Bibliofreakblog

Drama Queers! by Frank Anthony Polito

Have you ever lived in Metro Detroit?  Were you ever in Marching Band or Drama Club?  Were a teenager in the ’80’s?  Did you ever struggle with your sexual identity in high school?  Did you know anyone that did?  Did you, ever in your life, use the word “bogue”?  No?  That’s O.K.  You should still read this book.

Now, let me back up a second, and tell you my version of how I met Frank Anthony Polito and found out about this book.

There I was at Pronto in Royal Oak, Michigan, out for dinner and drinks with my college girlfriends, quietly trying to decide just how much I’d rather be at the duplex we used to share in Kalamazoo, sitting on the carpet doing Irish Car Bombs, longing for the day we’d all be out together for dinner and drinks in Royal Oak.  I was home on vacation, for ten days, and as anyone who knows what it’s like to visit home, this was my only opportunity to get together with my bitches (I’d say with my “girls” but I’m trying to paint you a picture here, and that’s what we say).  

Pronto is quite lovely, with a big patio in back.  I’m not much for Royal Oak myself, having grown up on the West Side of Detroit (which, contrary to the Journey song, is divided into the East Side and West Side…South being Windsor, Ontario).  But, because some of the bitches live way way way out on the East side, Royal Oak is a good midway point, and though it’s gotten perhaps too gentrified as opposed to it’s up-and-coming, gay-friendly, alternative status it had a decade ago (ironically, if you read Frank’s book, that status is shifting to Ferndale), it’s a fun place to hang out and see concerts, and get hit by motorcycles (what it is about Royal Oak and motorcycles I’ve never understood).  Anyways (note the “s”), what seems like a book club starts drifting in.  I sneak a peak at what they’re reading…something called “Drama Queers”.  Never heard of it.  But it sure seems popular.  The book club turns into a book party, which turns into a book mob.  I assume later on it became a book frenzy, and perhaps even a riot.  I don’t know because we were done there and left.  But not before what I could tell must be the author came in.  I announced I was going to go talk to him.  My friends weren’t surprised.  We’ve known each other a long time now.  So, over I went, introduced myself, talked up my blog, etc. etc. etc.  I e-mailed Frank the next week when I was back in Seattle and he was back in NYC.  Frank was kind enough to send me a copy of Drama Queers (as well as an extra to give away, ’cause I’m NOT giving this one up!).

A few weeks went by before I was able to settle down with Drama Queers! but man I sure flew through it.  When I was almost half way through it, I e-mailed Frank to say that I had just reached the part where Brad (our protagonist) and _____ first kiss.  Later that afternoon, I was reading and Brad acts like a total Jackass to ______ and I almost e-mailed Frank again to tell him how mad I was at him.  But I didn’t want to seem all stalkery.  And then, the Unneeded Tragedy occurred and I cried, right there in the Seattle Public Library (where I was talking advantage of free air conditioning on the hottest day on record).  And then I finished the book.

So, yes, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and all that jazz.  You might get the soundtrack to Grease stuck in your head, too.

I probably haven’t actually said much about the book, huh?  O.K., synopsis: Brad is a gay teenager in the late ’80’s in a, let’s face it, white trash suburb of Detroit.  He plays in the Marching Band, he acts in the school plays.  He goes by himself below 8 Mile to the gay bars in Detroit.  While his mom and best (girl)friend suspect he’s gay, the only one who knows for sure is his BFF, Jack, who is also gay, but won’t admit it.  Thus they’re not so BFF anymore.  

Drama Queers reads sort of like a diary–though not too mushy or anything.  It’s the kind of diary I used to keep myself.  The kind where I’d be writing everything that happened lately and then be like, oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you about so-and-so, or about this thing, and also explain how I knew this person through this person and how we met that one time.  

Some novelists, I think, try to cut down on the all of the extra characters when adapting from their own lives.  Frank never does that.  It’s to the readers benefit, I think, because even though for the first few chapters, you’re going who is that person, again?, it has a very real feeling.  In fact, via Brad’s narration, Frank has managed to totally nail how it is to be a teenager.  Gay or straight, male or female, that feeling is there.  I was brought back so many times to that, “OMG, is he going to kiss me?” moment.  Makes you realize that love and awkwardness transcends all.

Though I was especially endeared to this book because Frank nailed one other thing: The Southeast Michigan accent.  Where the story takes place, is, like I said, kind of trashy–they don’t call it Hazeltucky for nothing!–and the characters all say things like, “I seen him at lunch” and whatnot, which I don’t say, the rest could have been written listening to me talk.  For one thing, everything has an “s” on the end: Ford’s, Chrysler’s, Meijer’s, forwards, towards, anyways, etc.  Truly, it’s a better capturing of that accent than I’ve ever read.  

If you like this book/author, you might like:

Band Fags! (F) by Frank Anthony Polito
Girl (F) by Blake Nelson
Fade to Blue (F) by Sean Beaudoin
Sprout (F) by Dale Peck
Attack of the Theater People (F) by Marc Acito
Tale of Two Summers (F) by Brian Sloan
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs (CNF) by Chuck Klosterman
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (F) by Stephen Chbosky 
Mentel (CNF) by Eddie Sarfaty
A Secret Edge (F) by Robin Rearden
Everything Sucks (F) by Hannah Friedman 

Other works by Frank Anthony Polito:

Band Fags! (F)

Visit Frank at his website dramaqueers.net

Drama Queers! at Amazon