Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
If You Knew Then What I Know Now

If You Knew Then What I Know Now

Van Meter, Ryan

Paperback

Biographies GeneralGeneral GLBTQIA Fiction

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 1932511946
ISBN13: 9781932511949
Publisher: Sarabande Books
Published: Apr 5 2011
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.62
Height: 0.67 Width: 5.35 Depth: 7.77
Language: English
Awards: Lambda Literary Awards
New York Magazine's The Year in Books pick
The Millions' A Year in Reading pick
Salon.com's Writers Choose Their Favorite Books

The middle American coming-of-age has found new life in Ryan Van Meter's coming-out, made as strange as it is familiar by acknowledging the role played by gender and sexuality. In fourteen linked essays, If You Knew Then What I Know Now reinvents the memoir with all-encompassing empathy--for bully and bullied alike. A father pitches baseballs at his hapless son and a grandmother watches with silent forbearance as the same slim, quiet boy sets the table dressed in a blue satin dress. Another essay explores origins of the word faggot and its etymological connection to flaming queen. This deft collection maps the unremarkable landscapes of childhood with compassion and precision, allowing awkwardness its own beauty. This is essay as an argument for the intimate--not the sensational--and an embrace of all the skinned knees in our stumble toward adulthood.

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