Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever

Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever
by Joel Derfner

Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever
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Book Summary Information

Author: Joel Derfner
Edition: Hardcover
Published: 2008-05-13
ISBN: 0767924304
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Broadway

Book Reviews of Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever

Book Review: A book for everybody
Summary: 4 Stars

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.

Summary of Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever

Joel Derfner is gayer than you.

Don’t feel too bad about it, though, because he has made being gayer than you his life’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’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—he’ll tell you himself).

In Swish, Derfner takes his readers on a flamboyant adventure along the glitter-strewn road from fabulous to divine. Whether he’s confronting the demons of his past at a GLBT summer camp, using the Internet to “meet” men—many, many men—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—but with a better haircut and a much deeper commitment to fad diets—is a hero destined for legend.

Written with wicked humor and keen insight, Swish is at once a hilarious look at contemporary ideas about gay culture and a poignant exploration of identity that will speak to all readers—gay, straight, and in between.

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