eBook - ePub
About this book
"A revelatory story about acceptance, pride, and the many ways even a seemingly prejudiced family can surprise us" by the bestselling author of
Magic Season (
The Washington Post).
Indie Next List "Great Read" Selection
American Library Association's Inaugural "Rainbow List" Selection
In this memoir, writer and journalist Wade Rouse delivers a humorous and heartwarming account of his Midwestern childhood and coming of age as a gay man.
Born in Granby, a small farm town in the southwest Missouri Ozarks, Wade was a fish out of water as long as he could remember—or at least since he participated in his family's mock Miss America pageant when he was just five years old, clad in his grandmother's red "whore" heels and his mother's black-and-white polka-dot bikini.
Life didn't get easier in Wade's conservative hometown, especially after his older brother died just a month after Wade graduated junior high school. It was then that Wade buried his brother—and his sexuality, so his parents wouldn't mourn the loss of a second son. Finally, after years of a descent into obsessive-compulsive behaviors and overeating, Wade was able to come out to himself, losing weight and gaining confidence until he had nothing left to hide.
Filled with memories of happiness and heartbreak, America's Boy is both "a quirky tribute to [Rouse's] rural Ozark family, and an easily digestible, homespun tale of a bygone era in Middle America" ( Time Out Chicago).
"A storyteller and a memoirist in the best sense of the words. . . . Reading Rouse's memoir is more like sitting with a good friend and a cold beer, trading stories and remembering those things that may have been painful or tragic at the time, but must now be respected for what they are." — Metro Weekly
Indie Next List "Great Read" Selection
American Library Association's Inaugural "Rainbow List" Selection
In this memoir, writer and journalist Wade Rouse delivers a humorous and heartwarming account of his Midwestern childhood and coming of age as a gay man.
Born in Granby, a small farm town in the southwest Missouri Ozarks, Wade was a fish out of water as long as he could remember—or at least since he participated in his family's mock Miss America pageant when he was just five years old, clad in his grandmother's red "whore" heels and his mother's black-and-white polka-dot bikini.
Life didn't get easier in Wade's conservative hometown, especially after his older brother died just a month after Wade graduated junior high school. It was then that Wade buried his brother—and his sexuality, so his parents wouldn't mourn the loss of a second son. Finally, after years of a descent into obsessive-compulsive behaviors and overeating, Wade was able to come out to himself, losing weight and gaining confidence until he had nothing left to hide.
Filled with memories of happiness and heartbreak, America's Boy is both "a quirky tribute to [Rouse's] rural Ozark family, and an easily digestible, homespun tale of a bygone era in Middle America" ( Time Out Chicago).
"A storyteller and a memoirist in the best sense of the words. . . . Reading Rouse's memoir is more like sitting with a good friend and a cold beer, trading stories and remembering those things that may have been painful or tragic at the time, but must now be respected for what they are." — Metro Weekly
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Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access America's Boy by Wade Rouse in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Literary Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- “There He Is …”
- Growin’ Up in Granby
- I’m a Baby Jewel Thief
- Winnie-the-Pooh Would Be So Ashamed
- Wad and Clod Get Clobbered
- “Give Me an ‘E,’ Give Me an ‘A,’ Give Me an ‘S, S, T’! “Give Me an ‘N,’ Give Me an ‘E,’ Give Me a ‘W, T,’ “Give Me an ‘O,’ Give Me an ‘N,’ Let’s Hear It Again! “East Newton, East Newton, East Newton, YEAH!”
- My Water Spout Sprouts
- (Not Even) Queen for a Day
- My Grampa Shipman
- My Grandma Shipman
- Wee-Pooh Gets a Pretty Belt
- Meet Me at the Five and Dime, Jimmy Wade, Jimmy Wade
- This Little Lady Needs a Haircut
- Hell Isn’t Anything Next to the Husky Section
- Take Me Out to the Ball Game
- The Sweetness of Sugar Creek
- Noodlin’
- The Rouse House
- My Grandma Rouse
- Hooch-enanny
- My Grampa Rouse
- My Great-Aunt Blanche
- Frogger
- Holy Moly
- Coffee Break
- Finding My Voice
- The Tuggle Struggle
- My Brother’s Bike
- Spit Fire
- Cabin Fever
- Saying Good-Bye on the Fourth of July
- Ticks on Our Dicks
- Dust to Dust
- The Man with a Plan
- Pot Head
- I Feel Dizzy
- My Mother’s Mourning
- Helen Reddy Has Left the Building
- Rock ’n’ Roll
- A Return to Routine
- Teeth Overboard
- Wrist Watch
- It’s All Routine
- The Deer Hunter
- I’m Proud to Be a Future Homemaker of America
- Girls, Girls, Girls!
- Sleeping with Farrah
- Greek Geek
- My Return to Sears
- Straight Talk
- Hay, Hay, Hay, It’s Fat Wade
- I’m Weightless in the Water
- Starting to Remember
- Jabba Gets Lucky
- Go-Going with the Go-Gos
- Gym Dandy
- My Cross to Bear
- The Stripper Knows My Secret
- My First Date
- I’ve Got a Headache
- Nothing Comes Between Me and My Calvin
- I’m So Vain
- How Swede It Is
- My First Kiss
- You’re How Old?
- Secrets & Lies
- To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before
- Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are
- My First Call
- Talking to My Mom
- Father Knows Best
- A Letter from Home
- Mom Runs Away from Home
- An Affair to Remember
- $10 on Sticky Buns to Show
- A Good Man
- I Will Not Forget
- My Legacy
- Getting Outed by My Mother
- Noodlin’, Part II
- Postscript
- A Note from the Author
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Copyright