like it more each time I reread it. As a literary scholar, I can see its merit not only as Lesbigay fiction, but also as an important modern day parallel The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter, who wrote of the debaucheries of Nero (65 A.D.), who "compelled [Petronius] to kill himself" (14). The autobiographical content on each book is worthy of further study. Interestingly, my 1934 copy of the latter was translated by no less than Oscar Wilde, another important observer of human existence. Although many readers will no doubt go no further than the surface details of each book, the true value of each is in between the lines. As Shakespeare says many times in many ways, a reader/listener who would do the work of delving deeper is much appreciated by the writer. In the end of both Petronius and Cumming's tales, the sadder but wiser narrator learns the joys of a more modest and intentional lifestyle, but notes that in order to gain such wisdom, painful mistakes must be made. Though this applies to both narrators, ancient and modern, it is a life lesson for us all: as Glinda the Good Witch of the North says to Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, you have to learn it for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: a sexy and unabashed good time.
Review: for a more in depth review.. look elsewhere.
tommy's tale was sexy and drug-filled and hilarious and touching. some found it rambling, it was (and i am), but i felt as though i was inside tommy's head. his thoughts transcribed onto paper are familiar.. the screwy, drug-induced ramblings that seem deep but can only confuse and lead to more twisted thoughts one must keep to themself. the descriptions of tommy's sexual escapades were very graphic, sometimes disgusting, but ever so horny. his life was exciting, and tommy was constantly in search of a good time, which he always found. in turn, so did i.
Rating:
Summary: engaging and funny
Review: For Alan Cumming's first attempt at a novel, I thought this was very engaging and a very easy read, due to the style of the writing with the first person narrative that constantly addresses the reader as if you were in a conversation with the author. I certainly enjoyed the insight this gave me into his head. I found the tangential observations to be entertaining and made the storytelling more personal. I am mystified by the reviewer who criticized the numbered outlines about Tommy's depression "repeated again and again throughout the book", when the rules of depression actually only appear once and then are just referred to one other time. Regardless, I loved reading about Tommy's exploits, sexual and drug-related. I am not a big fan of drugs myself, but that didn't stop me from enjoying "Trainspotting" or this book (in fact, he makes a reference to the film that surprised me so much I laughed out loud, after making comparisons in my head all along). That is why we read books and watch movies, for a glimpse of experiences outside our own. Cumming's language is delightfully colloquial, giving the narrative an English flavor without so much slang as to make it unreadable to Americans (as "Trainspotting" did). One of the first rules of writing is to "find your voice"; Alan Cumming has definitely found his, and I hope he uses it to write again.
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: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Seems More Like an Effort to be Shocking then to Tell a Tale
Review: Tommy is 26. Tommy likes drugs. Tommy likes sex. Tommy likes drugs and sex together. Tommy likes sex with women. Tommy likes sex with men. Tommy likes sex with himself. Tommy thinks a lot about sex when Tommy is not having sex. Now Tommy wants a child. What's poor Tommy to do?
This book wasn't what I expected at all. I don't know what I expected, but this isn't it. This book is cheeky, seductive, gross, indecent, and at times mildly amusing. There I said it. Or did I?
The first person dialogue flip flops into the every day life of Tommy, a scrawny adult photographer's assistant who wants to be a carefree teenager while having sex in public washrooms whenever he pleases. The problem is: Tommy is getting older and so are all his friends. Adding further insult, Tommy becomes depressed. Long passages of narrative become repetitive after a while. Tommy never seems to gain any ground. His own epiphanies arise and are ignored, like "We all live life so fast these days that we don't even process what we're doing a lot of the time." Bingo!
Tommy isn't alone on his journey of self-discovery. Like Chic Lit, there are the stereotypical best friends/roommates and of course one of them is gay. In this case his roommates are Sadie and Bobby and then there's Charlie. Charlie is the closest thing Tommy has to a regular boyfriend but he can't decide if that's the direction he wants to take. Mostly because he's afraid of ruining (or disappointing) Charlie's eight year old son Finn, who's more mature than the adults in his life. Then there's the nerdy boss, Julian, who lives vicariously through Tommy's stories every Monday morning.
If you're a homophobe this book definitely isn't for you. There are graphic sex scenes of all degrees between men and women. Seems more like an effort to be shocking then to tell a tale.
But even so, one can only read about some raunchy guy having sex with just about anything that moves so many times before it become tiresome. If you read closely, between the sex, drugs and sex he's surprisingly philosophical. Overall, slow action, periods of monotonous dialogue with himself and the reader. A boring foray through the annals of alternative British society.
Once you get past the grunge and shock factor of the book there's a young man who's trying to grow up and find himself. He does a lot of thinking (and drugs) along the way. Did I like this book? Afraid not, it just wasn't my cup of tea. I wanted to read it because Alan Cumming, the actor, wrote it and in this case it wasn't enough to improve my impression of the book.
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