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< Un*/ Cut > < Bites > < Universal (Kingdome) > < Alpha Males > < Smut. > < X-Posed > Giovanni

price：~~$10.20~~
Bruno Gmunder Verlag Gmbh
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customer 's review
(A Surprise at Amazon)

(Beautiful)

(don't believe the hype)

(His Best Yet!)

(An Artist's Progress: Looking More Closely)

Giovanni, "Un*/Cut", Bruno Gmunder Verlad Gmbh, 2009.

A Surprise at Amazon

Amos Lassen

Looking at everything that has been going at Amazon and at amazonfail, this is a surprise to see this book being carried by the retailer. This is a beautiful book but not what I would have expected to find here. It is a photographic study of the penis and the male organs that are photographed by Giovanni are beautiful and the book is a feast for the eyes for those who want to look at the penis. Giovanni who is a well known fashion photographer using a different name is not the only photographer to take pictures of the penis but this is an art here.
The book is limited to photographs of the groin area and each photo is tasteful and beautiful. Lighting that is sensitive blends with dynamic composition and the book is of excellent quality. Giovanni concentrates on the uncircumcised penis and it is the penis that is the sole focus of the book.
The book has an introduction by Jim Eigo, the jazz artist and an interview with Giovanni which is very witty and explaining how he came to choose this subject. The book contains photographs of both the flaccid and erect penis but again it is just the penis and a bit of the surrounding area that we see. Again this is a high quality book that eschews the prudish ways that came before.

Un*/Cut is as beautiful a photo book about the penis you will ever see. There is a variety of penis types that keep you looking for more. There are black and white pictures as well as color. The models are as near perfect as you can get. I plan on buying several more copies for Christmas and give them as gifts to my special freinds.
So, if you like full frontal nudity and close-ups of the penis, this book is for you.
i've perused this a couple of times in the bookstore, and have been really underwhelmed.

it's penises. lots and lots and lots of them. there's not much creativity in the composition or lighting. very few of the images has much aesthetically to offer except a penis with a foreskin, of which there are ample examples elsewhere, done more artistically. i was expecting a sort of celebration of the many variations of foreskin, but with many of the photos, they're erect and/or masturbating, so the foreskin is minimal or not visible at all.

it's a professionally produced book, so as one reviewer observed, the images are "high quality"; the shots are close up and clear, it's true. but that doesn't mean that they're actually interesting to look at... if anything "un-cut" might refer to the lack of editing.
If you enjoyed Giovanni's previous works, "Bites" and "Private Parts", you will be absolutely knocked out with "Un/Cut". I think it's the best of the three. The images of the models are beautifully photographed and quite thought provoking. These are some of the best "male members" you will see in any publication. Many of the photos display the foreskin drawn back to provide revealing shots. This is truly Giovanni's "crowning" achievement.
Giovanni (a self-confessed moniker for a famous fashion photographer) continues to focus on an obsession/admiration for that object of historic dispute - the male phallus. For centuries art vogues have either lauded the masculine symbol for fertility and power, whether in sculpture of the Greeks or paintings of the Renaissance, or those passing fads have draped or even lopped off the au courant offending organ. While Giovanni is far from the only artist to finally bring full frontal male nudity to the same spotlight once monopolized by female nudity, he is one of the major voices working today who focuses his art away from fashion on the male penis.

This book UN*/CUT is his third foray into the examination and presentation of the genesis of creation and it is in many ways his most successful. The photographs are all of the male sexual organ, this time around each of the organs is uncircumcised ('uncut'), and the penis is the sole point! The models doubtless are fine specimens of men, but here Giovanni limits his exposures to the groin. The photographs are beautifully executed, with some of the most sensitive lighting and composition imaginable, and the design of the book of both black and white and color images is of the highest quality. Giovanni is interviewed at the close of the book and his comments are warmly sensitive and honest, explaining and not apologizing for his choice of subject. There is a fine Foreword by Jazz expert Jim Eigo that sets the tone for the pages that follow - and those pages capture the penis in flaccid and erect pose, at times with the models' extremities as part of the image, but never with the faces showing, making it very clear what the message of the book is about.

It is refreshing to finally see books of this quality offering a platform for what has become the last frontier of accepting our sexuality. Artists such as Giovanni discard the past prudish prejudices and let the images speak clearly for freedom of expression. This is a quality book and the audience will likely appeal to women as well! Grady Harp, December 07
With "UN*/CUT" Giovanni opens another chapter of desire for male meat! This sexual organ has never been more directly or excitingly set into scene than in this fascinating declaration of love. "UN*/CUT" is the follow-up to the incredibly successful "Bites" by the same photographer.
Rerations
< Un*/ Cut > < Bites > < Universal (Kingdome) > < Alpha Males > < Smut. > freaks

< River of Heaven: A Novel > < The Bright Forever: A Novel > < The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel > < The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Random House Reader's Circle) > < From Our House: A Memoir > < Olive Kitteridge: Fiction > Lee Martin

price：~~$3.02~~
Three Rivers Press(2009-04-07)
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customer 's review
(Lee Martin delivers again)

(Enjoyable but forced)

(Another great read from a gifted storyteller)

("It was a long time ago and we were different people")

(My Midwest)

Another truly outstanding book from Lee Martin. I loved River of Heaven, and I think it's because his characters, once again, are so wonderfully complex but still seem completely real. Also, I noticed that, again, Martin masterfully repeats a single phrase, a refrain if you will, to keep the emotional back story present in the reader's head at all times--in this book, it's two of the main characters who say, "You asleep?" to anyone who does something out of the ordinary, a shorthand comment cultivated from their childhood that constantly reminds the reader of their troubled past.

I am beginning to believe that Lee Martin is one of the best writers of our time. I would recommend this book and his last--The Bright Forever--to everyone
I enjoyed Lee Martin's "River of Heaven," but never got past merely "enjoying" it. First, he's an excellent writer--Martin writes with a reserved elegance that I truly admire and I relished many of his phrases. Beyond that, however, I felt he was asking too much of me, stretching my credulity beyond the common sense point. I just couldn't get past the feeling that it was a stage show with too much make-up and hastily painted props.

The attempts at the Philip Marlowe dialogue get a little silly--"He's killed a man, and even if it was in self defense, as I know it was--Cal with that Ruger Single six in the pouch of his hooded sweatshirt, just waiting for the right time to make it do its business..." I was waiting for someone to say, "Yes, angel, I'm gonna send you over."

Enjoyable, but forced.

I became a big fan of Lee Martin after reading his novel, The Bright Forever. I have anxiously awaited his follow-up work and River of Heaven did not disappoint. Simply put, Martin is a master storyteller. His characters come alive in their imperfection. Throughout this touching story, I felt Sammy's joy and his pain. As an avid, but somewhat picky reader, that is rare and truly enjoyable experience. Few writers could tell this solitary man's story without it becoming depressing, but Martin does just that. His simple prose and perfect details tell just what we need to know and nothing more.

