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Paperback
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Young, intelligent, and handsome, Alan Helms left a brutal midwestern childhood for New York City in 1955. Denied a Rhodes scholarship because of his sexual orientation, he soon became an object of desire in a gay underground scene frequented by, among many others, Noel Coward, Leonard Bernstein, and Marlene Dietrich. In this unusually vivid and sensitive account, Helms describes the business of being a sex object and its psychological and physical toll. "Riveting."- New York Times Book Review "Extraordinary and elegantly written. A record of a gay world that has virtually disappeared over the past twenty-five years of liberation and fifteen years of AIDS." -Boston Globe "A beautifully written memoir. Helms sped through the celebrity-packed fast lanes, but he has learned how to stand back and get some perspective." -Los Angeles Times "Sublimely funny, engaging, pathetic, highly literary, and painful to read. Helms seems like a gay Everyman whose quest for self-knowledge, respect, and contentment in this contemptuous world mirrors that of many other marginalized people." -Bloomsbury Review Alan Helms is professor of literature at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
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| Lyrical and moving |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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As someone who has read a good deal of gay literature I alighted upon this book with a great deal of anticipation and was not disappointed.
I have a keen interest in many of the people mentioned by Alan Helms yet found myself becoming very interested in him. As far as dishing the dirt (who isn't interested in a bit of juicy gossip) well there's not much of it, it's very restrained. Yet I found myself grateful for the lack of it, in an age where things are stripped bare and nothing is left unsaid, it was suddenly refreshing not to be regaled with someone's intimate bedroom habits.
I found it a lyrical book, for example "the whole world focussed in the cone of light from a reading lamp as the words moved forward on the page, the fabric of knowledge rising in the expectant silence" melodious prose indeed.
Touching on the subject of name dropping - well it's hard to know what else he could do, this is a memoir of someone unknown to much of the public, but his fame for the rest of us lay in the people he associated with, not much point writing the whole book about the boy next door.
It will surprise some when I say I found it humble, certainly those for whom there are too many references to his beauty. This is deliberate, setting the scene nicely ready to turn the tables on himself and us and make us experience the despair of losing youth, beauty, body and hair (things that he has relied on so heavily) - never sparing, he acknowledges his faults, the fact that he lied, that he has stolen, that he has a dark side (haven't we all).
It is a skilfully crafted, accomplished book - the death of his mother is very moving - international boy prostitute turned professor, you couldn't make it up - I so hoped that in the end he might find true love but remembered that this is real life - not the movies.
Perhaps the only criticism was the lack of photographs; they are always helpful in drawing the reader that little bit closer.
At this point I would like to add that I am a straight, middle aged woman and realise that the subject matter of this book is not for everyone which is to be regretted as it is brave and at times, beautiful. Having finished it my one regret is that I will never meet Mr Helms.
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| More self-indulgence |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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What an exercise in self-indulgence. I am so tired of reading the writing of people who "had it all" (and can't wait to tell everyone) - led a glamorous life, extremely good-looking, a body to die for, a sex life to rival that of a rabbit, courted and wanted by everyone, etc., etc., etc...and then complain about how unhappy they were - page after page. Poor thing.
Give me your (past) life for just 15 minutes, and you would NEVER hear a peep of complaint out of me. 200+ pages of "I had it all, but woe is me" is too much.
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| Fabulous reading |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Excellent, excellent book!!!!!!!!! I really enjoyed it SO much and was so sorry it came to an end. Let people say what they want to about him, but it was an interesting, fascinating story and I was extremely touched by it and recommend this book to all.
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| Perfection - What's it really like? |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Finally a book that dares to discuss what being an object is like. We put people on pedestals so high that anything they do is subject to judgement. A sneeze or a burp is cause for us to re-evaluate their worth of our desire. This indepth look at what a man of intellignce went through as a object is wonderfully frank, sweet, unusual, hopefull and well worth a read. Nervous envious types should open their minds and let this experience overwelm them. Everyone can learn something from Alan Helms
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| Past out of the Present |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I don't want to give away the ending, but most readers can tell that this memoir is about re-assessing the past - using some insight gained later in life to review and accept what was bewildering in the rush of living it. This raises it above autobiography and makes it a work of art searching for meaning. Those who thought the book an exercise in name-dropping have totally missed the point. For those readers searching for some sense out of life, this can be a valuable and moving experience. Although certainly not limited to this audience, it will have special relevance for gay men in one form of recovery or the other. You will feel as if you are reading your own story - and that is a gift. The fact that it is also beautifully written and captures a history now lost only adds value.
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