Book Description
A groundbreaking examination of the psychology of homosexuality, why it leads to shame over one's identity and how to overcome it
The gay male world today is characterized by seductive beauty, artful creativity, flamboyant sexuality, and, encouragingly, unprecedented acceptability in society. Yet despite the progress of the recent past, gay men still find themselves asking, "Are we really better off?"
The inevitable byproduct of growing up gay in a straight world continues to be the internalization of shame, a shame gay men may strive to obscure with a faade of beauty, creativity, or material success. Drawing on contemporary psychological research, the author's own journey to be free of anger and of shame, as well as the stories of many of his friends and clients, The Velvet Rage outlines the three distinct stages to emotional well-being for gay men. Offering profoundly beneficial strategies to stop the insidious cycle of avoidance and self-defeating behavior, The Velvet Rage is an empowering book that will influence the public discourse on gay culture, and positively change the lives of gay men who read it.
Customer Reviews:
Another self-help book this is not!.......2007-09-20
From the first day I came out 6 years ago to today, I've been all too familiar with the LGBT self-help books displayed prominently on bookstore shelves. For 6 years, I've been disappointed with what I have found. I find them to be repetitive, lacking nuance, and not very insightful. So, I've found myself going about my life left only to my own personal insights and experiences. Until now.
The Velvet Rage has given word to the countless abstract notions and ideas of my sexuality that have been floating around in my head for years. The book is insightful, manageable and interesting. I see deep parallels between myself and the words on the pages of this work. I truly suggest it for those looking for a deeper understanding of themselves and in filling the emptiness they may still feel as a gay man. I already feel I am on my way to a more fulfilled, peaceful and authentically happy life! And, no one even paid me to write this review!
Read the book twice.......2007-09-05
I've read it cover-to-cover and I've started to read it again simply because I was taken aback by how much I actually related to the experiences of the author and the patients he's treated over the years.
I cried in certain parts and has made me think as to how I could have handled things differently in my past and present with the people I love. I also realized "what was I even thinking??".....that thought rang right through me.
Its made me think an aweful lot about me, my behavior, how I see people, trust and those around me now and those that will be in the near future. I realize that I have a lot to learn, but I have always stated it back then and even now that when you don't listen to your gut, that's when you get screwed royally. When you do however, in the end you know what you are doing is right. But in this case I'm learning that doing and saying anything was it all worth it? The price I paid cost me dearly.
I just have to figure out how to ACT not REACT and I'm learning how to do that.
I'm in the process of "letting go" of years of sheer pain and heading towards the road of healing. It's going to take me a while but I know I'll find it. This book along with the struggles I've had over the past 3 years has really been helpful.
I've shared this book with one other person whom I consider my best friend and care deeply about after a good friend of mine that I've known over 10 years suggested I read it. I think EVERY person out there needs to read this book INCLUDING gay men.
We NEED to understand each other and heal ourselves before we find each other.
A Contemporary Must Read for Anyone.......2007-07-27
The Velvet Rage was recommended to me by Davis Mallory of MTV's Real World: Denver, and I have to say this book is a must read. Author Alan Downs of Santa Fe, New Mexico, puts primary components of the homosexual lifestyle into perspective for a myriad of readers. The book is divided into three stages based on shame, rage, and contentment with a life lived by so many males. Downs, a clinical psychologist, provides detailed personal faux pas and timeless reflections of arguably truthful testimony from some of his own clientèle. His introduction will grab any reader immediately as he opts to describe the contemporary gay lifestyle as being "a culture of [our] own." He ends The Velvet Rage with his longest chapter delineating 10 profound life lessons applicable to gay men who are cycling shame continuously. Gay males will find this book invigoratingly refreshing while the heterosexual counterparts will grasp abundant information and practical knowledge for personal growth and development in understanding the homosexual male characterization that Downs has offered. Quite frankly, The Velvet Rage should be used as a resource for educational and entertainment purposes, but hopefully, all readers will gain a more positive outlook on life after reading Downs' book.
