It’s amazing the lack of interest Crisp claims to have had in books and reading, because he had literary style in piles and piles. I love a good “writer’s voice” and this author most definitely has one of the most recognizable I’ve ever come across. About halfway thru the book I took to YouTube to find a video of an interview with Crisp, and his voice and style were exactly as I imagined. This was clearly a naturally gifted writer.

So much of his life was about one century ahead of its time. Some people might claim this is why the book, told in such a wry and funny way for most of its length, ends on a rather bleak note. But I think the modern reader can be too influenced by our contemporary obsession with identity when considering Crisp - I sure had to avoid that pitfall. Instead of making this a book about being gay in the dark ages, It seems that the writer would rather it be a record of someone who was unabashedly unique, to the point of self endangerment. We follow the author’s life as it swings from absolute persecution to muddled acceptance (soured by what Crisp seems to feel is a kind of appropriation of the “hooligan” aesthetic by the so called counterculture) with only a brief period of “good times,” (which happened to be during the London Blitz) to bridge the two. It would have been easy for Crisp to “tone it down” in order to make his existence more tenable for others - yet he simply refused. Rather that making this book a pure paean to individuality, we instead get a realistic picture of the sacrifices you make when you can’t fit into the constraints of your time.

In the words of Thelonius Monk: “The genius is he who is most like himself.” By that criteria, Crisp would do more than qualify. ( )

Crisp is a more or less self-avowed narcissist, and not as witty as he thinks he is, but it's impossible not to admire his cojones and his embodiment of "be yourself, no matter who you are". He's also in the true lineage of English eccentrics, not so much because of who he was (had he been born 80 years later he'd never have risen from obscurity) but because of who he was when he was. Spending time in his autobiographical company isn't exactly pleasant, but I'm still glad I did. ( )

I did struggle with the style. Whimsical, sometimes pedantic, it nonetheless highlighted what is most beautiful about this book: its vulnerability, authenticity and stark reality it portrays, Crisp reminds us the horrible prejudice, harm and disdain the LGBTQ community endured - and endures stil today in numerous parts of the world. ( )

This is a practical guide on how to write a living eulogy of your Self, as though it is a martyr pretending to something else.

Crisp's wit and intelligence is his saving grace in this, his autobiography written in the middle of his life, but his despondent attitude constantly leaned me to think him a whiner. His seemingly inadvertent bravery in coming out as homosexual in the 1920s is more than remarkable, and he even stood up for in a court case where policemen accused him for attempting to prostitute himself; the case was dismissed.

Crisp's writing is at times essential and a great example of intelligence and humor intertwined, e.g.:

For about twenty years I lived in a state of intoxication with my own existence and, perhaps for that very reason, excess of alcohol was one of the extremes to which I felt no urge to fly. I asked many people why they drank so much but never received an explanation that I fully understood. It was the tales of their escapades while under the influence of drink that brought me nearest to comprehending their need for it. It seemed to give them a few hours of freedom from rates which, during the rest of their lives, they reluctantly obeyed. If this was true, then in the example of my life lay a cure for drunkenness, though it was hardly an answer which Harley Street would have approved. The prophylactic is, never to conform at all.

In short, a mostly interesting, saddening and self-made tragedy made by a man who transformed himself into a work of art and shed himself of music and love. Do see the documentary "Resident Alien" on Crisp, made as Crisp was turning 80 years of age. He moved to New York at the age of 74 and the documentary does give a few very different views on his life, at least as it was lived during the latter part, which shows this autobiography as a work of art onto itself, but knowing Crisp - and most people - how could it be anything else? ( )

Gives us some insight into how truly revolutionary we can become by *just* being funny. There's camp, but Crisp IS camp personified! ( )