"Were it a dream, it would be a most wondrous dream; but it's more. It's a life. And I don't have to remember any of it. It remembers me."
With these words, Gene Poole-Hall takes us on a beautiful coming-of-age journey that will leave you questioning any preconceived impressions of the definition of normal, and lead you to the conclusion that when it comes to family, at the heart of the matter, it's the heart that matters.
Gene's story begins with his adoption into an extended family that includes everything from a few drag queens to a well respected rabbi. If Gene's life is anything but normal, he isn't aware of it. He enjoys all the advantages of being an only child at the heart of a family of unrelated adults bonded together by mutual love and respect.
The core of Gene's family is Mother, who is actually his biological uncle Ben. Mother is a bigger than life female impersonator whose warmth and compassion has attracted the most unusual extended family you will ever meet. Mother's partner, Tom, whom Gene calls Dad rather than Uncle Tom for obvious reasons, is a Wall Street executive. Gene's Uncle Josh, the rabbi, is Mother's life-long best friend and first unrequited love interest. Gene's aunts, Allie and Sue, whose lives are anything but a drag, are famous, if not infamous, drag queens from Mother's band of performers. And that's just the beginning of Gene's family.
A sudden move to the suburbs and the unexpected addition of three new family members, Chip and Dale, an unusual set of twins, and Robbie, an attractive farm boy, soon add colors that Gene has never imagined, to his already colorful world.
Travel through all the trials and tribulations of a young teen's life as he explores all the joys, wonders and pitfalls of coming of age and experiencing the emotional and biological dramas and traumas of infatuation and love for the first time.
This is a story you'll want to read over and over again. It is a beautiful memoir that anyone who has ever loved, desired, and reached for a yearning just beyond their grasp can relate to. Gene's story is our story, and he tells it in a manner that will awaken all the remarkable and beautiful memories that have slept in some far corner of our hearts for too long.