Something for Everyone...Sort Of.......2007-07-16
As a gay white man, I found a lot in the book that I could say "yeah, that's right". about. At the same time, The absence of the mention of the experience of women, people of color or of pratically anyone else who was not also a white middle class or wealthy gay male was missing from the text.
I still think that this is a book to read...and re-read. Most of what the author talks about are universal issues...with a gay slant. It can be read by anyone who has grown up in in a straight WHITE man's world, including many (most?) straight white men.
Yes, my growing up experience has been difficult - and there are a plethora of books out there that focus on growing up female, non-white, poor, overweight, etc, etc. I'd say give this book a good read, and "fill in the blanks" whenever the references to gay men don't apply to you. It is well written and has many good anecdotes, suggestions and insights - enough to make me want to look up and see what else the author has written.
Insightful Reading.......2007-06-27
I really enjoyed reading this book, once I was done I had both my parents read it as well. They said it helped them a great deal to understand me a lot better, not only now, but why they couldn't always "reach me" when I was younger.
Book Description
J. Michael Straczynski is a man who has made his mark in many ways whether in the world of science fiction and television with the hit Babylon 5 or in the comic book industry with such books as Rising Stars and Midnight Nation. Now his unique vision comes to the world of Marvel and the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man! Joining Straczynski is a man of equal legend -- John Romita Jr. Regarded by many as the definitive Spider-Man artist of the last decade, Romita's unique pace and superb storytelling perfectly complement Straczynski's vision.
Customer Reviews:
Amazing!.......2006-06-23
Amazing Spiderman is amazing! I guarentee that if you read the first issue of this series you will not be able to put it down until it is finished!
5/5 - story
5/5 - artwork (John Romita Jr. never fails!)
5/5 - great dialogue!
This series will make anyone a spiderman fan!
Impressive, read them all.......2006-06-12
Through reading these and other recent Spider-Man books (25 issues worth) one thing comes to mind: even through bad stories, Spider-Man is still the man. It may be controversial but I like the idea of Ezekiel, Morlun, the Spider totem, all of it. Spider-Man has to be changed up every once in awhile and this is a much better way to do it then killing people off, or a new costume. As Straczynski's run goes on he shows a new side to Spider-Man/Peter Parker, MJ, Aunt May, even Uncle Ben. Spider-Man is firmly in the Marvel Universe in this series, with random comings and goings from other heroes. On the other hand, Peter Parker is firmly in the real world during this run. Peter Parker in college has been tried before, but Peter Parker (as an adult of course) in high school? Well, that's different and incredibly entertaining. The new villains are memorable and the older cast reminds you why you loved them to begin with.
This is good stuff people!.......2005-10-20
As Spiderman stories go, this is tight. Straczynski's writing is excellent. He gets Peter's babbling and his narrative is strong. The introduction of Ezekiel is excellent and he provides mystery to a series that I often feel is lacking mystery. As always, John Romita Jr's artwork is excellent. He is one of the most underrated artists in the biz. His work is strong, always dynamic, and never unsure of itself.
This is good storytelling, people. Pick it up!
The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1: Coming Home.......2005-10-04
I'll admit it, I've always favored good old Spidey over most other super heroes. And, well, anything J. Michael Straczynski writes turns to gold, so I was expecting big things.
Stracynzki's Spider-Man has been a superhero for quite a while, so he's fairly confident in his routine. None of that "Peter Parker learns how to deal with his newfound powers" jazz. What's so interesting about this volume is that, rather than questioning the origin of the hero, it questions the nature of his powers.
Ever thought about the villains that the webslinger has had to fight over the years? Doctor Octopus, The Rhino, The Vulture, other such animalistic fellows. As the mysterious Ezekiel tells Peter, "the kind of enemy you get tells a lot about the kind of person you are." So Spider-Man is the totemistic reflection of all spiders, and his enemies are all pretenders. Interesting stuff.
What follows is some standard (if not well done and drawn) action, balanced well with the light moments the comic is known for. Not exactly straying from formula, but I enjoyed it.
