All-American Boy: A Memoir

Scott Peck is to be congratulated on a truly excellent piece of work. With a writing style that is surprisingly light, given the heavy, unpleasant subjects he is describing, he takes us through his life and details the problems gays growing up face, particularly in military families. The British news magazine "The Economist" called this a "lovely book". I certainly don't disagree. Strongly recommended.

I read this book during a rough time in my own life and a friend who knew Scott Peck recommended it to me. This man's writing is so beautiful that I really didn't want it to end. I felt like I had come to know this boy. I think that every gay man and woman can identify with parts of this novel and that all parents of gay children should read this. Scott Peck has an incredible, heartfelt and painful story to tell and when he finishes the reader comes out feeling as triumphant at the writer.

This is one of the best books on being gay I have read. It is up there with "The Front Runner." All-American Boy forces you to re-live the pain and isolation of growing up gay, helping you to confront it again and purge it. This is a great book both for gays and for their parents who are struggling with understanding.

Having dealt similarly with the author's religious issues, I was unable to close the book until sleep overtook my senses each night. A quick and pleasant read - good book for friends and family who want to understand the painful dynamics involved. Excellent support that homosexuality is not a choice as Peck shares his own failed attempts at heterosexuality and the ensuing self-hatred. Well-chosen vocabulary and excellent writing with only a few metaphorical ramblings. The digressions, however, seem to represent the author's maddened state-of-mind during the times of most difficult self-conflict. A good introduction for those trying to accept themselves.

I found this book to be a powerfully delineated memoir of a man who has an interesting footnote in lesbian and gay history (he testified against the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" gays in the military policy while his career military officer father testified for it). The author is clearly a gifted writer. As a writer myself, I found myself very drawn to his inventive images, and well-constructed turns of phrase, which really illuminated this moving story of how a young man's spirit was almost destroyed by a series of abusive events, both from outside and from w/in by himself as he internalized messages of self-abnegation. This book offers interesting perspectives on both religion and the military and the multigenerational dynamics of a family clearly in pain. Ultimately the book is about healing and transformation as the author slowly casts off the shackles of narrow-mindedness and purges some of his demons. I would like to read more by this talented-if sometimes tormented-young author, who I hope has more to offer the literary world.