Farm Boy: A Memoir with Recipes

by Mark Abramson

In this engaging prequel to Minnesota Boy , Mark Abramson's "coming out" memoir of his college years, he reaches further back in Farm Boy to write about growing up gay in rural America. Stories of farm life through blazing hot summers and icy winters are interspersed with old recipes and commentary on Minnesota foods. He explores his love of music and cooking as well as his earliest awakenings of his interest in other farm boys and yes, he really did raise a pet fox.

ebook

Published October 24, 2018

About the author

Mark Abramson was a bartender and producer of events such as "Pier Pressure" and "Men Behind Bars" before writing the "Beach Reading" series set in San Francisco's Castro District. He is also working on a memoir called "Castro Street Diaries." "

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this charming collection of childhood stories, Abramson shares sweet and nostalgic details about his life in Minnesota as the youngest son in a big German/Swedish family. 4H, county fairs, snowbound winters, and a few dramatic events are told in his good-natured style. As a prequel to his similar book, Minnesota Boy, he goes further back to his family's roots and his own innocent inklings of being gay. While a few modern-day references seemed unneeded, it reminds us about the proud adult man who recalls a distant and sweet time. Imagine that little boy getting a tiny peek at the amazing life he would go on to lead (as told in his very different memoirs, the Sex, drugs & Disco pair of memoirs). The added recipes are hearty midwestern fare, full of potatoes and 'comfort food.'

[Mark Hainds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much of this book rang true with my background; growing up on a farm in north Missouri. When Mark described his Dad putting down the decrepit family pet, I thought back to my Father and our beloved Wrongay. I cried like I'd just finished reading "Where the Red Fern Grows", or watching the end of "Ol Yeller". The big exceptions between Mark's and my background: my early sexual experience as a teenager was limited to wet dreams! A strict Catholic background, combined with my nerd physique, dress, and behavior kept me celibate through high school. And of course, Mark was interested in the boys, while I was entranced by the girls, even if they paid me no attention what so ever.
In summary, if you want a good story, and are not too much of a prude, this is a good read.

[Thomas Lowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won't even pretend to be objective about this book. I loved it! It may help that I grew up in the same small town as Abramson, so I know the locales and several of the people he mentions. But I think that even if it were a different town in a different Midwestern state, I would have still been drawn into and engaged by his story because Abramson remembers and recounts the details that feel universal in many ways while still being specific to his life and experience. I mean, didn't we all have a Nurse Krumm who we lived in fear of as kids?

The recipes were fun too, reminding me of things I ate as a kid--lefse anyone? My mom had a lefse griddle, and I helped her and my grandmother make it for Thanksgiving and Christmas.