Drama Queen: The Gay Man's Guide to an Uncomplicated Life - Softcover

Price, Patrick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312269056 ISBN 13: 9780312269050

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2001

Synopsis

For many gay men, drama is an essential spice of life. They'll spend the rent money on shoes, spread more gossip than E!, and let every minor incident be cause for a major scene. While often mistaken for harmless fun, in reality it scares off friends, irritates family and coworkers, and sends strangers running for cover.

But finally there is hope. Drama Queen is the essential guide for recognizing, acknowledging, and turning down the volume for every drama-loving man. From drama's roll call (the Gym Addict, the Big Ho, the gossipy Public Address System) to the laws of friendship ("Return calls - in this lifetime") to quizzes to help identify your own DQ (Drama Quotient) ("Is Aveda's twenty-four-hour hair emergency hotline on speed dial?"), Drama Queen explores the unique and often misunderstood dynamics of our lives. From compulsive spending ("What would Tom Ford wear to mow grass?") to building careers ("There will always be 'school nights'") to the puzzling ritual of courtship ("Fax me sometime"), Drama Queen is fast, funny, and delivers a healthier option than accepting the worst and expecting the world.

About this title

Review

As all gay men know, there's drama and then there's drama. Being genuinely torn between two lovers, for example, versus having slept your way through your entire zip code. Minor spats with your best friends versus a web of allegiances, grudges, and hearsay approaching Versailles in the era of Marie Antoinette. Or being a few days late with the rent versus your landlord asking Gucci and Prada to shut down your credit.

For those queens who can't tell the one from the other--you know, the ones who live their lives like some high-volume hybrid of Valley of the Dolls, Absolutely Fabulous and Titanic (the sinking ship part, not the love story)--dramatologist Patrick Price (Husband Hunting Made Easy) has written a rehab guide to every aspect of a gay man's life susceptible to a high DQ (that's drama quotient). That is, friendships and family, dating and relationships, money and career, self-image and attitude, and aging (which the drama queen obsesses over so much (s)he doesn't know it's possible to do it gracefully). The book's not quite as funny as you'd like--it's full of anemic "gay twist" jokes ("there are times you'd swear your life is a rerun of Dynasty and everyone thinks they're Alexis or Sammy Jo"--yawn) that make you hunger for a little more bitchy pointedness. The advice is so general and thin it could apply to anyone, straight or gay. And its overall PG-13 content--disappointingly free of even veiled references to wild sex, rampant drug use or anything else that makes gay life truly, interestingly tragic--leaves even the tamest of Will and Grace episodes looking racy by comparison. But it's that essential wholesomeness and common sense--not to mention a plethora of irresistible Cosmopolitan-like "Test Your Own Drama Quotient" quizzes--that makes Price's book one that even mothers could safely give their drama queen sons...or, perhaps more fittingly, the other way around. --Timothy Murphy

About the Author

Patrick Price is author of the bestselling Husband Hunting Made Easy. Born and raised in northern Virginia, he graduated from the College of William and Mary and New York University's Summer Publishing Program in 1993. He now lives in New York City and works in the publishing industry.

Edition details

• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0312269056
• ISBN 13: 9780312269050
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224