The beginning of J. Michael Straczynski's awesome run.......2004-10-24
When Babylon 5 creator and Rising Stars scribe took over writing duties on Amazing Spider-Man, he did something that hadn't been done to the title for years. He made it amazing again. Straczynski introduces a new spin on the Spider-Man mythos in Coming Home, in the form of the mysterious Ezekiel who wreaks havoc on the web-head's life. And, as Peter discovers, there is more to his origin than he had ever thought. After years of some lame storylines (clone saga anyone?), Straczynski re-injected the magic and awe into the title, while at the same time putting his own spin on the classic Marvel character. Not to mention the superb art by legendary John Romita Jr. gives the book an ultra slick yet classic look, and fans of his work over the years will surely marvel here. All in all, while Ultimate Spider-Man may try to re-invent the web crawler mythos, it's Amazing Spider-Man that is really the defining Spidey title (Mark Millar's Marvel Knights Spider-Man title is also worth checking out), and any of Straczynski's works on the title is definitely worth your time.
Book Description
“Being raised in an unstable household makes you understand that the world doesn’t exist to accommodate you, which, in Hannah’s observation, is something a lot of people struggle to understand well into adulthood.”–from The Man of My Dreams
In her acclaimed debut novel, Prep, Curtis Sittenfeld created a touchstone with her pitch-perfect portrayal of adolescence. Her prose is as intensely realistic and compelling as ever in The Man of My Dreams, a disarmingly candid and sympathetic novel about the collision of a young woman’s fantasies of family and love with the challenges and realities of adult life.
Hannah Gavener is fourteen in the summer of 1991. In the magazines she reads, celebrities plan elaborate weddings; in Hannah’s own life, her parents’ marriage is crumbling. And somewhere in between these two extremes–just maybe–lie the answers to love’s most bewildering questions. But over the next decade and a half, as she moves from Philadelphia to Boston to Albuquerque, Hannah finds that the questions become more rather than less complicated: At what point can you no longer blame your adult failures on your messed-up childhood? Is settling for someone who’s not your soul mate an act of maturity or an admission of defeat? And if you move to another state for a guy who might not love you back, are you being plucky–or just pathetic?
None of the relationships in Hannah’s life are without complications. There’s her father, whose stubbornness Hannah realizes she’s unfortunately inherited; her gorgeous cousin, Fig, whose misbehavior alternately intrigues and irritates Hannah; Henry, whom Hannah first falls for in college, while he’s dating Fig; and the boyfriends who love her more or less than she deserves, who adore her or break her heart. By the time she’s in her late twenties, Hannah has finally figured out what she wants most–but she doesn’t yet know whether she’ll find the courage to go after it.
Full of honesty and humor, The Man of My Dreams is an unnervingly insightful and beautifully written examination of the outside forces and personal choices that make us who we are.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Sittenfeld's pretty honest.......2007-09-30
I should have reviewed Prep after I read it, but I didn't, so some of this will compare the two.
Hannah, the main character of The Man of my Dreams, is a young woman trying to figure love, and more specifically, men, out. Hannah is extremely average, even mediocre. Like Lee, the main character in Prep, she doesn't seem to have any hobbies, interests, or even friends. Both of these characters lack confidence to a degree that astounds me. I enjoyed The Man of my Dreams a lot more than I did Prep, mostly because Prep feels like a slow drowning- Lee is thrown into the swimming pool at Ault and you watch as she sinks to the bottom over four years. That Lee is thoughtful, intelligent and even at times, funny, does not make up for the tragedy that unfolds during the course of the book... The Man of my dreams is less of a tragedy than Prep- Hannah grows (instead of regressing) and learns, but I found her to be not as smart or as funny, or even as nice as Lee, and I didn't think Lee was particularly nice when I read Prep. When Hannah takes up with the cheating Oliver, part of the attraction is that she can be mean around him and he'll be okay with that. If Hannah was wickedly funny, I don't think I'd care that she's not particularly nice, but she's not (the narrator, on the other hand, gives some laugh out loud moments).
In the end, the thing that makes Sittenfeld's writing so special, and it IS special, is her honesty. I don't think I've ever read books where the author was so willing to balance on a high wire in front of the world. What's funny about it is that she's observing things that probably half the world notices, but the rest of us think we're the only ones and therefore would never say it out loud. Sittenfeld's either completely fearless or she KNOWS that she's not alone- either of these qualities would make her pretty rare.
