Reviews - Been There, Read That!

Intimacy Idiot

Intimacy Idiot

By: Isaac Oliver

5 Hearts out of 5

Summary from GoodReads:

This big-hearted, laugh-until-you-can't-breathe collection of personal essays, stories, and riffs on finding love and intimacy in New York City announces the arrival of a "a monstrous new talent" (New York magazine) in the vein of David Sedaris, Augusten Burroughs, and Tina Fey.

In this uproariously funny debut collection, award-winning writer and performer Isaac Oliver serves up a comedic cornucopia of sketches, vignettes, lists, and diaries from his life as a young, fanciful, and extremely single gay man in New York City. Whether he's hooking up with a man who dresses as a dolphin, suffering on airplanes and buses next to people with Food From Home, or hovering around an impenetrable circle of attractive people at a cocktail party, Oliver captures the messy, moving, and absurd moments of urban life as we live it today.

Since moving to New York a decade ago, Oliver has pined for countless strangers on the subway, slept with half the people in his Washington Heights neighborhood, and observed the best and worst of humanity from behind the glass of a Times Square theater box office. He also rode the subway during Breastfeeding Awareness Week and lived to tell the tale. Culled from years of heartbreak, hook-ups, and more awkwardness than a virgin at prom and a whore in church (and he should know because he's been both), Intimacy Idiot chronicles Oliver's encounters with love, infatuation, resilience, and self-acceptance that echo our universal desire for intimacy of all kinds. (GoodReads)

Read on to find out why I wish I was best friends with Isaac Oliver and why Intimacy Idiot is going to become a culture icon :

I will say right off the bat that this book is not for everyone. If you are easily offended, this may not be the read for you. But if you want to find out about a gay man's heartache and experiences in NYC, then by all means go out and get this book! Now with that being said, not all of this is gay-related in the sense that that is what it's all about, but there are experiences that can happen to anyone, some I swear I had encountered, especially in the public areas, and trains and subway.

Being completely honest the chapters that had me get some weird looks because I couldn't stop laughing were not the ones about the subway escapades, but rather on the other end of the spectrum with the sexual escapades. The one that really made me laugh involved a Skype session, dusty dildo, and some aloe hand soap. I couldn't stop laughing along with this book. I was really skeptical at first, and then received this book for Christmas and decided to give it a go. I am happy that I decided to read it, and haven't put it down since. This has easily become a favourite of mine.

Oddly enough, his book is very relatable. There's just something that hits home about the slutty gay in the Big Apple and all of his downfalls. With my future heading towards the Big Apple it's interesting to see just how things look from a normal person's point of view. Just as Oliver had some of those chapters based on conversations he eavesdropped on the Subway, I can easily say that I have heard worse on the London Tube. I think that's why I fell in love with Isaac Oliver; we're not that different, and I feel like that is why he relates to so many people. Yes we might not all have conversations with our sexual partners about them being a Furry, but we can all agree on the hypocrisies of life, the inadequacies we feel, and the whole idea of "finding yourself" even if your 20s and 30s. Life takes unexpected twists, and it seems as if Isaac Oliver experienced them all.

It's not just his story telling but his popular Cuisines for One, poems, essays, and sleazy kiss-and-tells make this read one you'll want to read to your friends, but then think again. Maybe just slide the book over and casually point at the page so that you aren't telling the whole coffee shop about a dude receiving an awful "facial".

Either way, I can only say one thing, Mr. Oliver, when the hell is your next book hitting the shelves?

"See" you all soon!

~BetwixtDecisions