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Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievable!
Review: A gay man is working in an ADVERTISING agency in CHICAGO at the end of the 20th century, and he's afraid to reveal he's gay??? A good-looking SINGLE, 35 year old in a creative field who doesn't date, and his co-workers haven't a clue he's gay? PLEASE! Naive to the point of distraction, and somehow sublty homophobic. I enjoy mindless, funny, gay fiction but this one just bugged me no end. AVOID, please.
Rating: 
Summary: Just Do It!
Review: Hi,I don't want to write loads here, as I drift off so frequently when on the net! I just felt compelled, however, to write and tell you to BUY THIS BOOK! It is SO good. I too (see other review) didn't put this book down. I woke up one morning and started reading it. I couldn't put it down *so much* that I continued until I finished it in the early afternoon. I was so glad I had the day off otherwise I would have had to call in sick!! What I want to know now is WHEN'S THE FILM COMING OUT?? Buy this. Strongly recommended. Don't listen to the hypercritical critics above!
Rating: 
Summary: CLOSET CASE - Hilarious! Rodi's best
Review: I give it 4 not 5 only because I have to admit that Rodi's books are pretty silly. You have an ad exec firmly in the closet, his flamboyant hairdresser, his conservative, gossipy coworkers, his army dad, his fundamentalist Christian sister, and his downstairs Latina neighbor and her 'gay straight man' boyfriend. Not to mention the guy from Transylvania... I could totally see this being made into a movie. Very much a French farce feel to it (think The Birdcage or The Closet). I just read it again for about the seventh time, and all my friends have borrowed it. A fun read.
Rating:
Summary: Read it in one sitting - couldn't put it down!
Review: I never enjoyed such a rollercoaster of a book in my life! I purchased it at my college bookstore on a whim when it caught my eye, and i loved every page of it! I have never read such a book that provides such insight, realism, feeling, and proof of fragility and humanity. This is a novel for people from ALL walks of life!!! I would love to see a sequel!
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't quite work but has some humorous moments
Review: I went on a Rodi binge a few years ago and read FAG HAG, KEPT BOY, and CLOSET CASE in the space of a couple weeks. Now that I'm enjoying Rodi's first major foray into comic books (writing the creator-owned spy genre sendup, CODENAME: KNOCKOUT), I decided to revisit the books I've read to see how they held up with me. I can't say that this book works very well as the farce/social commentary that it is so very hard trying to be. Rodi tries very hard to wax clever about the "gay corporate closet," corporate life in general, the men's movement, etc. but it falls flat. While other reviewers are going to nitpick about certain minor details and deny Mr. Rodi some artistic license in regard to the main character, I can say that I do indeed know guys like Lionel, even though I live in Gay Ground Zero (i.e., San Francisco). He's just ever-so-slightly on the verge of becoming comfortable with himself and his sexual orientation, but for every step forward he takes two backward. For that reason, he is as realistic a character can be in a comical novel. The rest of the novel is populated with one-note characters. My main problem with this book is Rodi's plotting and writing style. The book seems to spend 4/5 of its time in the setup with very little to prod it along until Rodi realizes this thing has to get wrapped up somehow and tries to cram too much in the last fifth. His plotting also relies on coincidences to the point where it's tiresome. As far as his writing style, I find it ineffective for this sort of novel. It's very visual, especially in terms of sight gags, and I found myself thinking that perhaps his writing is better served in the comics medium (as he is wonderfully demonstrating with his adult-oriented comic book series) or screenwriting. All in all, there are some truly amusing moments throughout the book, but they're not enough to sustain it and make it a fantastic read.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't quite work but has some humorous moments
Review: I went on a Rodi binge a few years ago and read FAG HAG, KEPT BOY, and CLOSET CASE in the space of a couple weeks. Now that I'm enjoying Rodi's first major foray into comic books (writing the creator-owned spy genre sendup, CODENAME: KNOCKOUT), I decided to revisit the books I've read to see how they held up with me. I can't say that this book works very well as the farce/social commentary that it is so very hard trying to be. Rodi tries very hard to wax clever about the "gay corporate closet," corporate life in general, the men's movement, etc. but it falls flat. While other reviewers are going to nitpick about certain minor details and deny Mr. Rodi some artistic license in regard to the main character, I can say that I do indeed know guys like Lionel, even though I live in Gay Ground Zero (i.e., San Francisco). He's just ever-so-slightly on the verge of becoming comfortable with himself and his sexual orientation, but for every step forward he takes two backward. For that reason, he is as realistic a character can be in a comical novel. The rest of the novel is populated with one-note characters. My main problem with this book is Rodi's plotting and writing style. The book seems to spend 4/5 of its time in the setup with very little to prod it along until Rodi realizes this thing has to get wrapped up somehow and tries to cram too much in the last fifth. His plotting also relies on coincidences to the point where it's tiresome. As far as his writing style, I find it ineffective for this sort of novel. It's very visual, especially in terms of sight gags, and I found myself thinking that perhaps his writing is better served in the comics medium (as he is wonderfully demonstrating with his adult-oriented comic book series) or screenwriting. All in all, there are some truly amusing moments throughout the book, but they're not enough to sustain it and make it a fantastic read.
Rating:
Summary: A good farcical romp
Review: If you are looking to deconstruct this book in a gay studies class, I can assure you that you will leave the class very frustrated and with a skewed understanding of gay culture. On the other hand, if you want a good read which will make you laugh and read on, then this might be the book for you. Rodi's protagonist, Lionel, reminds me of the Bertie Wooster of P.G. Wodehouse. The craziness inherent within the scheming and plotting of the characters in such a farce is part of the fun. Coincidences too wild to imagine are perfect for such a book. Good readers, pick up this book and enjoy some plain nonsense.
Rating:
Summary: A good farcical romp
Review: If you are looking to deconstruct this book in a gay studies class, I can assure you that you will leave the class very frustrated and with a skewed understanding of gay culture. On the other hand, if you want a good read which will make you laugh and read on, then this might be the book for you. Rodi's protagonist, Lionel, reminds me of the Bertie Wooster of P.G. Wodehouse. The craziness inherent within the scheming and plotting of the characters in such a farce is part of the fun. Coincidences too wild to imagine are perfect for such a book. Good readers, pick up this book and enjoy some plain nonsense.
Rating:
Summary: Dismaying
Review: Skip this perhaps unwittingly sad book. Whatever the merits of Closet Case as comedy, the shame and self-loathing of Lionel, its protagonist, are simply depressing. So too is his self-imposed exile from Chicago's vibrant and diverse gay community, which Rodl portrays one-sidedly. This book was published near the beginning of the Clinton administration, and looking back from the end of Clinton's term, in this era of corporate domestic-partner benefits and gay ads, it is difficult to imagine that the advertising industry is as bigoted as Rodl portrays it, at least not now. Gay themes aside, the character of Lionel himself is smug, provincial, and irksome. Would a thirtyish, early-nineties resident of Chicago's fashionable North Side really be so surprised and shocked by things like political demonstrations, the men's movement of Robert Bly, and t'ai chi? One minor point: Rodl gets minor details of Chicago living wrong--why does Lionel sometimes commute on the Kennedy Expressway, sometimes Lake Shore Drive? There may be genuine comic bathos in the plight of closet cases, but fundamental dishonesty with oneself and others is more the stuff of tragedy than farce.
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