If you're not afraid of truth, read her books.
The tragedy of unfounded hopes.......2007-09-24
Although The Man of My Dreams is a really banal title, the concerns of the novel it represents are at times profound. But then its author, Curtis Sittenfeld, is such a contrarian writer that quite possibly she wanted the title to cut both ways: on the one hand to be seen as ironic, but on the other to be seen as so wildly hopeful that both her fans and her new readers would immediately know that if ironies follow sorrow, then hopes (and above all unfounded hopes) precede it.
Sittenfeld's novel is certainly all about unfounded hopes, and for her protagonist, Hannah Gavener, the man of her dreams is Henry, a former boyfriend of Hannah's beautiful cousin Fig. Sittenfeld astutely captures Hannah's long adoration of Henry as well as Henry's alternating layers of uncanny emotional awareness and casual dishonesty. But Henry could also be what Hannah has always most truly desired: "a man who will deny her; a man of her own who isn't hers."
The man of Fig's dreams is a man we never meet, we only see her planning to fly out to California to spend time with him, and in a much later chapter we see her reveal two things that startle Hannah: (1) that she no longer remembers this man; not his name, not his profession, not anything about him, and (2) after years of being the object of stunned worship from multitudes of men, Fig has fallen in love with a woman.
But this novel suffers a kind of death when it's reduced to a story line; the real news about Sittenfeld is that she is such an honest and usefully detached writer that it can be an extreme pleasure reading her dissections of sex, first sex, humiliation, resentment, wistful envy, rueful ire, and the formal surprises that come with forgiveness.
She also writes more perceptively about adolescent sexual shyness than any other novelist I've ever read, accurately conveying all the ways it makes a certain kind of anxious and inhibited young woman (in this case Hannah) grab apprehensive control of sexual situations, even though she's so inexperienced that she imagines she's being considerate rather than withholding when she's in bed with her mystified boyfriends.
In this sense, Hannah resembles Lee Fiora in Sittenfeld's first novel, Prep. They are also both fourteen years old at the beginnings of their respective novels, but while Lee's story covers four years at an elite New England prep school, Hannah quickly grows older, goes to university, goes to work, moves from city to city.
The Man of My Dreams also aims to have a wider and deeper social resonance than Prep in the sense that it is bookended by two narratives concerning tragically afflicted male children. In the first chapter we meet Rory, an eight-year-old cousin of Hannah's who has Down's Syndrome. In the final chapter, set in New Mexico, Hannah is teaching at a school for autistic boys, news that we learn from a letter she writes to her former psychiatrist. This letter ends the novel and feels too rushed and convenient a way to respond to too many unanswered questions.
But in spite of the shortcomings of this final letter as well as an opening paragraph that comes across as boring chick lit (it begins the novel with the words "Julia Roberts is getting married..." then a few lines later tells us that the bridesmaids' shoes are "Manolo Blahnik, $475 a pair")--The Man of My Dreams soon begins to move much more swiftly than Prep did. It also feels looser, bolder, less claustrophobic and so, inevitably, more free. There are also more scenes set in the open air, and these scenes are the most alive and memorable sequences in the book.
Hannah's trip to Alaska with her sister Allison, Allison's boyfriend, and the boyfriend's "alarmingly handsome" and unbearable older brother is the best chapter of all, giving Sittenfeld the chance to brilliantly catch what's most socially awkward, unbearably damp, openly hostile, and truly catastrophic about camping in the wild.
There's also a great scene where Hannah gazes at a glacier from a boat sailing on Prince William Sound and realizes that she has always imagined a glacier as "clear and glittery and neatly edged, like an oversize ice cube from a tray, but this is more like a field of ruffled, dirty snow. It has a blue tint, as if squirted with Windex."