River of Heaven is a story you'll think about long after you have finished it. Personally, I don't think about the story itself as much as I wonder what Sam, Maddie, Vera and Duncan Hines are up to these days. That, to me, is good storytelling - characters that live on after the book has been finished and shelved or shared. I cannot give this novel, or anything by Lee Martin a high enough recommendation.
Sam Brady, a confirmed bachelor all of his 63 years lives in Mt. Gilead, a small town in southern Illinois, his only real friend his kindly neighbor Arthur, who is still mourning the loss of his dear wife Bess, now six months gone. Both seem to be sharing the misery of men living alone even as Sam comes across as a little old bald- headed man who chooses to be isolated because of his secret that for years he has kept pent up, even in a supposedly enlightened and tolerant world.

Sam is by nature a cautious man; well aware that danger always waits just around the corner and that in a town such as Mt. Gilead he could all too readily be labeled as an abomination, a perversion and someone who participates in sin. But his private, sensible life, and somewhat lonely existence belies the fact that he has no idea what it is to love someone all this time. For years Sam has been content to live alone except for his dogs, the latest being the basset hound Stump a gorgeous animal on patience, steadfast with his devotion, mild tempered and affectionate - the perfect companion for the insular Sam.

Arthur knows without a doubt that his neighbor is a man who has been afraid to get too close to anyone, the only gesture of love is to build a miniature ship, a fancy house for Stump. When the two elderly gentlemen are not keeping each other company at night, they've even spending their time learning to cook as part of a widower's group called the Seasoned Chefs, who every Wednesday evening work up a new and exotic dish led by the bright and confident Vera Moon who once held a flame for Cal, Sam's transient brother.

But just as Tom thinks he's put Cal's troubled past behind him, there appears images of his brother on CNN involved in a standoff on a grain feed and supply elevator. Luckily, thanks to Cal's quick actions, the crisis is averted, but Sam is just thankful that after all these years his brother is still alive. All the years of silence have been "like stones on his heart" - and now ironically he's become a local hero. Later Cal turns up at Sam's house, needing a place to stay outwardly celebrating his heroism, but secretly unable to live with it for reasons that Sam can't fathom.

Cal's arrival, and the recognition that he's been hanging around less than acceptable individuals, does more than throw Sam's life into a tailspin, his presence causing his younger brother to finally confront the memories of that rainy Friday evening in April, back in 1953 when his adolescent friend Dewey Finn died on the Western Union rail tracks. Dewey, the boy with wild red hair and freckles across his nose, with his green eyes and long lashes and a smile that always seemed to put Sam at ease.

Perhaps with Cal now back in his life, Sam will finally have a chance again at family and also a chance to put at rest the mystery of everything he's been carrying with him, regarding Dewey Finn and his mysterious death all those decades ago. Meanwhile, Arthur and his young granddaughter, Maddie continue to orbit around Sam's life, both of them giving him a reason to love again, but it is Cal and his enigmatic past that most stokes the fires of Sam's emotions, his steel blue eyes, still making it look like he's mad as hell, or just scared to half to death.

Significant themes weave throughout this novel, the multifaceted plot line providing a delicate tapestry of human motivations and predicaments, the two brothers who loved each other before they became unraveled and their lives scattered, a confirmed bachelor who is terrified of disappointing his best friend and neighbor, and the kindly granddaughter who sees the goodness when her life gets tough.

Although a bit far-fetched in places its subplots of family secrets and terrorist conspiracies, Lee Martin more than makes up for these deficiencies by writing fully rounded, compassionate characters that we care about and injecting his pages with a giant dose of mid-western reality and sentimentality; even the back-story set in 1959 - where most men then had no idea how far love of this nature can reach - is imbued with a grand sense of legitimacy and possesses an astonishing depth of emotion.

In the end, River of Heaven is about the torment of a broken man who cannot ask for help, where acknowledging the mistakes of the past will not necessarily set him free, certainly not when it has trapped him at the moment. Sam's ultimate legacy is his failure of courage and of failing to love someone enough. It's a sad testament to a man who has gone throughout much of his adult life stagger-blind, feeling in the dark while also trying taking to heart the cruel lessons of love and loss, the events of the novel eventually causing him to find that love comes where he had least expected it to. Mike Leonard June 08.

I finished "River of Heaven" yesterday in one sitting, and felt lucky to have finally found a book that felt like a slice of my Midwest. As a Midwesterner who thinks the region has SO much to offer literature, I am often frustrated by the polar opposite portrayals of the region even in celebrated works of fiction. The Midwest is either a freakshow fit for Jerry Springer or a bucolic, cow-filled backdrop. The reality, of course, is infinitely more complex, and I felt a sense of relief that a writer had finally captured it for me. What I love about this book is that it does embrace the Jerry Springer moments in its characters' lives, but it refuses to make of those moments or those characters a freakshow of two-dimensional worst-case-scenarios. Instead, Martin develops characters who make choices, who have complex motivations, nagging doubts, and old wounds. Martin knows how to write the lovely, complicated, intelligent, freakish and self-aware Midwest, the Midwest that keeps secrets and that remembers.
“You have to know the rest of my story, the
part I can’t yet bring myself to say. A story
of a boy I knew a long time ago and a
brother I loved and then lost.”

Past and present collide in Lee Martin’s highly anticipated novel of a man, his brother, and the dark secret that both connects and divides them. Haunting and beautifully wrought, River of Heaven weaves a story of love and loss, confession and redemption, and the mystery buried with a boy named Dewey Finn.

On an April evening in 1955, Dewey died on the railroad tracks outside Mt. Gilead, Illinois, and the mystery of his death still confounds the people of this small town.

River of Heavenbegins some fifty years later and centers on the story of Dewey’s boyhood friend Sam Brady, whose solitary adult life is much formed by what really went on in the days leading up to that evening at the tracks. It’s a story he’d do anything to keep from telling, but when his brother, Cal, returns to Mt. Gilead after decades of self-exile, it threatens to come to the surface.

A Pulitzer Prize finalist forThe Bright Forever, Lee Martin masterfully conveys, with a voice that is at once distinct and lyrical, one man’s struggle to come to terms with the outcome of his life. Powerful and captivating,River of Heavenis about the high cost of living a lie, the chains that bind us to our past, and the obligations we have to those we love.

From the Hardcover edition.
Rerations
< River of Heaven: A Novel > < The Bright Forever: A Novel > < The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel > < The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Random House Reader's Circle) > < From Our House: A Memoir > freaks

< Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians > < What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality > < Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality, Revised and Expanded Edition: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church > < Gay by God: How to be Lesbian or Gay and Christian > < For The Bible Tells Me So > < The Children Are Free: Reexamining the Biblical Evidence on Same-sex Relationships > Candace Chellew-Hodge

price：~~$5.74~~
Jossey-Bass
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customer 's review
(Tough, tender, spiritual, practical)

(Life-changing)

(A practical and insightful guide for all people of faith)

