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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 818.602080353
EAN: 9780060571467
ISBN: 0060571462
Label: HarperEntertainment
Manufacturer: HarperEntertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 128
Publication Date: 2005-05-31
Publisher: HarperEntertainment
Product Release Date: 2005-05-31
Studio: HarperEntertainment

When I Knew is a collection of smart, hilarious, and often poignant stories about that revelation for all gay men and women: when they first knew. In this gorgeously illustrated, cleverly designed, and colorful book, acclaimed fashion and celeb-rity photographer Robert Trachtenberg brings humor and style to the EUREKA! moments of more than eighty contributors, including B. D. Wong, Arthur Laurents, Simon Doonan, Stephen Fry, Marc Shaiman, Michael Musto, and more. Also mixed in are tales about when parents knew and when everyone else knew, as well as laugh-out-loud coming-out stories.

Readers will fall in love with these anecdotes, from the seven-year-old who looked under the television set to sneak a peek under Tarzan's loincloth, to the inquisitive grandmother who asked her grandson, "You don't like a girl to get married? You prefer a boy?", to the courageous field trip participant who passed up the universal favorite burger-and-fry combo in favor of the fruit plate with cottage cheese.

Filled with original art by New Yorker illustrator Tom Bachtell, historical images, and personal photographs from the contributors, When I Knew is a vibrant and witty celebration of that sometimes glorious, sometimes painful, but always captivating moment when everything suddenly makes sense.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: When They First Knew
Review: Trachtenberg, Robert. "When I Knew", Harper Entertainment, 2005.

When They First Knew

Amos Lassen

Robert Trachtenberg collected over 80 anecdotes by gay men and women about when they first new that they were gay. Each of the stories also contains an illustration, cartoon or photograph and this makes the book that much more appealing. The stories are humorous, moving, smart, and clever--they run the spectrum of feeling. It is the courage and defiance in the stories that makes this book such an interesting read. Interesting enough is that the book is the basis for a film of the same time to be broadcast on Showtime on June 25 and then the DVD will go on sale immediately after at Amazon.com.
Trachtenberg has labored to bring together all different aspects of the coming-out process and he has selections from people in all walks of life. There are stories by the famous like Arthur Laurents and B.D. Wong but it is the unknowns--people like you and me--that make this book so special. There are stories about not only when the subjects knew but when their parents knew as well. The book is a vibrant and witty look at something that can be very painful but it is that moment "when they knew" that made the difference.
The stories are reflective and they remind us of a period when being gay was very, very difficult. Yet it also reminds us that it is still not so easy for someone to accept himself or to be accepted by society. People still struggle with sexual identity.
The book should be mandatory reading for all those who deal with youth. The stories are, of course, not all pretty but they all have something to tell us. "When I Knew" captivates and it also teaches but more than all else it allows us to empathize, to love and to care,

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Just like new
Review: The book is not what I expected as it is more a quips and quotes book, but it is still interesting in some of the short explanations. My daughter is a lesbian and I was hoping to find some insight into reasonings around being gay, hormonal or environmental or emotional???

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: What a wonderful book
Review: I'm quite sure I saw this book's author on the Oprah Show. I immediately browsed Amazon to find it because I wanted to give it to my son as one of his Christmas presents in 2006. My son is a 21 year old gay man and "came out of the closet" when he was about 16. Although I made it very clear to him that he is my son and I love him - and that his sexual preferences did not matter to me, I felt that he might have thought that I was somehow ashamed of or even bewildered by him. When he opened this book for on Christmas day, the look on his face and the way he hugged me and thanked me was exactly what I was hoping for. I'm very glad I bought the book...and I'm very glad that I read the book. It is insightful, informative and sometimes humorous. A very good read.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Poor Quality
Review: I loved the book however the it began falling apart soon after arrival.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A little something
Review: Not entirely what I expected, but I thought that it was a good book. Great stories about people's knowing. The short tales that the people gave were welcoming and allowed us, the reader, into their life for a split second.

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