Whether Sittenfeld means for the glacier to be a defiled image of our ruined world or a metaphor for the difference between what's romanticized and what's real, it works spookily well in this novel. As does the scene, a few days later, when Hannah loses her glasses in the middle of a drenching Alaskan downpour. Her glasses are never found, but for a long time after her return home she sometimes pictures them on the floor of the North Pacific. "It is dark and calm down there; fish slip past; her glasses rest untouched, the clear plastic lenses and titanium frames. In the stillness without her, the glasses see and see."
Those lost glasses could very well also symbolize Hannah herself, ardent about love although too often asexual about sex, a woman whose detachment (so like the inspired detachment of her creator) also allows her to see and see.
*******************************************************************
This review first appeared, in a slightly different form, in Toronto's Globe and Mail....
A late summer read that speaks volumes.......2007-09-11
I came across "The Man of my dreams" at a display of "Summer beach reads" at my local library. I figured it would be a great read for the last summer read, yet reading it, I thought it was possibly the most well written 'summer read' I've ever had the pleasure of. I had yet to read "Prep"
The main character, Hannah, is a neurotic, lonely, girl(reminds me of someone I know all to well at that age). The book starts when she 14. Her parents break up due to her father's anger problem, and Hannah is sent to live with her Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Darrach(a very colorful character).
The whole teenaged section is only a short part of the book but we see Hannah as someone who just doesn't feel like she fits in and is often alone. FAst forward to college, and she is still very much a mixed up girl but she's also very smart. You never really get a sense of what she looks like, as there is never much of a physical description, but with Curtis Sittenfeld's beautiful prose, we get to know her. Her hopes, her dreams, her true thoughts on everythign around her. I think many of us probably have many of these same feelings, and that makes her seem all the more real to me. I'm actually glad i read her books out of order because usually when you get to a second novel you EXPECT the same as the first. IT certainly is different than the first book, but I love both. Her writing is intense, thought provoking, and engrossing. I just started "Prep" yesterday and my family is probably ready to kick me and the book out...it's taken over my existence. Her writing is addicting.
BAck to "The man of my dreams". Hannah, starts to work on her nonexistent love life. Never having had no dating experience, aside from a short brush with a druggie teenager early in the book, she definitely puts her guard up. Already being an unhappy person, Hannah sees her new life as a jumping ground towards the end of the rainbow.
She has a sister, Allison, who is getting married. Her parents are divorced, and after a really ugly meeting with her dad, she stops speaking to him.
Reading this was like stepping into someone's life, and like life, it isn't perfect nor does it always end happily in the conventional sense.
Hannah truly comes of age as she goes through her adventures with her boyfriends, friends, sister, and family.
This isn't a beach read by any means. It is a novel about life, and a search of the pursuit of happiness. Sittenfeld is a brilliant writer, and I am loving every minute of "Prep" as well. She has officially become my favorite writer.
Ultimately unsatisfying.......2007-08-27
Sittenfeld is a talented writer, there's no questioning that. However, I feel like this novel is a step back from the wonderful "Prep" in that it rehashes many of the same character traits from the protagonist of the previous book. Insecurity and self-awareness are always great traits in literary characters, but there is such a thing as overkill and this book crosses that line pretty blatantly.
There are some very funny moments, but this book ultimately loses its steam because of the inherent weakness of Hannah. I hope that Sittenfeld's next book will feature a character that isn't the same insecure, hyper-analytical types she's used for her first two offerings. It's time to branch out a bit.
Painfully Accurate.......2007-08-10
The author has a very unique gift in that she taps directly into the heart of the anguished, overly self-concious and terribly introspective protagonist. This character description and development makes up for the lack of gripping plot.
The ending was the only disappointment as it felt like someone made a sloppy and half-hearted effort of tying up loose ends. WHile it was somewhat convincing, it would have been more worthwhile to have been granted a few more chapters and years of personal growth on the part of the main character.
However, any faults this book might have are completely hidden beneath the truly superb narrative.
Book Description
An eye-opening examination of the hookup culture, seen through the personal experiences of high school and college-age women who confront the hard lessons of dating, love, and sex. Unabridged. 8 CDs.
Book Description
Man Up! is a hard hitting, hig, introspective look into what the Black community must do to save itself. Finally, a voice speaks to the complex relationship between personal and community responsibility.
