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Title: The Boy with the Thorn in His Side : A Memoir by Keith Fleming ISBN: 0-06-095930-4 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 10 April, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (20 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent: equal parts passion and discipline
Comment: I found myself admiring the narrative structures Mr Fleming has designed for his memoir, which reads more like a good novel. He never tells us more than we want to know, yet what he does tell us always sheds light on a most unusual adolescence and family. There's a wonderful grasp of character here, including the author's own younger self. His uncle Edmund White's A Boy's Own Story has long been one of the novels I most admire, and I think what his nephew Keith Fleming has accomplished here is a new Boy's Own Story, the next generation of it. The depiction of the young Edmund White, not yet famous, is priceless, yet I think the book would stand up just as well were the Uncle Ed of the book not a famous name. The relationship between uncle and nephew is one of the most complex and fascinating connections I can remember reading. The book leaves you wanting to know what transpired next between these two.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Wonderful Ride
Comment: I still feel under the spell of Keith Fleming's wonderful memoir, The Boy with the Thorn in his Side. I read it over the weekend in 2 sittings. The opening pages grabbed me right away -- what an eccentric, fascinating family! Whether describing his first innocent sexual adventures, or his horrifying experience as the patient of a pyschiatrist/sadist, or his touching romance with an inner-city Latina, Fleming writes so well about what it feels like to be a teenager at the mercy of circumstances. And what circumstances! The book takes us through one extreme situation after another, always described with deep feeling and great sense of style. This book is so much more than a portrait of his uncle Edmund White. I recommend it to anyone interested in love, in families, in adolescence -- in life!
Rating: 2
Summary: Uncle Mame?
Comment: Keith Fleming is a pretty good storyteller. He really makes you picture the times, places and characters in his life. Especially strong is the evil Doctor at the hospital and his wonderful uncle in New York City. (Edmund White) These characters and moments really stand out.
However most of this book just rambles about and then ends with no purpose whatsoever. At the end I wondered "why did he write it" and "why did I read it?". I would not recommend this book because it just meanders and ends with no explanation. I need more of a story arc even from a biography.
The other thing that puzzled me was why he would paint such a wonderful loving tribute to his uncle and then ruin it by mentioning an offhand sexual advance by his uncle. It seemed out of place never explored his feelings behind it or why it was even mentioned. It was kind of unsavory without a reason for it.
Keith needed a good editor on this book and some guidance.
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Title: Original Youth: The Real Story of Edmund White's Boyhood by Keith Fleming, David Leavitt ISBN: 1931160201 Publisher: Green Candy Press Pub. Date: December, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Rainbow High by Alex Sanchez ISBN: 0689854773 Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Juv) Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Running with Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs ISBN: 031242227X Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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