Tough and tender, experienced and insightful, Bulletproof Faith is a manual LGBTQ people of faith will read to nourish their own faith while meeting the challenges of those so caught up in their own hurt and pain but using religion and religious arguments to stay stuck rather than face the real issues in their own lives. Rev. Chellew-Hodge walks believers through the steps that can prepare them to stop trying to win arguments with those who object to LGBTQ people and begin to experience every encounter as a chance to personally grow. (Winning isn't a virtue. We must sometimes "lose" to show that we really believe.) Though subtitled a "survival guide," I'd say it's really a guide to thriving in the midst of people who would rather see LGBTQ people anything but proud and healthy.
Prior to reading this book I was a discouraged gay Christian. As much as I wanted to believe God loved me, I always felt ashamed and guilty about being gay. When I saw this book I had to read to read it and I was not disappointed. I can honestly say this book has changed my life and I am forever grateful for it. I feel empowered, positive and renewed in my faith. Should be required reading for all gay (and straight) Christians!
When I purchased this book, I did so thinking that I would give it a perfunctory read and then pass it along to one of my GLBT friends. I soon found much of my own story in Chellew-Hodge's words. Bulletproof Faith is an invaluable resource, not just for gay and lesbian Christians, but any person of faith who has struggled to make peace with The Divine and the world around them. Be Bulletproof.
This thoughtful, practical guide shows readers a way through the minefield of condemnation and persecution faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Christians and helps foster a faith that is bulletproof—impervious to attacks, yet loving and savvy in its approach.Bulletproof Faithis filled with useful insights and proven spiritual practices that deflect attacks and enhance and strengthen faith by turning attacks into opportunities for spiritual growth.

Rerations
< Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians > < What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality > < Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality, Revised and Expanded Edition: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church > < Gay by God: How to be Lesbian or Gay and Christian > < For The Bible Tells Me So > freaks

< In Love with a Thug (Strebor on the Streetz) > < A Private Affair > < Looker: A Novel > < The DL Chronicles: The Complete First Season > < Right Side of the Wrong Bed > < Manhood: The Longest Moan > Reginald L. Hall

price：~~$1.30~~
Strebor Books
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customer 's review
(Hmmmm!....)

(Leave Those Thugs Alone (token))

(All Bark and No Bite)

(UHHHHHHH)

(Great read!)

This book was good overall, very entertaining, and the sex scenes were off the hook.. And thats coming from a hetro female, but the ending was a litte off. It was almost as if the author just got tired of writing, and just wrapped it up as quick as possible.. The ending was way too coincidental to be believable, I think he should have set the plot up a little better earlier in the story. Overall it wasnt a waste of money I enjoyed it..
I took awhile to read this book and I'm sorry I waited so long. This is one of the best books I have read. This book is in a class of it's own. It's going to pull u in, capture u, and hold u until the end. A plot, drama, and smut it's here and it gets told and unwrapped w/out rules. This author keeps u wanting more. Mr. Hall I love ya work, keep doing what u do. Kudos and a job well done.
Where do I start, what can I say about this "book" thats positive...nice title? or the fact that it finally ends? I held such high hopes for this book, that actually started out by grabbing your attention...with a overly dramatic but interesting opening scene. But after that scene it was truely down hill from there, it felt like I was reading a story written by some young Sissy, who has a fantasy about thugs, this story had more holes than an old pair of socks. The storylines were all over the place...and the main character Juan, was just a walking talking stereotype of gay black men, sure his characteristics held some truth, but he and his many storylines were WAAAAAAY over the top! I swear if someone else would have gotten jumped, or gotten killed, or if his "thug" would have F'd him up one more time, i think i would have threw up! That was way to much going on in a "book" that was only 211 pages...

I wouldnt put this high on your list of books to buy...at all. if you have a friend that know owns it, borrow theirs, you'd be better off for it...

2 stars...keep trying mr. hall.
The story was interesting; BUT, some of the events made absolutely no sense. For instance, if Juan had $175,000.00 dollars in his bank account how come he could not make his mortgage payments? I just did not get that. And there are other parts where it seems the author forgot what he wrote previously in relation to what he was writing at that time. Did he or anyone else proofread this book? The violence was over the top. And while in jail he wakes up his first night and his other cell mate is standing in front of his bed waiting for him to give him oral sex and he does without any fight AND he enjoys it. That is just unreal. Finally, I just kept thinking throughout the whole book, this guy is the biggest idiot I ever didn't meet and by the end I was glad he got caught!!!
I really enjoyed reading this book. Sure, there were some holes in the plot and I'm sure that the author could have included more SAFE sex but those are minor in the whole scheme of things. The author did a marvelous job of depicting the lives of the main characters. Actually, while a lot of the relationships were pretty abusive, they were very real possibilities for those in the gay life. It's sad but true and I'm glad someone captured what a few people actually may have to live from day-to-day. In all thy getting, get an understanding. This helps to shed light on some things and hopefully people can understand why they need to be there for their gay brothers and sisters and not leave them out to dry for the scum of the earth to abuse. Because the gay one feels so alone, they allow themselves to get involved in abusive relationships, sometimes.

Read the book. It's good. The sex scenes are actually very hot, if you like same gender loving. LOL.
A controversial new novel from critically acclaimed Essence bestseller Reginald L. Hall explores the attraction of dating a "bad boy" - from an entirely new angle.

During college, Juan Jiles fell in love with Darrell, who convinced Juan to help him rob one of Philadelphia's largest banks. During the heist, Darnell is killed, and Juan escapes with more than $175,000. After mourning the loss of his lover, Juan begins rebuilding his life and uses the money to open a popular celebrity hair salon.

Then along comes Bryant Thompson, a street thug with drugs, drama, and deception in tow. Juan falls in love with the hustling, muscle-bound Bryant and soon succumbs to Bryant's addictive world. Juan's life starts to spin out of control and he realizes that his meeting Bryant didn't happen by chance.

A story of a man doomed by passion,In Love with a Thugis by turns a humorous, tragic and hard-hitting look at the cost of destructive love and the price some pay for true happiness.
Rerations
< In Love with a Thug (Strebor on the Streetz) > < A Private Affair > < Looker: A Novel > < The DL Chronicles: The Complete First Season > < Right Side of the Wrong Bed > freaks

< Invisible Life: Special edition > < Just As I Am > < And This Too Shall Pass: A Novel > < Abide With Me: A Novel > < If This World Were Mine: A Novel > < A Love of My Own > E. Lynn Harris

price：~~$8.48~~
Doubleday(1999-03-16)

customer 's review
(Good)

(Sadly, Poor Writing.)

(Wow)

(Simply Confused!)

(Wow!!!!!!!!)

