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August 10, 2018 - Booked Solid by Terri Schlichenmeyer

My Life as a Goddess by Guy BranumMy Life as a Goddess
by Guy Branum
c.2018, Atria
$26.00/$35.00
Canada, 288 pages

The drama runs deep in your life.

It goes way back; so far back, that the Greeks and Romans wrote of monsters, lightning bolts, and smiting, and their mythology pretty much sums it up for you. Hera, Medusa, Hydra, Thor, Achilles, deep drama, in My Life as a Goddess by Guy Branum, you’re not alone.

Even before he was born, Guy Branum was a wrong-place-wrong-time kind of person. His parents married because of an unexpected pregnancy before he came along and that may’ve had something to do with it. His father’s parents were cold and distant and that seemed to extend to Branum’s relationship with his dad. Branum’s mother was a peacekeeper, going along to get along. And his sister, well, Branum barely writes about her, other than her troubles.

He was raised in a California farming community, for which he has little good to say. It was a country-bumpkin kind of existence but Branum found a deep love for words; they soothed him, although his large vocabulary made him stand out, often negatively. Most of his childhood likewise had its ups and downs: he grew up watching old sitcoms on TV, traveling with the family, and watching the adults around him. That included an uncle who was a heavy drinker, and Branum’s father, whom he says he never really knew how to please. He couldn’t wait to escape.

He was in elementary school when he figured out that he was attracted to boys but he couldn’t be gay, right?  Except he was, and when his father pushed him into playing football as a twelve-year-old, Branum knew that he had to use caution. Locker rooms and still-closeted, still-questioning boys are not always a good mix.

He was in college when he gained a Secret Service file, and acceptance for his gayness.

His mother cried when he came out. His father clumsily learned to accept it.

Today, Branum makes his living doing stand-up comedy and writing for comedy shows, but that’s just a smidge of what he soapboxes about in My Life as a Goddess.

Indeed, there’s a lot of lecturing going on here, and while author Guy Branum is surely knowledgeable, pages and pages on topics only peripherally relevant to his life story feels too much like, well, like an interminably long high school class. It’s a good guess that that’s not why readers would want this book.

Surprisingly, there’s not much of what readers would expect here, either. Instead of the humor you might anticipate in a book by a stand-up comedian, Branum tells tales of isolation and frustration with his growing-up situation. It’s told well, it gives readers inspirational insight to his life, and the humor kicks in at the back half of the book. But by then, it’s pretty safe to say that you may not be in the mood to laugh.

Overall, read this book for the memoir and not the mirth. My Life as a Goddess tells a good life story but as for humor, that may be just a myth.▼

Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was three years old and never goes anywhere without a book. Always Overbooked, she lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 15,000 books.
 

‹ August 10, 2018 - CAMP Arts by Doug Yetter up August 10, 2018 - CAMP Dates - August 10 - August 26 ›

Past Issues

Issues Index

  • November 16, 2018 - Issue Index
  • October 19, 2018 - Issue Index
  • September 21, 2018 - Issue Index
  • August 24, 2018 - Issue Index
  • August 10, 2018 - Issue Index
    • August 10, 2018 - Cover-to-cover with ISSUU
    • August 10, 2018 - The Way I See It by Murray Archibald
    • August 10, 2018 - In Brief
    • August 10, 2018 - CAMPmatters by Murray Archibald
    • August 10, 2018 - CAMP Out by Fay Jacobs
    • August 10, 2018 - CAMP News
    • August 10, 2018 - Millennial Times by James Adams Smith
    • August 10, 2018 - Straight Talk by David Garrett
    • August 10, 2018 - It's My Life by Michael Thomas Ford
    • August 10, 2018 - Ladies . . . Play Ball
    • August 10, 2018 - Volleyball's a Drag: Serve, Block, Spike!
    • August 10, 2018 - Sundance 2018 - The Dance
    • August 10, 2018 - Sundance 2018 - Disco Lottery by Sondra N. Arkin
    • August 10, 2018 - The Butterfly Project
    • August 10, 2018 - CAMP Cheers!
    • August 10, 2018 - Out & Proud by Stefani Deoul
    • August 10, 2018 - Volunteer Spotlight - Jordan Gipple
    • August 10, 2018 - Volunteer Thank You
    • August 10, 2018 - The Real Dirt by Eric W. Wahl
    • August 10, 2018 - View Point by Richard Rosendall
    • August 10, 2018 - CAMPshots Gallery 1
    • August 10, 2018 - CAMPshots Gallery 2
    • August 10, 2018 - CAMPshots Gallery 3
    • August 10, 2018 - CAMP Critters
    • August 10, 2018 - Intentionally Inclusive by Wesley Combs
    • August 10, 2018 - CAMP Stories by Rich Barnett
    • August 10, 2018 - Eating Out by Michael Gilles
    • August 10, 2018 - Out & About by Eric C. Peterson
    • August 10, 2018 - CAMP Arts by Doug Yetter
    • August 10, 2018 - Booked Solid by Terri Schlichenmeyer
    • August 10, 2018 - CAMP Dates - August 10 - August 26
  • July 27, 2018 - Issue Index
  • July 13, 2018 - Issue Index
  • June 29, 2018 - Issue Index
  • June 15, 2018 - Issue Index
  • June 1, 2018 - Issue Index
  • May 18, 2018 - Issue Index
  • May 4, 2018 - Issue Index
  • April 6, 2018 - Issue Index
  • March 9, 2018 - Issue Index
  • January 26, 2018 - Issue Index

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