The Best Little Boy in the World: The 25th Anniversary Edition of the Classic Memoir - Softcover

John Reid; Andrew Tobias

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345381769 ISBN 13: 9780345381767

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 1993

Synopsis

The classic account of growing up gay in America.
"The best little boy in the world never had wet dreams or masturbated; he always topped his class, honored mom and dad, deferred to elders and excelled in sports . . . . The best little boy in the world was . . . the model IBM exec . . . The best little boy in the world was a closet case who 'never read anything about homosexuality.' . . . John Reid comes out slowly, hilariously, brilliantly. One reads this utterly honest account with the shock of recognition." The New York Times
"The quality of this book is fantastic because it comes of equal parts honesty and logic and humor. It is far from being the story of a Gay crusader, nor is it the story of a closet queen. It is the story of a normal boy growing into maturity without managing to get raped into, or taunted because of, his homosexuality. . . . He is bright enough to be aware of his hangups and the reasons for them. And he writes well enough that he doesn't resort to sensationalism . . . ." San Francisco Bay Area Reporter

About this title

Review:

When The Best Little Boy in the World was first published in 1973, Andrew Tobias could write about what it had felt like to begin to accept his homosexuality, but he couldn't bring himself to sign his own name to the book, for fear of embarrassing his parents. And so it was "John Reid" who became a hero to the thousands of gay males who found in this memoir a mirror for their own experiences.

Although the book appears rambling at times, Tobias always has a clear sense of where he wants to take readers with the story. He treats his closeted adolescence and college years, and his stumbling first attempts at "doing a thing" with other gay men, with a self-effacing humor that exposes his pain without descending into self-pity. And if his life seems fairly ordinary, apart from the sexual awakening ... well, that was the whole point. "You like and respect us when you don't realize we're gay," he writes in a new introduction, "so now please just continue to like and respect us once you do realize. It's not that big a deal."

From the Back Cover:

"A story told well . . . Uniquely frank . . . Splendid."
--The New York Times

"AN ENLIGHTENING PORTRAIT OF GROWING UP GAY IN A STRAIGHT WORLD."
--Chicago Tribune

"The best little boy in the world never had wet dreams or masturbated; he always topped his class, honored mom and dad, deferred to elders and excelled in sports. . . . The best little boy in the world was . . . the model IBM exec. . . . The best little boy in the world was a closet case who 'never read anything about homosexuality.' . . . One reads this utterly honest account with the shock of recognition."
--The New York Times

"The quality of this book is fantastic because it comes of equal parts honesty and logic and humor. It is far from being the story of a gay crusader, nor is it the story of a closet queen. It is the story of a normal boy growing into maturity without managing to get raped into, or taunted because of, his homosexuality. . . . He is bright enough to be aware of his hang-ups and the reasons for them. And he writes well enough that he doesn't resort to sensationalism."
--San Francisco Bay Area Reporter

"Sensitively told, full of humor, and free of guilt."
--Library Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0345381769
• ISBN 13: 9780345381767
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256