Steve Perry effectively calls to task organizations such as the NAACP and the Black church as well as talking heads like Michael Eric Dyson and Cornell West for their role in the retardation of the Black community. Ultimately Man Up! is about the simple solutions offered in each chapter.
Customer Reviews:
Powerful Book! Now, we need action........2007-09-05
I confess, I'm not much of a book worm, I tend to do most of my reading on-line -- This book, I read in two days!
The facts are clear; we in the black community are in crisis! My heart aches, wondering how we will correct the many issues that plague us.
Mr. Perry does an expert, incredibly honest job at pointing out both the issues and providing salient solutions.
It truly is up to us in the Black community to help ourselves. No more pointing fingers; no more relying on the same old broken methods of the past.
Well, this was supposed to be a book review. Bottom line, EVERY SINGLE black person
Should read take to heart the simple, but profound methods offered in this book. Well done Mr. Perry, keep up the important efforts.
Thank god someone gets it........2007-08-23
I appreciate your efforts, but please don't say no one's coming. The government has tried for years! The system has been trying to help blacks to the detriment of whites for as long as I can remember (I was denied employment at GM in 1984 due to my white skin. In spite of the fact my father was so poor he lived in a cabin with an outhouse and starved more than he ate. He worked two jobs as stock clerk and janitor to make ends meet).
I heard Steve Perry on CNN and couldn't agree more about Micheal Vick. Want the hell is the NAACP doing defending a man making 160 million dollars and killing dogs. They continue to discredit themselves acting as savior for the privileged whom should be held to a higher level of responsibility.
A Manifesto for Manhood .......2007-05-14
Man Up! will become required reading for black Americans (young & old) in the sphere of my influence. This book delivers truth, problems, realities, and common sense solutions to the ills of the ebony community. Where did the brother find the wisdom, inspiration, and most of all the courage to say what needs to be said? We are destroying ourselves and must take corrective action now. This book is a manifesto and valuable first steps reading to a positive living in the right direction.
perfect.......2007-05-01
loved this book. easy read, short and to the point. this is exactly what our community needs right now, I don't know why this man isn't getting the national recognition he deserves.
Man UP.......2007-01-06
I enjoyed this book, it does tell it like it is, no ifs ands or buts. It is time folks stopped blaming other folks, and took some responsibility on, and stepped up. We are out here, together, and we need to man up. NOBODY is coming to save us. The many voices that claim to speak for us, don't, their interests are not my interests, and more than likely not yours either. A book like this and many others like it needs far wider dissemination that it is getting. Enough of the sound bite mentality, self pity. Get up, stand up, and learn and do for yourselves.
Customer Reviews:
BUY THIS BOOK!.......2003-07-06
As a 26 year old guy just coming to terms with my sexual orientation, this book provided the guidance I needed to accept who I was as a gay man and the support I needed to come out to my best friend. Dr. Johnson has put together a great book from start to finish. Not just a book of advice, this book makes you look at your life and do a personal inventory. I've also read "Outing Yourself" but found this book to be better. If you are questioning your sexual orientation, or just need a great guide book to coming out gay or bisexual, this book is for you! Thank you, Dr. Johnson, for writing this book!
helped me a lot!!!.......1997-06-26
really good self help book
Amazon.com
The Two Sexes is a book about gender differences that takes on the big questions most of us have asked at some point: Why are men and women so different? How much of our behavior is biology and how much is learned? How do our gender roles in childhood affect the way we relate as adults?
One of Stanford University professor Eleanor Maccoby's key discoveries about childhood gender development is that girls and boys act far more alike on their own than they do with groups of their friends. Maccoby also offers sound evolutionary reasons why we might be biologically inclined toward sex- differentiated behavior. In the end, though, she asserts that "biology is not destiny."
With this in mind, she explores in The Two Sexes what sorts of changes can and should be made to the roles we play in our sexual relationships, work relationships, and parenting. This a complex and scholarly work, but Maccoby writes in clean, reasoned prose accessible to nonacademics. --Maria Dolan
Book Description
How does being male or female shape us? And what, aside from obvious anatomical differences, does being male or female mean? In this book, the distinguished psychologist Eleanor Maccoby explores how individuals express their sexual identity at successive periods of their lives. A book about sex in the broadest sense, The Two Sexes seeks to tell us how our development from infancy through adolescence and into adulthood is affected by gender.
