GEE is the story of a headstrong, willful and most peculiar girl who navigates her way from the early years of the twentieth century, through nine decades of living. It’s a life filled with the history of those decades, a life filled with wonder, sorrow, happiness, fate, unrequited love, and all the rest of it. She’s a girl with an indomitable spirit, humor, strength, and a unique perspective of the world and life.
It is also the story of another young woman navigating her way through life in the early twenty-first century. It’s a very different world and a very different kind of journey.
GEE is the tale of these two women, a tale told with warmth and humor. It’s a portrait of lives connecting across generations in ways that are sure to surprise and enchant readers of all ages.
Bruce Kimmel wrote, directed and starred in the cult movie hit, The First Nudie Musical (available on a Special Edition Blu-ray). He also co-created (with David Wechter) the story for the hit film, The Faculty, directed by Robert Rodriguez. As an actor, Mr. Kimmel guest-starred on most of the long-running television shows of the 1970s.
Since 1993, Mr. Kimmel has been one of the leading producers of theatre music on CD, having produced over 180 albums. He was nominated for a Grammy for producing the revival cast album of Hello, Dolly! and his album with jazz pianist Fred Hersch, I Never Told You, was also nominated for a Grammy. He has produced solo albums for Petula Clark, Helen Reddy, Jason Graae, Liz Callaway, Christiane Noll, Rebecca Luker, Brent Barrett, Sally Mayes, and many others. He has a successful record label, Kritzerland.
His musical, The Brain From Planet X (written with David Wechter) has been seen in Los Angeles, New York, the UK, Canada (in both French and English), Australia and other fun places. Most recently, he is the creator/writer/director of the new short form comedy series Sami, now showing on Amazon Prime Video and garnering rave reviews and several festival wins around the country for Best Web Series.
Mr. Kimmel is the author of twenty-seven books – his acclaimed Benjamin Kritzer trilogy (Benjamin Kritzer, Kritzerland, and Kritzer Time), the mysteries Writer’s Block and Rewind, his seven Adriana Hofstetter mysteries (Murder At Hollywood High, Murder At The Grove, Murder At The Hollywood Historical Society, and Murder At The Masquers, Murder at the School Musical, Murder at the Hollywood Division, and Murder at the Magic Castle), Patrick Bronstein Presents, Thrill Ride, his collection of short fiction, How To Write A Dirty Book and Other Stories, Red Gold, his two memoirs (There's Mel, There's Woody, and There's You - My Life In The Slow Lane and the follow up, Album Produced By... More of my Rollercoaster Life). GEE, Simply: A Lifetime of Lyrics, Some Days Are Murder, and its sequel, Tis the Season to Be Murdered, Preview Harvey, the new Benjamin Kritzer novel, Kritzer World, Directed by, Vegas Can Be Murder, and Richard and Me.
I have never heard of Bruce Kimmel. I was given this book in a job lot and it was certainly not my first reading choice. I have lost my heart and soul to this, apparently simple, little tale. Like Peyton I am drawn to it in a way that cannot be explained. I could not stop reading it, which is more consuming than it sounds, due to the fact that I had to find At Last on You Tube to play whilst reading. Not to mention the myriad of other topics that had to be looked up on Google. A heartfelt thank you Bruce for writing such a beautiful work. It will stay with me for a long time.
There’s something irresistible about reading other people’s letters and journals—it appeals to the voyeur in all of us. This is what Kimmel has tapped into in GEE, and it makes the book impossible to put down. It would've been too easy to do this as an epistolary work, and that would’ve created a distance for the reader. Instead, the third-person, spare prose simply mimics that of personal writing, which is much more effective as it allows the reader to go along for the emotional ride. GEE is not a novel one is likely to forget; it makes us think about life, the choices we make in it, who we are—and what we leave behind.
Oh my gosh, I just finished reading this book and I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. My heart is melting. I was drawn to these characters from the very beginning. One of the things I most despise in a book is an ending that I hate but I couldn’t love the ending of this book any more that I do. I read this book because I so enjoyed the Bruce Kimmel’s book, Benjamin Kritzer. Serendipity lead me to chose this one as my next read. Now I’m off to Amazon to get another of his books. LOVED this.