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

Today’s book review is a biography. Yes, again! Another one! I hear your groans. Stick with me here. I know I do a lot of biographies. Most, obviously, are of well known celebrity/political/sports types. This guy, I promise you, most of you will not know. So why should you care? Well, I also promise you that if you have an ounce of humor in you, you’re going to love this book!

Our author today is Joel Derfner. Joel is both a composer and a writer. His unbelievably funny book is titled, Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever and What Ended Up Happening Instead. Now, I’m going to recommend this book and I’ll tell you why I do in just a minute, but you must know up front that there’s a lot more to “experiencing Joel” than just his book. I’d advise that you also pay a visit to his website and blog, and check out his “About Me” page and his “Secret Blog” page, the latter of which is a behind the scenes look at getting “Swish” published.

It’s rare that you come upon a book that blends humor and insight as well as this book does. Comedians can often do this on stage but their schitck does not always translate well in print. The laugh out loud comedy of a situation still translates, of course, but the expressions and the mannerisms, the pointed looks and so forth from the comedian don’t translate so the reading audience loses the insightful bits of the routine that will hit home for many. That’s not a problem with this book. Joel Derfner is full of insight and it’s that which he presents, often with great comedic effect. That’s why I like this book.

Here’s the Amazon/Publishers book description:

A hilarious and deeply moving account of one man’s journey from stereotype to truth.

Joel Derfner is a knitter, an aerobics instructor, a cheerleader, a go-go dancer, and a musical theater composer, but when he realizes one day that he’s a walking gay cliché he embarks on a quest for deeper meaning. A very, very funny quest for deeper meaning. And whether he’s confronting the demons of his past at a GLBT summer camp, using the Internet to “meet” men–many, many men–or going undercover to a conference of ex-gays, he discovers that what he’s looking for–and sometimes even finds, hidden underneath the surface of everyday life–is his own identity. In the tradition of David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs, yet with its own particular flair, Swish is a story told with not just wit but humor; not just candor but honesty; and not just compassion but humanity.

That pretty well nails this book. The Publisher’s Weekly reviewer who first covered it in 2009 wasn’t entirely favorable but, I would contend, what does he/she know? There wasn’t even a name on it. Come out of hiding and stand by your review, if that’s the way you feel about it! Anywho, Joel’s book has 19 other reviews on Amazon (as of this writing) and most give him 5 stars. No one gave him less than 3 and he only got a few of those. I always make it a point to read the most negative of the reviews (only after I’ve read the book though) just to get a sense of what the gripes are. In most cases, they don’t have anything to do with the book itself. That’s not the case here. In one of the three cases, the reviewer felt Joel’s book was too similiar another book he had previously read. The other two reviews seem to be from two queens whose gripes show more of any envy that they hadn’t thought to write this book first. Read the “3 star” reviews and you be the judge!

Regardless of what those three reviewers think, I highly recommend this entertaining, insightful book.