I had to see what all the hoopla was about after hearing his name after I read the WONDERFUL 2 books by Frederick Smith (now THOSE are worth reading!). This book was very good and I'm reading his others but not enjoying them as much. Very syrupy. Rather predictable, at least for far as something will happen to keep everyone confused.
E. Lynn Harris has one thing to his credit with this sorry attempt at a novel- that is he is probably the first to openly explore gay and 'down low' sexuality in the Black American context. But that is all this and his other books offer. His characters are undeveloped, as is the novel's plot. Making what could have been a rather interesting novel, quite boring. His writing is completely void of any kind of intrigue, vivid description, or even distinct style. One wonders how such poor writing, could have ever been published. Thankfully, I have not bought any of his books- and I will never borrow or read another!
This is Harris' first novel but this is the second novel I have read from him.My first was his latest,I Say A Little Prayer.This was a really well written book,currently I'm reading Just As I am.Sometimes I got a little confused at the message Harris was sending.Sometimes I feel like he's telling us,his audience,to be on the look-out for who's down-low because of all the diseases and that most people believe it only exists or originates from the gay community.Then sometimes I think he is comforting the actual gay people and letting them know they don't stand alone.I guess Harris pulls a multi-moral on us.Either way it was such a good read.KEEP IT UP HARRIS
Invisible life introduces us to Raymond Jr. Raymond is a bisexual male confused with his sexuality. This first novel by E.Lynn Harris takes you through the life of Raymond beginning in his college years. From there we learn the triumphs of being a bisexual Black man in America. I truly enjoyed this novel by E.Lynn. I felt the story read very smoothly and his writing style is GREAT. I read this book in 5 hours and can't wait to pick up part two.
BOY, I was taken away by this book. My sister had to read this book for a class in school. After reading it let me read her copy. I started reading the book. I only got to the first chapter before I closed the book and headed to the store to get my own copy...lol. I knew I had to have this book in my collection. I went to work and started reading it on my break. By the time I got in bed that night I was finished this book. Man the book was great. It had me lauhging, crying, mad, shocked,,, all the above. I knew from then on I would be reading alot more of this guy. I got this book in 2001... Now 6 years later, I have purchased this book about 6 times. I have let people use my book and never recieved it back...lol.. now I will just purchase it as a gift for people. :)
Available at last, E. Lynn Harris's beloved first novel in a hardcover edition.

Just a few years ago, E. Lynn Harris was selling his self-published novelInvisible Lifeout of the back of his car. Today he is a bestselling publishing sensation, with more than one million copies of his four novels sold. To celebrate Harris's incredible success, and offer his fans the opportunity to own, at last, a hardcover version ofInvisible Life, Doubleday is proud to announce a special edition of the book so many have cherished.

Invisible Lifeis the story of a young man's coming of age. Law school, girlfriends, and career choices were all part of Raymond Tyler's life, but there were other, more terrifying issues for him to confront. Being black was tough enough, but Raymond was becoming more and more conscious of sexual feelings that he knew weren't "right." He was completely committed to Sela, his longtime girlfriend, but his attraction to Kelvin, whom he had met during his last year in law school, had become more than just a friendship. No matter how much he tried to suppress them, his feelings were deeply sexual.

Fleeing to New York to escape both Sela and Kelvin, Raymond finds himself more confused than ever before. New relationships--both male and female--give him enormous pleasure but keep him from finding the inner peace and lasting love he so desperately desires. The horrible illness and death of a friend force Raymond, at last, to face the truth.

Invisible Lifehas been hailed as "one of the most thought-provoking books--since James Baldwin's Another Country" (Richmond Voice), and Harris's "stories have become the toast of bookstores, reading groups, men, women, and gay and straight people" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).

Proceeds from the sale of this special fifth anniversary edition will go to the E. Lynn Harris Foundation, a charitable organization that gives young people across the country the opportunity to study writing with established authors, and also aids emerging artists.
E. Lynn Harris's track record as a bestselling novelist began here, with the story of Raymond Tyler, who, after years of questioning his sexual identity, finds himself torn between a married male lover and Nicole, the talented actress with whom he imagines himself able to spend the rest of his life. With a rich cast of supporting characters and emotionally wrenching plot twists, this debut proved popular enough in a self-published edition to catch the attention of Doubleday, which bought the rights toInvisible Lifeand has published each of Harris's four subsequent novels, including two sequels,Just As I AmandAbide with Me.
Rerations
< Invisible Life: Special edition > < Just As I Am > < And This Too Shall Pass: A Novel > < Abide With Me: A Novel > < If This World Were Mine: A Novel > freaks

< Straight Parents, Gay Children: Keeping Families Together > < Beyond Acceptance: Parents of Lesbians&Gays Talk About Their Experiences > < My Child Is Gay: How Parents React When They Hear the News > < Always My Child: A Parent's Guide to Understanding Your Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered or Questioning Son or Daughter > < Is It a Choice? Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions About Gay&Lesbian People, Third Edition > < Now That You Know: A Parents' Guide to Understanding Their Gay and Lesbian Children, Updated Edition > < Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers > < Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer > Robert A. Bernstein

price：~~$3.29~~
Da Capo Press
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customer 's review
(Good if you want a pro gay perspective)

(Understanding and accepting your gay child)

(Great for parents who want enlightenment)

(Good for parents!)

(Many good stories)

This book was recomended to me by my pastor, but not as an acceptable point of view. It has good advice as far as how your gay child sees the world, and how to start a dialog if you have lost communication with them, but is is not written from a Christian Theological viewpoint. The theme of this book is "it's ok to be gay". I believe that we need to love gay people just like we love others with sexual perversions. I don't hate someone who is addicted to porn, but I do tell them that it is wrong in God's eyes and bad for them. I get the feeling that this author would say "support your friend, join a porno support group, and tell them it's ok to like porn even if it's not what you like." I would not agree with this.
I don't think it's ok to be gay, but I do love my child. There are much better books to help you help your gay child. Read anything by Joe Dallas.
The 30th anniversary of PFLAG is a fitting time for this updated edition. Former national vice president of PFLAG, Robert Bernstein has chronicled not only his own journey to acceptance and support of his lesbian daughter, but also the founding and continuing growth of PFLAG.
Moving stories of the founders and leaders of PFLAG blend with Bernstein's story. These tales underline the ability of loving parents to work together toward acceptance of their children's differences. Following their initial shock, guilt, and grief, all these parents have found their way to acceptance and respect for their special children. Their realization that this is still the child they love is the first great step. Most have gone on from this stage to help and support other parents through their early traumas and into the light and joy of truly sharing their children's lives. PFLAG plays a major role in all their lives. Many have become staunch advocates for equality and acceptance of their own and all other such children into the larger community.
Straight Parents, Gay Children includes stories of celebrities, politicians (even the Vice President of the US), and religious leaders of many faiths who have faced and accepted homosexuality for themselves or within their families. These highly visible community and national leaders stand in strong contrast to the homophobia and hatred so apparent in the public proclamations of other church and political leaders. A new chapter in this edition is devoted to these celebrities and other leaders.
Toward the end of the book is a "Survival Guide." It debunks the concept of guilt - that the parents "did something wrong" to make their child homosexual. This chapter presents arguments to overcome the shame and anger that usually erupt shortly after your child's announcement "Mom, Dad, I'm gay." You are led toward understanding and respect for your courageous child. And, if you are willing, you are led to publicly support not only your own child, but all who are subjected to marginalization due to their sexual or gender diversity.
Another new chapter in this edition, "Family Values," discusses gay and lesbian parenting. In "The Unreliability of Stereotypes," Bernstein discusses common stereotypes of policing, professional sports, and politics - where they are "...unmasked as, well, fairy tales."
As author Bernstein points out, "If you have a gay child, you are in the very best of company."

