When You Were Me - Hardcover

Rodi, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0758215339 ISBN 13: 9780758215338

Publisher: Kensington Pub Corp, 2007

Synopsis

With the help of a "fusion witch" named Francesca, millionaire Jack Ackerly switches bodies with a hot young party boy named Corey Szaslo in an attempt to recapture his youth, and as they each live their new lives to the fullest, reality sets in when Jack's former lover returns.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Rodi was born in Chicago in the conformist 1950s, grew up in the insurrectionist 1960s, came of age in the hedonist 1970s, and went to work in the elitist 1980s. This roller-coaster ride has left him with a distinct aversion to isms of any kind; it also left him with an ear for hypocrisy, cant, and platitudes that allowed him, in the 1990s, to become a much-lauded social satirist.

His first novel, Fag Hag, was published in 1991 and was swiftly translated into Italian, French, German, and Japanese. It was followed by Closet Case (1992), What They Did to Princess Paragon (1994), Drag Queen (1995), Kept Boy (1997), Bitch Goddess (2002), and When You Were Me (2007). His first nonfiction book, Dogged Pursuit: My Year of Competing Dusty, the World's Least Likely Agility Dog was released by Hudson Street Press in 2009.

Robert's shorter fiction can be found in a number of anthologies, including Men On Men 5, His, and Sandman: Book of Dreams. His novella Glad, Gladder, Gladys was serialized online at USAToday.com. His literary criticism has appeared in the pages of The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, NewCity, and The Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review.

Robert is the creator of several comic-book series, including 4 Horsemen, Codename: Knockout, and The Crossovers. He was a founding member of the Chicago-based performance art troupe, The Pansy Kings, who were active throughout the 1990s, and he wrote sketches for the Live Bait Theater's revues Junk Food and Dear Jackie: The Queen of Camelot Remembered.

Robert still lives in Chicago, in a century-old Queen Anne house with his partner Jeffrey Smith and a constantly shifting number of dogs.

Reviews

In Rodi's tepid latest, Jack Ackerly, 53, has made a pile in public relations and earned himself a comfortable place among Chicago's gay A-crowd, but the recent decamping of his boyfriend, Wicker Park art dealer Harold "Harry" McGann, has left him aware of a hole in his life. At the other end of the social sphere, 26-year-old space cadet Corey Szaslow lives on the kindness of friends, getting by—just barely—on his looks. A crystal meth habit he's lately kicked has cost him most of his friends, and he's now wondering what it would be like to get a job, maybe some health insurance. They meet cute (Jack hits Corey's bicycle with his Porsche), the two quickly engage in an unholy plot to switch bodies via New Age witch Francesca LaBrash: Corey will be middle-aged and liver-spotted with a 36-inch waist and an uninspiring hard-on, but he'll be rich. Jack will be young once more and able to enjoy the promiscuous sex he denied himself while climbing the ladder of Mammon. Queer pulp favorite Rodi (Fag Hag, etc.) makes a rare misstep; Victorian satirist F. Anstey, who originated the body-switching genre with Vice Versa: A Lesson to Fathers in 1882, has a lot to answer for. (June)
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Who older than 40 hasn't gazed in the mirror, deplored the skin starting to sag and the incipient laugh lines and crow's feet, and yearned for youth? Not wealthy, successful Jack Ackerly, who didn't come out until nearly 30, thereby missing the heavy hedonism of a twentysomething, and whose lover of 21 years has just left him. Oh, to be young again! Not to worry, Jack. Just spend a lot of money researching supernatural solutions, click your heels, say "abracadabra Francesca LaBranch, fusion witch," and find a reasonably attractive man so down on his luck he is willing to trade bodies. In this enjoyable read, anyway, that works, though readers' best kicks come from watching best-laid plans go not quite as expected. Although his first successful bar foray leads to two nights and a day of hot sex, Jack (and we) come to see that "exhilaration is tiring; ecstacy short-lived." Rodi's quick-paced satire of the joys and sorrows of body swapping is one kind of perfect vacation and beach reading. Scott, Whitney
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Kensington Pub Corp
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0758215339
• ISBN 13: 9780758215338
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 426