Chief among Maccoby's contentions is that gender differences appear primarily in group, or social, contexts. In childhood, boys and girls tend to gravitate toward others of their own sex. The Two Sexes examines why this segregation occurs and how boys' groups and girls' groups develop distinct cultures with different agendas. Deploying evidence from her own research and studies by many other scholars, Maccoby identifies a complex combination of biological, cognitive, and social factors that contribute to gender segregation and group differentiation.
A major finding of The Two Sexes is that these childhood experiences in same-sex groups profoundly influence how members of the two sexes relate to one another in adulthood--as lovers, coworkers, and parents. Maccoby shows how, in constructing these adult relationships, men and women utilize old elements from their childhood experiences as well as new ones arising from different adult agendas. Finally, she considers social changes in gender roles in light of her discoveries about the constraints and opportunities implicit in the same-sex and cross-sex relationships of childhood.
Customer Reviews:
Comprehensive Coverage by Expert in the Field.......2000-08-31
Eleanor Maccoby has been doing gender for a long, long time, and her decades of academic and research experience contribute to a comprehensive, useful volume. She takes NOT a "men from mars women from venus" approach to gender, but instead focusses on the gender composition of groups in unravelling what initially appear to be differences between the genders. The 1st and 3rd sections of the book provide excellently layered literature reviews of gendered behavior in the context of specific group compositions; and the 2nd section offers objective coverage of the main theories of gender development. Highly recommended for an undergrad course!
Book Description
Five Women. A Man. And a Plan.Meet Marcus Brooks. He's gorgeous. He's successful. He's the bestselling author of African American fiction. He's also the most obnoxious male alive......Meet Raylene, Naomi, Thelma, Gwena, and Latice. They are five women who belong to a reading group, strong women with strong opinions. They don't take any grief from anyone (well, not if they can help it), and their friendships have stood the test of time. One night they meet up with bestselling author Marcus Brooks. At first they are in awe. Then they are puzzled. Next they're enraged. How can a man whose books are loved by millions act like such a dog? Words are exchanged---and more---and they soon get in way over their heads. The book club takes Marcus captive---and the longer they hold him, the more complicated things get. Can these five women rehabilitate the most arrogant author in the world and teach him a few lessons about life, writing, and women? He Had It Coming is a wickedly delicious novel, as shocking as it is hilarious---a delightful send-up of fame and success.
Customer Reviews:
i liked the book until.............2007-02-28
i was in lov with the book until i put the book together and it seems to me that the author of the books really hates men!!! every man in the book are all A-holes, that you really hate!! plus there were it was really prodictible especilly the end was predicible! This sounded like "misary". i just don't like a book that lumps everyone into one sterotype!
I mean she really hates men!
I laughed out loud!.......2006-11-06
Having read Ms. Spencer's previous books, I was excited to read this one. It started out slow and at was times difficult to follow. I won't spoil it for anyone, but I do hope there's a sequel
I Liked It.......2006-08-23
Need something to read on a lazy Saturday afternoon? Pick up this one and become engrossed in the lives of five bookclub members and the author who crosses their path. I enjoyed this one - the antics of Marcus Brooks and Johnnie Coleman were the highlights for me. It's interesting that Spencer was able to capture the thought-process and dialogue of Marcus Brooks and make it down-right unbelievably believable. That line about Eric Benet had me laughing out loud.
This book does not appear to be for anyone over 30.......2006-05-04
My bookclub recently read this book and it generated the lowest rating of any book we've read in the last 9 years. The ladies in my bookclub are between the ages of 32 - 50+ which may have contributed to the low rating. The comments from the book club were as follows.....The story was unrealistic. Childish. Characters not well developed. Rushed ending. Ending was anticlimactic.
Even though we gave the book a low rating, it amazingly...generated a good lengthly discussion with topics ranging from marriage to how silly we were in our youth.