And that's the problem with this book, if it's not read within its parameters. Robert A. Bernstein, inspired to write his book after his teenage daughter came out as a lesbian, has some wonderful examples of parental support of gay, lesbian, bi and transgendered children, and support for parents is the reason for the book. And the history of the parental group (P-FLAG) of such children is intriguing and informative. Certainly, just as gay and lesbian children need the support of their families, so their parents need their unique support systems. Unfortunately, parents who reject not only their childrens' "alternate" lifestyles but their children in whole, aren't likely to read Bernstein's book simply because they probably don't want to understand what they disdain for whatever reason. The real-life parent-child relationships posited here are wonderful, and it would be truly magnificent if all parent-child relationships could be as they are here. Additionally, the children in this book are older, not necessarily pre- and teenagers, thus exluding the parents of these age-specific issues. Further, many of the children cited here are usually on track toward personal and professional fulfillment, quite likely partly because of their parents' support. Unfortunately, a great many others, if not more, have either been fully abandoned by their parents and family or, if they haven't, don't have what could qualify as anything nearing a healthy relationship with their parents. By its title, Bernstein's novel is directed toward parents, and certainly they need support just as much as their children. But to conclude that all gay and lesbian children have their families' unconditional love and support would be a tragic mistake. Unfortunately, all too many parents, presumably affected by the fears and prejudices of homophobia, will likely never accept their childrens' alternative choices and will never have a need for a book like this. But for those parents who do, Bernstein's work is a wonderful beginning toward understanding.
I just finishing reading this book. It was a good read but it is more or less for parents to read. Don't get me wrong, I learned some things: what parents go through, some things on society, history of p-flag, and such but it was not all that I hoped this book would be.
The author uses lots of high profile people as examples in this book so it was hard for someone like me to figure out just where I stand in life. As it will probably be for parents to place their child among these people who are exampled.

Most of the themes in this book are more adult rather than young teens to young adult.
It is a good attempt to give an overview of the "gay" world but it was not what I expected.

I would recomend this book for parents of gay children who want to learn more about the life style, history, p-flag, ect.
But not to learn about their children. The only way to do that is to ask them yourself.
Robert Bernstein's account of the development of P-Flag is emtional and inspiring. His book helps parents of gay children to learn about what gay means and how to accept their children. One flaw in this book is that all the examples he uses are men and women who have achieved high status as pretty much defined by society. Most of them are in "marriages", long-term relationships. All of this makes them look "just like" straight people. This position is only one of many taken by gay people and gay organizations. I wondered as I read this book where I fit in. None of those gay people were like me and I did not share many of their views. So where does that put gay people like myself in Bernstein's perspective? The book seems to whitewash much of the gay world. Bernstein does not seem to be in touch with the youth programs. As a volunteer in one of those programs, I can tesitfy that none of the teens in our project reflect the kind of gay people he described. That criticism aside, Bernstein's book attempts to fight bigotry and help straight parents climb the mountain, as one parent put it to dealing with their own issues and reaching out to their children in love.
Straight Parents, Gay Children is Robert Bernstein’s moving account of how he came to terms with his daughter’s homosexuality and how the experience has enriched his life. Bernstein -- winner of the 1996 Award for Best Scholarship on the Subject of Intolerance, awarded by the Gustaves Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America -- discusses the myths surrounding homosexuality, accepting the news, parents who speak out, public figures who have gay children, and more. Straight Parents, Gay Children is a survival guide for all parents who wish to help their gay children cope with the inevitable cruelty from which they cannot hide. This revised and updated edition includes an introduction by Robert MacNeil of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions and a foreword by Candace Gingrich, author of The Accidental Activist.
The courageous and levelheadedStraight Parents, Gay Children, Armistead Maupin comments, "shows the parents of gay children how to stop merely tolerating their kids and start being their heroes." Robert A. Bernstein made this essential move to "heroism" himself after his daughter Bobbi came out to him and her stepmother in the mid-1980s, when she was 19. Soon after, they attended a meeting of P-FLAG (Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays) at a nearby church, and Bernstein realized that he had joined a small but powerful group of people unable to support the continued oppression of their gay loved ones. Bernstein brings together stirring quotes (even from such unlikely sources as the late Senator Barry Goldwater) and inspiring stories, like those of Jane Spahr, the first openly gay minister to be called as a pastor of the Presbyterian church (and later denied the post) and of Dr. Roscoe Thorne, a former lumberjack and weightlifter who spoke to a packed room at a military hearing set up to discharge his son from the navy despite his brilliant career as a "Top Gun" pilot. A useful book for therapists, clergy, and educators, and an essential resource for parents of gay and bisexual children.--Regina Marler
Rerations
< Straight Parents, Gay Children: Keeping Families Together > < Beyond Acceptance: Parents of Lesbians&Gays Talk About Their Experiences > < My Child Is Gay: How Parents React When They Hear the News > < Always My Child: A Parent's Guide to Understanding Your Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered or Questioning Son or Daughter > < Is It a Choice? Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions About Gay&Lesbian People, Third Edition > freaks

< Diplomacy > < Caught Running > < Capital Games > < No Going Home > < My Fair Captain > < The Assignment > Zahra Owens

price：~~$1.50~~
Dreamspinner Press
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customer 's review
(Distinguishes itself from other m/m romances)

(Not Only A Great Story but some Off the Hook M/M Love)

(Romance)

(Solid romance, with a political flavor)

(Intriguing and well written!)

Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Disclaimer(s):
* I have read only about 25 m/m romances, so I'm not an expert yet on the genre as a whole.
* I prefer romances that are more about feelings than sex. If a book has lots of lust-filled, dispassionate sex, I'm not impressed. If the sex is a manifestation of love, bring it on.

Rating: 7/10

Pros:
- Realistic (to a degree) - the characters struggle with not only the personal but also the political consequences of their relationship.
- Sweet sex scenes full of feeling; however, see the cons list below also.
- Unusual in that it (a) covers a longer period of time than many m/m romances and thus shows not just the "happily together" but the "happily still together"--it's similar in this way to Bareback by Chris Owen and the two On Fire books by Drew Zachary--and (b) struck me as accurate in its portrayal of (possible SPOILER here) what happens when two people who are still in love with each other meet after a long time apart.
- Especially heartwarming ending (not just in the last chapter, but in the final 30 pages or so).

Cons:
- Fairly unimaginative and unoriginal sex scenes.
- One terribly one-dimensional female character whom I can only hope is not based on a real person (although there is a wonderful multi-dimensional female character also who balances the other one out).
- This is not a flaw in the story; it's just something that made me vaguely uncomfortable (Possible SPOILER here): one of the characters cheats on his wife of many years and continues not to tell her about the affair even after he realizes he's in love with a man.

Overall comments: Worth reading if you like romance. Probably not for you if you prefer graphic descriptions of sex (particularly anything even vaguely kinky) and/or intense, intriguing plots.
I've been waiting to read this one for awhile as it has been at the bottom of my stack. Jack and Lucas both of whom work for their respective governments (Jack, USA) and (Lucas, Great Britain) in Belgium, first meet at an Embassy function. Jack has been married to Maria for 15 years while Lucas is engaged to Lucy. After the first meeting of our four main characters the ladies hit it off and decide to take a weekend jaunt together leaving the men to stay at home and work. Well, needless to say, they get a whole lot more than work done while the ladies are gone. Once the women return home the guys continue to "hook up" and some very interesting situations ensue. I read this in one sitting, it was a difficult one to put down. The author, a woman, is good with her pen in more ways than one. She has given us a great storyline and also has painted us a very vivid picture of the sexual encounters. I enjoyed this one alot!
Owens, Zahra. "Diplomacy", Dreamspinner Press, 2007.

