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Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever | 
 enlarge | Author: Joel Derfner
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $11.00
You Save: $12.95 (54%)
New (34) Used (15) from $6.93
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 72146
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.7 x 1.1
ISBN: 0767924304
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.7662092
EAN: 9780767924306
ASIN: 0767924304
Publication Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
pJoel Derfner is gayer than you.brbrDon#8217;t feel too bad about it, though, because he has made being gayer than you his life#8217;s work. At summer day camp, when he was six, Derfner tried to sign up for needlepoint and flower arranging, but the camp counselors wouldn#8217;t let him, because, they said, those activities were for girls only. Derfner, just to be contrary, embarked that very day on a solemn and sacred quest: to become the gayest person ever. Along the way he has become a fierce knitter, an even fiercer musical theater composer, and so totally the fiercest step aerobics instructor (just ask him#8212;he#8217;ll tell you himself).brbrIn iSwish/i, Derfner takes his readers on a flamboyant adventure along the glitter-strewn road from fabulous to divine. Whether he#8217;s confronting the demons of his past at a GLBT summer camp, using the Internet to #8220;meet#8221; men#8212;many, many men#8212;or plunging headfirst (and nearly naked) into the shady world of go-go dancing, he reveals himself with every gayer-than-thou flourish to be not just a stylish explorer but also a fearless one. So fearless, in fact, that when he sneaks into a conference for people who want to cure themselves of their homosexuality, he turns the experience into one of the most fascinating, deeply moving chapters of the book. Derfner, like King Arthur, Christopher Columbus, and Indiana Jones#8212;but with a better haircut and a much deeper commitment to fad diets#8212;is a hero destined for legend.brbrWritten with wicked humor and keen insight, iSwish/i is at once a hilarious look at contemporary ideas about gay culture and a poignant exploration of identity that will speak to all readers#8212;gay, straight, and in between./p
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
A Great B-Time Read ;) November 4, 2008
Jeff Kloster (KC)
Picked it up based on the ridiculous cover and it hit the spot.... Hilarious in spots, insightful in others... a book about a part of one gay man's journey that has relevance for all of us. br / br /Kudos to Mr. Derfner ;)
Moving and funny memoir October 19, 2008
Pols
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Swish is an excellent book, well-written and moving. It is considerably darker than you might expect, given the title and the author's previous book--Derfner's life story includes a dying mother and struggles with mental illness. Nonetheless Swish is well-leavened with humor and packed with insight.
Not just funny, and not just about being gay September 18, 2008
Fiona Deans Halloran (Lexington, Kentucky)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Is Swish funny? It's hilarious. br / br /Is it about life as a gay man? Yup. br / br /But that's really not the whole story. The heart of the book - for me - was about Joel's mother. His relationship with her, the way he tries to reconcile his love with the terrible things they experienced together (and that she said) broke my heart. br / br /This is a very grown-up book. It's the kind of book where no one's really that great, much less perfect, but everyone receives a fair share of compassion from our gentle narrator.
A rare thing September 5, 2008
Seth Joseph Weine (New York, N.Y.)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is that rarest of things: an honest book. br /And that makes it a beautiful one.
 A book for everybody June 29, 2008
Kinsey Millhone (California, USA)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I read a review of "Swish" and it sounded intriguing, so I picked it up even though, as a heterosexual woman, I'm well aware that I'm not the target audience for the book. And you know what? I found myself identifying with Joel anyway. He's neurotic, an outsider -- and also manages to be completely hilarious and insightful in a way most of us can only dream about. Reading "Swish" is like spending a few hours in the company of a fascinating and funny person, and if you're straight, even if you have gay friends and/or relatives, you're likely to come away with a better understanding of what it means to be a gay man in 2008.
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