Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys

March 26, 2007
These pages resound with two main sentiments: "If you're lucky, really lucky, you have one friend in this life who feels like a gift" and "Getting a gay boyfriend enriches life immeasurably." This collection of original essays celebrates the fierce bond and special intimacy between straight women and their gay male best friends, as well as the sometimes disheartening realization that the boy you like, likes boys. Many essays soar with strong insights into love, humanity and the nature of friendship. James Lecesne writes a letter to a friend that whimsically deconstructs their 15-year friendship while revealing just how lifesaving it was. Cindy Chupack, on the verge of getting married again, embarks on a bittersweet reunion with her gay ex-husband. And Karen Robinovitz rhapsodizes on the joys of shopping with gay men and why when getting married one should, instead of bridesmaids, opt for "bridesgays." Contributors also include some familiar writers from the worlds of journalism, film, TV, theater and fiction, like Anna David, David Ebershoff, Michael Musto and Andrew Solomon. Though bookstores aren't lacking for lesbian and gay anthologies, this one justifies itself by tapping a less-explored subject with fresh voices and fervent first-person accounts.

May 15, 2007
In this collection of 28 personal essays edited by de la Cruz ("Au Pairs" series) and Dolby (The Trouble Boy )a straight woman and a gay man who are friendsthe first offerings, "Shop Girls" and "Fag Hags: The Laughter, the Tears, the Marabou," set the tone. Here, readers will not find an examination of nuance in complex relationships that are assumed to be nonsexual but can potentially generate jealousy when one finds a boyfriend; instead, the book conveys and celebrates different manifestations of straight woman/gay man bonds. Only a few dig deeper and satisfy: in "Family Albums," for instance, play director Philip Himberg writes of his high school sweetheart's later volunteering to bear a child for him and his partner and of taking a baby from the arms of someone he loved. Other contributors include Simon Doonan (Confessions of a Window Dresser ), Sex and the City producer Cindy Chupack, and Gigi Levangie Grazer (The Starter Wife ). Readers who would appreciate this book have their own sweet stories of shopping and parties, of meeting a wonderful friend and cultivating a lifelong relationship, but the few substantial entries cannot carry the collection. An optional purchase.Anna Katterjohn, Library Journal

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