Romance

Amos Lassen

"Diplomacy" is the story of Jack Christensen, a man who has everything he wants and has ever wanted. He is a United States diplomat, the youngest one ever and he has been sent to an embassy in Europe that is politically interesting. His wife compliments him perfectly--she speaks five languages and is just almost perfect except that there is something missing that Jack does not know about.
Lucas Carlton walks into the embassy one day and introduces himself and his fiancée. A handshake between the men ignites something that causes Jack to be confused and feel a bit insecure. Lucas is the British liaison in the American embassy and this means that he and Jack will work closely together and we soon see that there is an attraction between the two men. When the womengo on a trip together, a relationship begins between the men which continues after the women return. The men are both aware of the importance of the right woman by their sides and they are faced with making choices in their personal and professional lives.
Jack and Lucas are extremely likeable characters and Zahra Owens has created them well. Jack, even though older is the more naïve of the two and this makes him that more loveable. The two men are good men who have to face difficult decisions. This is a romance that is beautifully handled and skillfully written.

I was uncertain at first about ordering this title when I realized that one of the main characters was going to cheat on his spouse. In other reviews, I've made it plain I don't care for adultery. However, I finally ordered it because I liked the idea of a politically flavored story, between more mature characters, and hoped the romance would prevail.

The romance is credibly built between the two men. The author makes is plain that Jack's marriage is mostly friendship even before Lucas enters the picture. The author painted Jack like a man living on a diet of health shakes suddenly presented with a juicy steak. He didn't realize how empty his life was until desire and love slapped him in the face. Both men are likeable, and the diplomatic service made a great backdrop for the story. The author seems to have done her research as the political atmosphere of NATO, Belgium and US relations was on mark. And the lives of ambassadors' wives is spot on as well. I've read books where high-profile figures are afraid to come out of the closet because of their careers (pro athletes, movie stars) but this was the first I've read to address political power other than the presidency.

The sex is plentiful, but has an extra dimension of tenderness since Jack has zero experience with men. The sneaking around actually lends some excitement, and humor to the relationship. Secondary characters could be given more depth, but overall the development of plot, characters and story is strong enough to make this an enjoyable read. Jack's secretary at the embassy is especially fun with her wit and motherly nature.

I had a couple problems with the book, though. I also didn't care for the negative portrait of the two women, Lucy and Maria. I agree with R Parklane that it felt contrived to get readers to have sympathy for the two cheating men. The fact that Jack's been denying his own desires through 15 years of marriage doesn't excuse what he does to his wife - her love of their lifestyle doesn't make her the villain. I think the story would've been better served by Maria having the attitude she has at the end of the book, right from the start. Though Lucy becomes unbelievably callous at the end , I saw the necessity to allow the plot with Lucas and Jack when they are finally reunited. The best part of the book is when they become a real couple and wrestle with more mundane issues than making certain someone covers for their absence.

Another problem I had with the book was the passage of time. The first 2/3 of the book takes place in relatively short time (within a year or so), and then readers jump ahead years through the last several chapters. I actually enjoy seeing characters in the future after the HEA, and an epilogue is a great chance to do so. Here though, a couple times I didn't even realize time had passed until one of the characters was said to be years older than when introduced. Despite these small issues, I enjoyed the story and think the writer has potential. I'd like to see more from her, preferably without the adultery.
Plot and storyline were excellent. All the characters were so well written and developed - everything was so believable. I was still thinking about it days after i'd read it. A must read for anyone who loves romance/erotica with a great story and plot to it.
Jack Christensen has everything he ever wanted. He's a rising star in US Diplomacy, the youngest man to have been appointed as an Ambassador of the United States. A career diplomat who's just been sent to a politically interesting Embassy in Europe, he has the perfect wife, speaks five languages and has all the right credentials, yet there's something missing and he doesn't quite know what. Then Lucas Carlton walks into an Embassy reception and introduces himself and his American fiancée. From the first handshake, the young Englishman makes an impression on Jack that leaves him confused and uncharacteristically insecure. Lucas' position as the British liaison to the American Embassy means they are forced to work together closely and they have a hard time denying the attraction between them, despite their current relationships. When their women decide to go on a weekend trip together, Jack and Lucas start a passionate relationship, which continues long after their partners return. Diplomatic circles are notoriously conservative though, and they each know that the rightwoman by their side makes a very significant contribution to their success. Will they be able to make the right choices in their professional and personal lives? Or will they need to sacrifice one for the other? Full Chapter excerpt available at www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Rerations
< Diplomacy > < Caught Running > < Capital Games > < No Going Home > < My Fair Captain > freaks

< The Truth Comes Out: The Story of My Heart's Transformation > < Call Me Crazy: A Memoir > < The Shack > < God's Grace and the Homosexual Next Door: Reaching the Heart of the Gay Men and Women in Your World > < Anonymity > < When Homosexuality Hits Home: What to Do When a Loved One Says They're Gay > Nancy Heche

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Regal
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customer 's review
(Truth comes out: the story of my heart's transformation)

(Helpful)

(The Truth Does Come Out)

(Most honest book by Christian)

(A Very Needy Author Ignores Modern Science)

Nancy Heche, the author (her daughter, Anne Heche is an actress) -- I am impressed that what Nancy Heche went through with her husband who was in secret in love with another man died of HIV.. her marriage was wreck and turn to God for help and God teaches her about love, forgiveness in her long journey in her book, she writes honest story how God use her journey to help others who in the same struggle as hers will benefit from this book.
I do not know Nancy or Anne Heche or anyone in their families. I do know many wonderful people who are homosexual and sadly I've heard a lot of fundamentalist Christians spew a lot of hate towards those in the gay lifestyle when discussing this issue. This book goes a long way towards encouraging people to act with love and respect regardless of your differences and that can be beneficial in many areas of society, not simply those with different views on homosexuality. I found it to be well written, and her voice to be soft and gentle. This could be a model for many.
Doctor Nancy Heche, is a great Christian lady. She is all about the love and respect for any creature on this earth. Her book is well written and is exactly what people need to read who struggle with anything. I read this book because i was challenged by the author herself, and i was so very happy with the results.
The people who say this is all about her and her problems. Certain issues that were not brought up in her book like the "abuse on her daughter Anne or her father's abuse on Anne", only Anne, that parent, and God know waht happened if anything. It was noy include in my opinion because maybe it didnt happen and i know if it was true it was not added because she was writting a book about her change of heart.

FYI, everyone is entitled to writing their testimony anway they want. Nanct has every right to share however much or little as she wants about her life story. She is a great lady who brought a book in my opinion about if you have hope,love, prayer, braveness, and courage God will take you in the right direction.