Dishing Out What You Can't Take.......2005-07-28
As a rule, Marcus Brooks wasn't genuinely kind to anyone, but the mysogynistic Marcus Brooks, dished out plenty. A plenty of venom, name calling, pushing, shoving and even throwing things at females of every rank and file. Spencer prepares the reader well with a clear view of more than each character's personality, but a peek into their secret lives; no one escapes - they `all' have a secret. It is those `secrets' that finally tie them all together, but not without first causing them to burst at the seams. If ever there was a healthy helping of just desserts served it was at the parking lot bru-ha-ha. Don't worry about being horrified at unwarranted abuse toward poor defenseless women; there's no such concern, but the fight wasn't all in their favor either. This was the `I can't put this book down' point for me. How many times was this pendulum going to swing? When would the dishing and the taking finally resolve itself? Trying to imagine the outcome was about as easy as putting toothpaste back in the tube with a toothpick. The way Spencer squeezed loving and caring in between the chaos was nothing short of miraculous and she even manages to leave the reader with a reasonable explanation for it all. He Had It Coming is a good fast read and worth the time. Oh, I dare you try and guess who Marcus falls in love with.
Average customer rating:
- IT WAS REALLY WELL WRITTEN TO SHOW THE LIFE OF THE 60'S.
- outstanding, a very perceptive account of the real woodstock
- Hillarious insider telling of bizzare sex romps 1969 style!
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Knock on Woodstock: The Uproarious, Uncensored Story of the Woodstock Festival, the Gay Man Who Made It Happen, and How He Earned His Ticket to Free
Elliot Tiber
Manufacturer: Joel Friedlander Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
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Similar Items:
-
Woodstock: The Oral History
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Woodstock - 3 Days of Peace & Music (The Director's Cut)
ASIN: 096418060X |
Customer Reviews:
IT WAS REALLY WELL WRITTEN TO SHOW THE LIFE OF THE 60'S........1999-10-27
I ENJOYED THE WAY YOU FIND OUT INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE FESTIVAL THAT ARE HUMMOROUS. VERY WELL PACED AND ELLIOT TIBER HAS EDUCATED EVERYONE WHO HAS READ THIS. IF YOU HAVEN'T, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE MISSING!
outstanding, a very perceptive account of the real woodstock.......1999-01-28
At a trade show in new york city I ran into a very odd man holding a pillow that said "I have a headache", that man was Elliot Tiber. It goes without saying that I wanted to read his book. The book is first rate, to be read with an open mind it exemplifies the true 60's. A look at the true color that underlies most sugar coated rah rah memories, it is both the things remembered and forgotten about that zenith event woodstock. I'm prowd to have met the man. Sean
Hillarious insider telling of bizzare sex romps 1969 style!.......1997-01-04
The only Woodstock book out there that has a kiss and tell about the Rock stars, PLUS, and to me, more important, the insider's p.o.v. (uncensored) about the people behind the wildest music festival of the century! Mr.Tiber's unique style of absurdist zany comic writing kept me up all night until i finished the last word of the very last footnote. I was hysterical when I began reading the preface. I even found the dedication page(s) a rich list of celebrity pals of the author's - which went from Katherine Hepburn to the Moyel who performed the Jewish Bris ritual when he was 5 days old!! When I saw the author on CNBC's "Bob Berkowitz Getting Personal' show, with his friend Melanie, who got her 1st start at Woodstock, I was hooked, and ordered the book instantly! I even had an argument at the Barnes & Noble bookstore. This book should have been on the popular culture shelf, between Tina Turner and TS Elliot. Or on the New Book shelves or on Gay Literature shelf.. I asked the manager, who found a stack of copies hidden in the very rear of the store, on a general interst shelf!! He explained that since the cover had the words: GAY MAN, he didn't want to offend some customers!!! Censorship by a store clerk ? I was too young to be at Woodstock in '69, so this insane peek at such a major historical icon, was and continues to be a treasure!
I've sent 15 copies as Christmas presents to good friends. 100% called to give me glowing accounts of the good time they had visiting Tiber's version of the festival.
Carla B.
Los Angeles
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