PositiveLambda LiteraryOdets speaks to that ongoing need, putting a lot of welcome emphasis on the ongoing—ongoing as in present-day, ongoing as in urgent ... In this book, Odets can still work up as much passion about the ongoing HIV epidemic as he can about the ongoing fight for self-acceptance and authenticity, giving as much space to the trauma of HIV-related trauma as he does to childhood trauma ... That Odets goes to such depths about HIV is one heartbeat in a book full of heart ... Sometimes that sentiment can expose what seem to be conflicts and contradictions; for example, while Odets is concerned that marriage politics is marginalizing \'nonconformers,\' his language often employs the word \'family.\' This is especially true in the last section of the book, which turns strictly to memoir ... Perhaps a little more attention to queer theory might have helped Odets think outside the box of \'family,\' which is part and parcel of the language of marriage. Nevertheless, Odets doles out advice which is for the larger part impressively sound and based on a wealth of research and experience.
Kevin Killian
PositiveLambda Literary\"... an engaging and challenging collection of memoirs ... Fascination is racy and often hilarious. Killian’s book is full of graphic queer sex, and it moves back and forth in time and place. It resists easy closure ... Killian recalls how he felt \'obliged\' during his career to make all his gay characters positive ones. He avoids this obligation. Killian’s multifaceted gay characters enhance the strength of his text.\
Edouard Louis, Trans. Lorin Stein
RaveLambda Literary\"...despite subject matter that could easily have ended up being sensationalist, self-involved, or mawkish, History of Violence doesn’t disappoint ... If there’s anything wrong with History of Violence, it’s only that it ends too soon. But that may be only the pressure of wanting to follow up a successful first novel with a second one before too much time goes by.\