I love this book and encourage anyone to read.
Remember it is about how her heart changes through her life's up's and downs
This is the most honest book by a Christian I have ever read. I love it. I love the bold, obvious pain that comes across in the prose. I love the story of someone who has suffered more than I --- and lived to tell about it, and I love her anger - because who wouldn't be angry. This book is going to help a lot of families and I, for one, am grateful it was written. Out of Nancy Heche's pain, comes gain - in comfort of others.
Nancy Heche is a very needy woman, as self-described in her book. In her isolated little evangelical "Come to Jesus" world she knows nothing of organizations such as PFLAG [Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays]. PFLAG is a national organization with local chapters and has been around since the 1970s with a significant membership. I know, for instance, that PFLAG has numerous chapters in Nancy's own Greater Chicago area.

Nancy's book takes a particular evangelical view of gays and lesbians. It is clear that she knows little of the contemporary scholarship about sexual orientation. Sexual orientation was removed as a dysfunctional category by psychologists during the 1970s. You wouldn't know that from her book. Progressive evangelials such as Hope College professor and psychologist David Meyers support marriage equality for same-sex couples and he offers a much more informed and helpful book about gays and lesbians in his volume titled What God Has Joined Together.

Nancy's book cover quotes come from reparative therapy organizations such as Exodus. These sorts of James Dobson efforts are shameful and not effective. Nancy even describes on page 37 of her book how having a "bum" for a father can create a classic model to turn the son into a homosexual. Nancy is obviously stuck in some pre-1950s world.

Her views and book are all the sadder as she claims to be a therapist.

This is the beginning of a beautiful love story, Nancy wrote in her diary after meeting Don Heche, the man she was to marry. Five children and 25 years of marriage later, it seemed as if they were the perfect family. Then Don was diagnosed with AIDS—the shocking discovery of his homosexual secret. This was only the beginning of loss and heartache. Shortly after Don’s death, their 18-year-old son, Nathan, died in a car crash and Nancy fell into years of personal darkness. Eventually, as she was drawn into a long journey of growth and healing, her youngest daughter, Anne, began a very public lesbian love affair. Despite Nancy’s life circumstances, she held on to what she knew of God’s promises from Scripture and is discovering how to look at people and the world with God’s perspective through eyes full of love and blessing. Her inspiring story of faith and courage will offer hope to anyone who has ever been on the brink of despair, or wondered how to respond with love to someone in a same-sex relationship.

Rerations
< The Truth Comes Out: The Story of My Heart's Transformation > < Call Me Crazy: A Memoir > < The Shack > < God's Grace and the Homosexual Next Door: Reaching the Heart of the Gay Men and Women in Your World > < Anonymity > freaks

< The Lonely Egotist (Yaoi novel) > < The Guilty Volume 3 (Yaoi novel) (v. 3) > < The Guilty Volume 2: Original Sin (Yaoi novel) (v. 2) > < S Volume 4 (Yaoi Novel) (v. 4) > < The Guilty Volume 1: Verdict (Yaoi Novel) (v. 1) > < Ze Volume 2 (Yaoi) > Hikaru Masaki,Masara Minase

price：~~$8.95~~
Digital Manga Publishing
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customer 's review
(He sure was lonely!)

(Not my favorite)

(A bit too short)

(good book)

A 23 years old virgin raped at first encounter with 30ish old male and then have to work together! The nerve of Asakura looking at Minami the next day like nothing happened!

I must say that I read this novel twice! I got so in love with Minami and Asakura that I could not breathe while reading this. At first, I did not like the drawings but while reading the book I can see the resemblance of the characters in them. I do not give this a five stars because I found some misspelling, misused verbs, and I feel that some things were lost in the translation.
First the positives:

Pretty good translation- text is not choppy, and though there are some editing errors, there is some style in the translation. Excellent when compared to some other yaoi novels.

Art is gorgeous- I have always loved Minase's work, and this book is no exception- scenes are well chosen and beautifully drawn.

Negatives:

I figured that there would be noncon, so that wasn't what bothered me, as it is common in yaoi and I was expecting it. However, this book walks a fine line- in most yaoi, everyone seems to accept noncon to a degree where it doesn't eve seem strange- in this book, refreshingly, many people are aware that it is wrong. But despite rape being portrayed negatively, it still went for rape ->physical response = true love. This bothered me even more in a format where rape is seen badly. (I have never liked this in manga- but most of the time the situations are so unreal that the wrongness I can just ignore.) I suppose it would have been too much to expect a single novel to break the one of the most common tropes of yaoi, but it led to a weird melding of reality and fantasy that came off as uncomfortable to read, at least to me. I didn't even want to finish the novel, I just skimmed it after a certain point.
It is often said that mixing business and pleasure is not a wise thing to do, but what about situations where it cannot be helped? Kasuga is a young architect who gets employed to design the interior spaces of a new hotel, only to fall into the trap of its beautiful, yet somewhat strange owner, Asakura.

This book is not really the sort that will be enjoyed by every yaoi fan out there. If seduction and non-con situations make you nervous, you should skip this one. The writing is well done, but at times it seems things happen too quickly. I will give Masaki-sensei extra points for intensity. The accompanying illustrations by Masara Minase are as elegant as the rest of her work. The translation flows nicely and there is a bonus color page.

A final word of advice to my fellow yaoi fans: for whatever reason, major retailers (Borders and Amazon included) usually get books of this type rather late, sometimes weeks after the announced street date. As I write this review, the products page states that it would take Amazon 1-3 weeks to ship the book and there are several offers of used copies, starting at $75 and going all the way up to $999! Please do not pay that much for it - this simply isn't worth more than $9. Every time a yaoi title is late there are ridiculous offers from third-party sellers, even for items like this one, which shouldn't be out of print.

Instead of spending all that money, I suggest that you look for a small local comics shop or anime retailer, if there are any around. That's how I managed to get this title and many others right when the publisher said they would be available. You'll have your book on time and at the normal retail price and you'll be able to help the local economy and support your favorite artist/ publisher.
this book is strange and funny.It is well written. If you enjoy yaoi you will like this one. I am very happy with my purchase.
Minami has a hot start as a young interior designer. In fact, he has just been chosen as the primary designer of a new luxury hotel. When he enthusiastically goes out to meet the client, the hotel owner, Asakura, turns out to be a dazzlingly appealing man, and Minami is overwhelmed by his sexiness. On top of that, the contract, though it does turn out to be for hotels, is for love hotels! Seeing that Minami doesn't have any expertise in the area, Asakura promises to show him the ropes. But, is it really necessary to try out the beds too!?
Rerations
< The Lonely Egotist (Yaoi novel) > < The Guilty Volume 3 (Yaoi novel) (v. 3) > < The Guilty Volume 2: Original Sin (Yaoi novel) (v. 2) > < S Volume 4 (Yaoi Novel) (v. 4) > < The Guilty Volume 1: Verdict (Yaoi Novel) (v. 1) > freaks

< Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society, > < In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio (Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences) > < Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman > < The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down > < Mirror for Humanity: A Concise Introduction to Cultural Anthropology > < Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India > Lila Abu-Lughod

price：~~$2.60~~
University of California Press
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customer 's review
(The Meaning of the Craft of Ethnography)

(Tremendous Insight)

(Evocative ethnography)

(A Tool for Understanding)

(a good read)

What is most interesting about this book -- which centers on the poetry of the Bedouin tribe of Awlad Ali -- is not the poetry per se, but that it gives an insider's view of the craft of Ethnography. It shows, through the eyes of a skilled ethnographer, and almost by indirection and in reverse order, how meaning is attached to cultures by the people who live in them.

