Hornito: My Lie Life

by Mike Albo

Book Overview

"A gay coming-of-age story that's rip-roaringly funny and sympathetic."--People

David Sedaris and Sandra Bernhard rolled into one, Mike Albo offers his own unique, witty, and touching tale on being young, single, and gay in today's media-obsessed culture.

Juxtaposing a trip to his childhood home--where he has retreated to try to make some sense of his hectic existence in New York City--with memories...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060937106
• ISBN13: 9780060937102
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 2.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

I liked it a lot

This book kicks ass. I'm not really an avid reader or anything so maybe I'm simply not getting something about David Sedaris that everybody seems to be crazy about -- but to me comparing Mike Albo to David Sedaris is like comparing Kurt Cobain to Ricky Martin...it's almost rude...I think Mike Albo is SO much better. This author won't attempt to tickle and grope you into some quirky-cute-NPR humour the way Sedaris does. Mike Albo really just wants to tell you a good story -- and he just HAPPENS to make you burst into hysteric fits of viscious laughter along the way...I really admire this author's restraint and humility...And this book isn't just about humour, either -- HORNITO will also make you chuckle, cry, rage, sneer, sigh, sympathize and muse -- and the author has this crazy talent of effortlessly drawing out all these contradicting sentiments from situations using light, simple strokes -- it's like acrobatic prose -- this in itself is extremely entertaining and pleasing. And, sure...on top of all this HORNITO also reads as BRILLIANT social commentary -- but the coolest part about this book really is that when you finish it the first thoughts you have AREN'T likely to be metaphysics (like "what is the meaning of love/relationships?" "what does it mean to be gay in Amercia?" "what is go-go dancing...???" etc. etc.) -- instead, you are much more likely to close this book and think to yourself: "Gee, I wonder how fat + bloated Todd Flamadio (the bully/jock) is by now...???" or, "I should totally google Jason Hazer (the main character's high school crush)..." I'm not gay -- or even American -- but the characters and situations and emotions in this book still felt so identifiable and familiar and real to me -- when I finished I felt this incredible nostalgia and longing for these times and places that Mike Albo created. I really liked this book.

Outstanding depiction of a life that lots of guys lived

I spent a thoroughly delightful afternoon with this book and a series of mugs of beer, and I can fully agree with other interviewers that it is an absolute treasure. Relationship problems? You don't know from relationship problems, but Mike Albo does. Literary talent? Doesn't get much better. Making people remember what childhood and adolescence was like for a gay person in America? Oh, yeah. I can't use this book to put down Sedaris, who in my view is also hilarious, in a different way -- "Santaland Diaries", for example, must not be read while eating, because spitting up with laughter is a distinct possibility. I can put up both hands to recommend both Sedaris and Albo. I hope both of them continue to write more and more and more.

Much more than a witty diversion!

Mike Albo has talent to burn. This adroitly written diary/memoir/fantasia of the past and current struggles of a young man to establish a meaningful relationship in a world that is centered on transience is at once humorous (even hilarious) and soulful (even sad). Albo cleverly writes as though this were an autobiogrphical confession, so much so that it is difficult not to buy in to every bizarre recall and projection. How much of this is fantasy, how much reportage? To this reader there is no discerning that line. Much of main character Mike's recounting of his childhood sexual fantasies and acting out sound like terrific stand-up comedian material, but since they are so carefully woven into the fabric of his young adult escapades as the novel speeds along, they gain credence, and in making all of this story credible, Albo forces us to examine the sociology of the last quarter of the 20th Century. There is a lot of stern observation about our status as social beings. And I think this is the test of a really fine humorist: Make 'em laugh like crazy until they go home and, in solitude, think and even cry a bit. A solid Bravo for Hornito!

Buy vodka head to CVS hunker in the corner and READ ALBO

One of the best books I've read in a long time -- much better than Me Talk Pretty -- but Albo writes in an entirely different style. While Sedaris recounts humourous events, Albo recognizes the humor in what being single, gay, and in NY really is about. I'm giving this to everyone I date from now on -- with the words "If this ain't you move along!" Albo, whether he thinks so or not, has it all figured out. My only complaint is I read it in one night and there's nothing left -- where's book two?

I CAN'T PUT THIS DOWN

I haven't laughed this hard in years. I haven't had greater insight into the passion and sadness and speedy joy of being in my twenties. The main character in this book basically just gets it - his loneliness and efforts to find love are so amazingly similar to mine. And they're also hilarious. But Hornito not a "humor" book like Art Buchwald or Steve Martin: it's a genuine, truthful tour of the insanity of being single and the most unspoken parts the heart. YOU HAVE TO READ THIS! People compare Albo to David Sedaris, but Albo is SOOO much better!! This book is INCREDIBLE.