Ambidextrous: The Secret Lives of Children

by Felice Picano

Book Overview

Bestselling author Felice Picano reveals his most intimate childhood secrets in this electrifying memoir written as a novel. Set in the suburbs of New York City, here is Felice, a petty criminal at... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0914017063
• ISBN13: 9780914017066
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Gay Presses of New York
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.

Customer Reviews

This story goes both ways!

Well, if graphic depictions of underage preteen intercourse, glue-sniffing and incestual voyerism are your cup of tea, then this is the book for you! "Ambidextrous" bills itself as being about the secret lives of children. Not really so much of a secret, as just forgotten by people once they get to be adults. Most of what happens in this book will seem familiar to many readers, especially those are other than straight. The book is apparently semi-autobiographical, and tells the story of a young boy's early sex and social life. It details how the main character loses his virginity at the age of eleven, and starts having sex with other boys not long after. There's a lot that happens in this book, but really it's the sex stuff that tends to be most memorable. Admitedly, as I write this, it's been about twelve years since I read the book though obviously it stayed with me. I plan to read it again soon, at which point I may or may not change this review. For now, take it for what it's worth. Overall the book is well-written and entertaining, but if you're someone likely to be put-off by the idea of kids having sex, then this is likely not the book for you. Otherwise, hey... *UPDATE!* So about two minutes ago I finished re-reading the book for the first time in a long while. It's a bit more than I remember it being. Yes, the sex scenes are what stuck in my mind, but now I've also began to see it as the story of a young writer first starting to learn what he wanted to do with his life. My life is quite similar to the main character's, despite the 30+ years that seperate us. I, too, was sexually active at a fairly young age (though not quite as early and not quite as far as he got). Like him, I also took an interest in Greek mythology (though I didn't read Homer until much later and I never have read "The Illiad" despite having a copy at home). And, like him, I've gone on to be a writer. I can understand the protaganist's annoyance and frustration at having a story rejected because I've been through that myself. This book also offers a much more detailed slice of 1950's life than I recall from my first reading, though again, it was about twelve years ago. Even though my childhood happened 30 years after his, there's still a lot that I recognize, and I'm assuming the same is true for kids who are eleven or twelve now. Ultimately I liked this book much better on my more recent reading and even more highly recommend it than before (even if I'm not sure about the grammar in that sentence).

Great Author - Slow Read

Although I am a fan of Felice Picano, and this novel is well written, Ambidextrous is a slow read. This novel is not a high recommendation, but worth the read, however everything else I've read that he's written I would rate 5 stars.

Entertaining

The book, Ambidextrous, was an entertaining read and I found myself relating to the author through some of the thoughts and feelings he had at an early age of his life and dealing with his sexuality. Unfortunately, as the book progressed, Felice started to become more and more self confident with himself, which sad to say, translated to his self absorbtion. Nevertheless, I liked the book, and was fascinated at the depths of the growth of his character, despite the self elevation.One thing to notice is there are only three chapters in this book. The three chapters each deal with a significant event in the character's life, but also cover a large variety of other topics. The author flows seemlessly in between the different topics, so you almost feel as though they belong there, when in reality, they shouldn't be covered there at all. In no way is this a bad thing that these topics are included. They add rich colorful detail to the going-ons in the book and before you know it, you are at the end of the novel, wondering what else is going to happen, which prompted me to order the next book.The only real misgiving I have about this book, which is really not the author's fault, is the packaging at the end of all the gay sex phone numbers to call. I won't get into my thoughts on that, because it does not pertain to the book, but if you wish to e-mail me and find out, please do so.Over all, I found this book to be highly entertaining.