By peeling back the skin of the Awlad Ali culture - one of the nomadic tribes that once hovered around the edge of the Western Egyptian Desert -- we learn, not just "the ways" of this and similar Nomadic tribes, but more generally, the steps needed to attach meaning to the onion called culture. This analysis reveals, layer-by-layer, the structure and texture of the Awlad Ali worldview. It also reveals the various ideologies that supported its construction.

The Awlad Ali tribe is a society based on blood kinship, on honor, and on a kind of fierce tribal autonomy and independence. And however abstract these categories may seem, and however much they may seem settled at birth, they are in fact constantly being re-negotiated in the tribe's everyday efforts to survive: "lived deeds" in the Awlad Ali culture always trump ascribed status and words. The culture has especially derogatory names and references to those who talk, but fail to act.

Moreover, cultural meaning and societal rules remain close to the ground: that is, closely attached to survival needs. Ascribed status - that is patrilineal genealogy, maleness, etc. definitely have a pride of place in the culture, but these do not settle the matter of status once and for all: What one does with these is the final arbiter of ones position and status within the tribe.

As an American peeping into another culture, what I learned in a somewhat painfully indirect way is that most of rest of the world - even primitive tribes -- still speak and relate to each other in the language of humanity: poetry, songs, prayer, proverbs, folklore, tales, myths, etc. To them, these are not mere cultural trinkets, ornamentations and affectations, to be tossed about during holidays, or to be commercialized and then tossed aside, or just the colorful tools used to promote a particular kind of politics or political organization, but they are the real meat of human discourse. They serve as the actual conduits through which deep human feelings are conveyed and transmitted.

As a backdrop to our own culture, there are at least two lessons to be learned (indirectly and in relief) from this book:

(1) That it is possible to construct a cultural worldview (a complete cosmology of meaning) entirely without the need for a category called "race" or without reference to the idea of a "religion." The author, who was Christian and a partly-white female, lived in the home of the tribe she was studying for two years, which was nominally Muslim, but with all of the many intersecting categories of meaning: race and religion, were never mentioned to her or ever played a role in tribal discourse.

(2) That we Americans live in a social world that is bereft of normal meaningful human attachments and discourse. In comparison to the Awlad Ali tribe, we live in a world of greatly diminished humanity in which racism, acquisition of things, commodification and consumerization of those things, rationalizations and political spin, false piety, rationing of intangibles qualities, knee-jerk bipartisanism, sublimated hatred, and artistic shallowness, are substitutes for real meaning.

Is this all just an inevitable part of modernity? It is difficult to know, but we must be grateful to this author for showing us with great skill that there are other images of, and paths to meaningfulness.

Ten Stars
Lila Abu Lughod, an Arab American woman, lived among the Awlad Ali tribes of the North West of Egypt for two years. Veiled Sentiments is the book she wrote on the lives and poetry of Awlad Ali. Abu Lughod field work was clearly not carried out from a "superior" stance; she sympathized with her subjects and dealt with them as equal human beings rather than inferior specimen or cultures. Abu Lughod attitude, intelligence, training and tremendous analystical ability helped her in developing great insight and understanding of this fascinating culture.

Abu Lughod analysis of concepts such as "hishma" was truly incisive and shed a great deal of light on the nature of modesty between women and men and amongst men and women. The analysis seems to explain behaviors and norms witnessed elsewhere in Egypt and indeed other parts of the Middle East.

An important thesis of Abu Lughod is that the Awlad Ali people often communicated in very conservative and modest way directly through words; they only said what was proper and fitted the norms. Yet a second mode of communication far more true and expressive was found in their little songs or poems.

Abu Lughod discussed gender relation amongst Awlad Ali at length and the relationship between women and the families of their husbands and the society at large. I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it. For an excellent work on veiling and gender issues, I would recommend Leila Ahmed's Women&Gender in Islam.

I agree with the other reviewers. It was the best ethnography I can remember reading. What struck a chord with me was her description and explanation of the women's submission to the men, that the submissiveness was valuable only when it was voluntarily given. The idea of women being submissive to men is not only Islamic, but exists also in Christianity.
"Veiled Sentiments" is academic. It is the outcome of the author's living in a Bedouin community in northern Egypt (the Western Desert) for two years, a feat of no mean proportions.

Lila Abu-Lughod came to a deep understanding of such aspects of the culture as blood ties, veiling and poetry not only because of her talent and training but also because she has ties to that culture. She calls academics like herself "halfies" because they belong both "inside and outside the communities they write about." She realizes that such a situation benefits them in terms of gathering knowledge within close cultures.

The veiling of women (or rather women's veiling of themselves) is an important topic because of recent events including world politics and of the ongoing research in feminism. It is also important because it is so often misunderstood and so difficult to understand even when it is explained.

After reading Abu-Lughod's renowned (in the world of academics) book, "Veiled Sentiments," I think I have a better handle on veiling than I ever would have had otherwise. It was not easy to absorb the concepts that surround it. That it took¼ of a 315 page book to do it (a conservative estimate) is a testament to the intricacies of and the psychological motivations behind this cultural /religious practice.

Learning more about veiling alone made this study one well worth reading. But the surprise for both the reader, and-as explained by Ms. Abu-Lughod-the author herself is the discovery of this culture's use of poetry. To take it one step further, the insight into how societies in general (at least ours and that of the Bedouins) similarly use their poetry and relate to it.

Abu-Lughod finds that poetry is used somewhat differently among women in the Awlad ` Ali tribes than it is used by men. Because I am writing my own book of poetry called "Skyscapes: A Woman's View," I was especially interested in this aspect of "Sentiments;" it also was, by the author's own admission, an amazing and important cultural discovery. A group of women in China have their own secret language apart from the men; now this anthropologist brings to our attention how the poetry and veiling customs of these women reveal their emotions and are rooted in the traditions of a society in which they live quite separately from men.

Though this book is not meant for mainstream readers, I hope that many who have no ties to anthropology will make an effort to read it. I believe that women will find it especially interesting but men will also find pertinent information for today's political climate within its pages. No amount of travel could impart the depth of understanding of this culture, and-by extension-similar cultures that this book does.

(Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of "This is the Place..." )
the book is written by an american woman with mideastern roots -- she provides great insight into the traditionals of the bedouin and arab worlds. I read this before I went to Egypt and it provided great foundation for understanding the culture of the town and village. I like her writing style -- she makes anthopological analysis interesting by explaining in the context of her interactions with the bedouins.
Updated Edition With a New PrefaceLila Abu-Lughod lived with a community of Bedouins in the Western Desert of Egypt for nearly two years, studying gender relations and the oral lyric poetry through which women and young men express personal feelings. The poems are haunting, the evocation of emotional life vivid. But her analysis also reveals how deeply implicated poetry and sentiment are in the play of power and the maintenance of a system of social hierarchy. What begins as a puzzle about a single poetic genre becomes a reflection on the politics of sentiment and the relationship between ideology and human experience.
Rerations
< Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society, > < In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio (Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences) > < Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman > < The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down > < Mirror for Humanity: A Concise Introduction to Cultural Anthropology > freaks

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