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A Boy's Own Story

A Novel

Author Edmund White
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Paperback
$17.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Books
5.1"W x 7.7"H x 0.5"D  
On sale Feb 24, 2009 | 208 Pages | 978-0-14-311484-0
| Grades 9-12 + AP/IB
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The “extraordinary novel” (The New York Times Book Review) about one boy’s coming-of-age during the 1950s—and one of the most groundbreaking portrayals of gay life in American fiction

“The best American narrative of sexual awakening since Catcher in the Rye.” —Chicago Sun-Times

Ridiculed by his classmates and beset by aloof parents and a cruel sister, the unnamed narrator of Edmund White’s first autobiographical novel finds solace in literature, works of art, and his own fantastic imagination. But as he strives to forge new friendships, his yearning to be loved by the men in his life evokes a crushing sense of shame and a struggle to accept who he is. Lyrical and poignant, A Boy’s Own Story—the first of a trilogy, followed by The Beautiful Room Is Empty and The Farewell Symphony—is an American literary treasure that became an instant classic upon publication for its pioneering portrayal of homosexuality.
Edmund White was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1940. His fiction includes the autobiographical trilogy A Boy’s Own Story, The Beautiful Room Is Empty, and The Farewell Symphony, as well as Caracole, Forgetting Elena, Nocturnes for the King of Naples, and Skinned Alive, a collection of short stories. He is also the author of a highly acclaimed biography of Jean Genet, a short study of Proust, a travel book about gay America—States of Desire—and Our Paris. He is an officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and teaches at Princeton University. He lives in New York City. View titles by Edmund White
By the Winner of the National Book Foundation’s 2019 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters

“Every so often a novel comes along that is so ambitious in its intention and so confident of its voice that it reminds us what a singular and potent thing a novel can be. One of these is A Boy’s Own Story.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“With A Boy’s Own Story, American literature is larger by one classic novel.”—The Washington Post

“The story Edmund White tells is spellbinding—by turns incisively satiric, goldenly nostalgic, calmly voluptuous, and throbbing. . . . No reader, straight or gay . . can fail to experience shock after shock of recognition in these pages.”—The Washington Post Book World

“It is any boy’s story. . . . For all I know, it may be any girl’s story as well. . . . It is one of the two or three best novels I’ve read this season.”—Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

“Enchanted, dreamy, elegant and exotic . . . The book touches universal bases with smashing success.”—Publishers Weekly

“White writes with shimmering sensuousness. . . . Balancing the banal and the savage, the funny and the lovely, he achieves a wonderfully poised fiction.”—The New York Times Book Review

“The best American narrative of sexual awakening since Catcher in the Rye.” —Chicago Sun-Times

About

The “extraordinary novel” (The New York Times Book Review) about one boy’s coming-of-age during the 1950s—and one of the most groundbreaking portrayals of gay life in American fiction

“The best American narrative of sexual awakening since Catcher in the Rye.” —Chicago Sun-Times

Ridiculed by his classmates and beset by aloof parents and a cruel sister, the unnamed narrator of Edmund White’s first autobiographical novel finds solace in literature, works of art, and his own fantastic imagination. But as he strives to forge new friendships, his yearning to be loved by the men in his life evokes a crushing sense of shame and a struggle to accept who he is. Lyrical and poignant, A Boy’s Own Story—the first of a trilogy, followed by The Beautiful Room Is Empty and The Farewell Symphony—is an American literary treasure that became an instant classic upon publication for its pioneering portrayal of homosexuality.

Author

Edmund White was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1940. His fiction includes the autobiographical trilogy A Boy’s Own Story, The Beautiful Room Is Empty, and The Farewell Symphony, as well as Caracole, Forgetting Elena, Nocturnes for the King of Naples, and Skinned Alive, a collection of short stories. He is also the author of a highly acclaimed biography of Jean Genet, a short study of Proust, a travel book about gay America—States of Desire—and Our Paris. He is an officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and teaches at Princeton University. He lives in New York City. View titles by Edmund White

Praise

By the Winner of the National Book Foundation’s 2019 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters

“Every so often a novel comes along that is so ambitious in its intention and so confident of its voice that it reminds us what a singular and potent thing a novel can be. One of these is A Boy’s Own Story.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“With A Boy’s Own Story, American literature is larger by one classic novel.”—The Washington Post

“The story Edmund White tells is spellbinding—by turns incisively satiric, goldenly nostalgic, calmly voluptuous, and throbbing. . . . No reader, straight or gay . . can fail to experience shock after shock of recognition in these pages.”—The Washington Post Book World

“It is any boy’s story. . . . For all I know, it may be any girl’s story as well. . . . It is one of the two or three best novels I’ve read this season.”—Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

“Enchanted, dreamy, elegant and exotic . . . The book touches universal bases with smashing success.”—Publishers Weekly

“White writes with shimmering sensuousness. . . . Balancing the banal and the savage, the funny and the lovely, he achieves a wonderfully poised fiction.”—The New York Times Book Review

“The best American narrative of sexual awakening since Catcher in the Rye.” —Chicago Sun-Times

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