Candy Everybody Wants

I may be a bit biased about this book because I know the author, Josh Kilmer-Purcell. He was the quiet shy new boy in high school who accompanied the concert choir and other musical groups on the piano. I distinctly remember how talented he was on that out of tune upright piano in the auditorium! As soon as I found out Josh had written a second book, I knew I had to read it immediately! Having read Josh's first book, I Am Not Myself These Days three times so far, I knew that even though this story was technically "fiction" it would be funny, warm and entertaining (and possibly even a bit dark). I was not disappointed. By page 8, I knew I wasn't going to be able to put it down. This particular conversation sums it all up for me perfectly, "'Ma, I'm a homosexual!' 'And precocious!' Toni shouted back, smiling at him through the sliding glass door. 'I'm a precocious homosexual!!!' 'Yes you are, Butter Bean. Yes you are.'" This is indeed a story about a precocious homosexual. It's wonderfully real and honest. It is a perhaps unconvential coming of age story of a boy who knows he was meant to be a star (little does he know, he's genetically predisposed!). Whether you are gay, straight or otherwise inclined, this story will make you laugh out loud and cry openly. It's been two weeks. I think I need to read it again. I'm just hoping this isn't the last we've heard of Jayson (nudge nudge....hint hint...). P.S., If you haven't read Josh's first book (and brutally honest autobiography), "I Am Not Myself These Days", you are hereby instructed to do so immediately!

Reading kind of like a VH1-style "I Love the 80's" special on steroids, "Candy Everyone Wants" is a madcap, extremely "over-the-top" story of a rather eventful year in the life of Jayson Blocher, a joyously flamboyantly gay boy from a small town in Wisconsin. A series of events lead to his leaving home to go to Manhattan and live with his estranged father, who runs an escort agency for men who want to spend time with Broadway chorus boys. Jason meets Devlin, a slightly older boy who starred in a popular sitcom and whom Jason had a longtime crush on, and he gets to sample a bit of fame by appearing in a popular series of television commercials. Subsequent events have both Jayson and Devlin on the lam and living on the streets of Chelsea, while his family and friends make an unexpected visit and Jayson waits to hear if he will be co-starring in a sitcom of its own. Throw in a few homophobic bible-thumpers, a kidnapping, a betrayal from someone whom he thought was a friend, and a realization that the life of an actor is not always a bed of roses, and you have a rollicking good time of a novel, written in a fast-paced, very witty manner that can cause a bit of "whiplash" whenever you try to put the book down for a while. So don't put it down ... it's a fun, light read. Five stars out of five.

Josh Kilmer-Purcell has done it again. Hysterical tail of a creative kid trying to follow his dream while growing up with a variety of dysfunctional characters around him. Hard to put down, wish there was more!

Please make sure you have plenty of time when you begin a book like this...as you will be glued to it from that point on! Enjoy.

This novel goes from gay and ridiculous to even more gay and more ridiculous. Josh Kilmer-Purcell manages to write a book that really couldn't be more different than his memoir. Jayson Blocher is like an amalgamation of every over-the-top child star ever, but gay. Every character her is a caricature to the nth degree, but all so carefully crafted that you fall for them and their madness anyway. Plus, oh, prostitution, drugs, crime, scandal, pregnancy, disabiity, crazy names and so much more. It's like the entire book is written in rainbow capital letters. As a New Yorker, getting insight into a very different SoHo than the one of designer shops and the Apple store was a delight. Kilmer-Purcell manages to weave this social landscape into his otherwise quite fantastical tale that'll have you wishing Dallasty! were a real show you could Tivo. If I had to summarize it in one word, it would be gay. No, make that Gay, in all the best senses of the word. I'd recommend to anyone who grew up worshiping at the altar of their TV screen and hoping one day it would come to life.