Rating: 
Summary: Breakfast With Scot
Review: (...) Don't read it. I am on page 120 in a 194 page book and I still don't get it. This book seems to skip from place to place in every sentence. I don't know who Scot is. I think his parents died, but I don't know.
Rating: 
Summary: Warm, Fast, Fierce... and Funny
Review: A rare and lucky find: sweet, sweet, sweet.I plucked "Breakfast with Scot" (one "t") from the local library's "New Books" shelf. Read it first and then purchased my own copy, the highest praise I can give. That and the fact that I plan to follow up by reading this author's previous works. Michael Downing's characters are as real and loveable as any by Anne Tyler, but without the latter's sometimes contrived zaniness. This last book I remember reading with this much heart and humor is Clyde Edgerton's "Walking Across Egypt." Certainly nothing here to offend, and much to praise. It's a bit of an emotional roller-coaster ride, too. I had a tear in my eye at least once and laughed out loud (and I mean LOUD) more than twice. I even gasped a few times at the author's insight into life's little moments: looks, gestures, behaviors... Mr. Downing is a real writer, and "Breakfast with Scot" is a beauty. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet but never cloying, a real find!
Review: A rare and lucky find: sweet, sweet, sweet. I plucked "Breakfast with Scot" (one "t") from the local library's "New Books" shelf. Read it first and then purchased my own copy, the highest praise I can give. That and the fact that I plan to follow up by reading this author's previous works. Michael Downing's characters are as real and loveable as any by Anne Tyler, but without the latter's sometimes contrived zaniness. This last book I remember reading with this much heart and humor is Clyde Edgerton's "Walking Across Egypt." Certainly nothing here to offend, and much to praise. It's a bit of an emotional roller-coaster ride, too. I had a tear in my eye at least once and laughed out loud (and I mean LOUD) more than twice. I even gasped a few times at the author's insight into life's little moments: looks, gestures, behaviors... Mr. Downing is a real writer, and "Breakfast with Scot" is a beauty. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Laugh and Cry!
Review: Ah, what a gem! Breakfast with Scot made me laugh and cry, frequently while reading the same sentence. When I grow up (if ever) I want to write just like this. Downing is a very gifted man with insight and compassion that can only come from more than one lifetime of experience. Much of the book derives from between the lines...between the chapters. It is about letting people be themselves and what can happen when you try to change them into something acceptable by society. It is about raising children.....it is about family.....it is about acceptance....and about how the human heart can so quickly become attached to another heart and never want to let go. Yes, this is a keeper! It ranks on the top of my 99' list and maybe even the decade. PS: I loved the cheerleading and splits scene! Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Everything about this book made me happy.
Review: Breakfast With Scot is that valuable and rare find, the completely enjoyable STORY about characters that are -- as "they" like to say -- "careaboutable" but that also takes on some of the weighty and important themes of our times. Michael Downing is fearlessly honest about what amounts to sheer prejudice against Scot, who's gay as a box of birds but maybe isn't homosexual and anyway what business is it of ours in the first place? I especially like the unfolding nature of life here -- and a pleasant life it is -- of connected, happy people doing work they love into which drops this penny from heaven and the mathematical chaos that ensues. Scot's a perfect character, intensely himself just as he was born to be, but also completely open to being shaped by the loving and stable environment in which he is lucky enough to find himself. I also love the way this book looks at the ways gay people also incorporate our culture's narrow-mindednesses and prejudice. Read this wonderful book. Michael Downing's Perfect Agreement is a perfect novel and this one sits right there with it, but with paragraphs.
Rating: 
Summary: Queer as family
Review: Ed and Sam are a gay couple striving to blend in among their middle American, somewhat conservative neighbors and friends. Suddenly, they become the guardians to a unique 11-year old boy. A boy with a love of make-up, wild outfits, and zest for living. Scot shakes up Ed and Sam's relationship, their friends, and their lifestyle, ultimately redefining everyone's notions of family. Downing's story is a zany one, full of poignant moments and hilarious episodes. This book is an utterly delight to read. I found the beginning rather without depth, and I couldn't connect with the characters or the story then, but as I became enraptured by Scot and his effect on Sam and Ed, then I found I couldn't put the book down. This would make an excellent movie, in the vein of "The Object of My Affection"!
Rating:
Summary: A lovely read
Review: I picked up Breakfast with Scot off the "new releases" shelf of my local book store merely because I wanted a break from the well known books I had been told I HAD to read by friends or family. Plus, I liked the way the cover looked. Suprisingly I loved the book and whizzed through it in a few days. While I was reading it it was all I could think about. Now, a few months later, I can't really remember much about the book accept that I loved it, unlike most books I read that fast that I can still discuss in detail years later. So, if you're looking for a great but easy read this book is perfect for you. If you're looking for a book that will change your life, this is not it.
Rating:
Summary: Breakfast With Scot
Review: Michael Downing is an author possessed of a singular wit. "Breakfast with Scot" brings forth the creation of characters so lovable in the fact that all are completely genuine. They all admire Scot for his uniqueness, although they find it troublesome. Scot comes sashaying into creation as one of the most likeable characters in modern literature. He is honest, innocent, and genuinely doesn't understand why some people can wear make-up, lace stockings, and charm bracelets while others cannot. As one reviewer suggested, this novel is filled with people that you will wish you knew. This is my all-time favorite novel. Kudos to Mr. Downing!
Rating:
Summary: Fun!
Review: Mr. Downing can sure turn a phrase; some of his quips from the character Ed's mouth made me laugh out loud. Everybody but Scot seemed a bit two dimensional, but the book was still fun and Mr. D did try to approach some serious issues: homophobia among gay people, stereotypes among supposedly liberal enlightened people, the need to define for ourselves what constitutes a "family," the different ways people grieve loss. And I thought he succeeded. I tend to like books that shake my foundations and _Breakfast with Scot_ did not, in particular, do that. But it was interesting and readable and recommendable.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun Novel and Then Some
Review: The reason I liked this book was because it seemed to do exactly what it set out to do: it entertained me. I didn't find the characters particularly engaging or deep and the most interesting thing about the plot was the fact that this nelly little queen-to-be gets dropped into the lives of a gay male couple. Then, almost as a fun extra, Mr. Downing gets to explore the meaning of family, gay and non-gay, and he does so without ever seeming pedantic. Another interesting tributary was a lambent treatment of how two "masculine" gay men deal with Scot's unabashed, unrestrainable effeminacy. Maybe not deep and thorough, but just enough to fit the story he told: it opened up quickly and unobtrusively toward the end of the novel when Scot observed that he might not be gay and that his effeminacy might be an acting out of other issues. That was a very good move on Mr. Downing's part.
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