One of These Things First

A wry and poignant reminiscence of a 15-year-old gay Jewish boy in Brooklyn in the 1960s, and his unexpected trajectory from a life behind a rack of dresses in his grandmother bra and girdle store, to the halls of Payne Whitney, the Harvard of psychiatric clinics, populated by a captivating group of wealthy neurotics who subtly begin to change him in unexpected ways. The other patients include a famous Broadway producer who becomes his unlikely mentor, an elegant woman who claims to be the ex-mistress of newly elected president John F. Kennedy, a snooty Ivy League architect, and a seductive young Contessa. At the center of the story is a brilliant young psychiatrist who promises to cure a young boy of his homosexuality and give him the normalcy for which he so longs. With a gimlet eye and a gift for storytelling, Gaines captures his childhood shtetl like a Thornton Wilder play: a busy shopping street in the shadow of a elevated line; a chorus of harpy saleswomen; a dotty aunt; a lonely woman dying of multiple sclerosis; a loving but wildly philandering grandfather; a giant, empty movie theater at the corner, his portal to the outside world; and a pair of tormenting bullies who own the corner candy store and whose daily taunts drive him to the edge. Lyrical, passionate and illuminating, this is the crowning achievement of a skillful storyteller who has woven a tale that delights and disturbs.--From dust jacket.