What do you think?
Rate this book
When You Were Me
In his long-awaited new novel, master satirist Rodi, author of "Fag Hag, Drag Queen," and "Kept Boy," crafts a compelling and witty romp that adds new meaning to the adage, Be careful what you wish for.
All work and no play have made Jack Ackerly a dull boy. It's also made him very rich. Now, at age 53, he regrets devoting his youth to capitalism over hedonism. Alas he can't turn back time;but according to a self-styled "fusion witch" named Francesca, he can trade places with a willing participant. He just has to find a hot young stud ready to make the switch. Enter Corey Szaslo, 26, a jaded party boy whose life of sex, drugs, and barhopping has left him with no education, no career, no assets, and no prospects. Jumping into the skin of a retired millionaire seems a fair way out of this predicament, even if it means doubling his age and adding five inches to his waistline.
Faster than you can say, "Be careful what you wish for," Jack and Corey are living each other's lives to the fullest. But their successfully swapped lives soon begin to come apart at the seams. And when Jack's former lover comes back, begging "Jack" for another chance, all bets are off, driving both Jack and Corey into unsuspecting competition--and resulting in a climax that takes each of them farther beyond their essential selves than they ever dreamed they'd go.
All work and no play have made Jack Ackerly a dull boy. It's also made him very rich. Now, at age 53, he regrets devoting his youth to capitalism over hedonism. Alas he can't turn back time;but according to a self-styled "fusion witch" named Francesca, he can trade places with a willing participant. He just has to find a hot young stud ready to make the switch. Enter Corey Szaslo, 26, a jaded party boy whose life of sex, drugs, and barhopping has left him with no education, no career, no assets, and no prospects. Jumping into the skin of a retired millionaire seems a fair way out of this predicament, even if it means doubling his age and adding five inches to his waistline.
Faster than you can say, "Be careful what you wish for," Jack and Corey are living each other's lives to the fullest. But their successfully swapped lives soon begin to come apart at the seams. And when Jack's former lover comes back, begging "Jack" for another chance, all bets are off, driving both Jack and Corey into unsuspecting competition--and resulting in a climax that takes each of them farther beyond their essential selves than they ever dreamed they'd go.
426 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2007
7 people are currently reading
147 people want to read
About the author
Robert Rodi
210 books123 followersRobert was born in Chicago in the conformist 1950s, grew up in the insurrectionist 1960s, came of age in the hedonist 1970s, and went to work in the elitist 1980s. This roller-coaster ride has left him with a distinct aversion to isms of any kind; it also gave him an ear for hypocrisy, cant, and platitudes that allowed him, in the 1990s, to become a much-lauded social satirist.
After seven acclaimed novels set in the gay milieu, Robert grew restless for new challenges — which he found in activities as wide-ranging as publishing nonfiction, writing comic books, launching a literary-criticism blog, and taking to the stage (as a spoken-word performer, jazz singer, and rock-and-roll front man).
In 2011, excited by the rise of digital e-books, he returned to his first love, publishing new fiction inspired by the work of Alfred Hitchcock. He also organized the republishing of his seminal gay novels under the banner Robert Rodi Essentials.
Robert still resides in Chicago, in a century-old Queen Anne house with his partner Jeffrey Smith and a constantly shifting number of dogs.
.
German version: Robert Rodi wurde 1956 in einem Vorort von Chicago geboren. Im Alter von 22 schloss er sein Philosophie-Studium ab. Schon vorher beschäftigte er sich mit Comedy. Sein erster eigener Roman, "Fag Hag" aus dem Jahr 1991 war ein großer Erfolg. Es folgten mehrere andere komische Romane, zahlreiche Kurzgeschichten und Sketche. Robert lebt mit Partner und Hund in Chicago.
After seven acclaimed novels set in the gay milieu, Robert grew restless for new challenges — which he found in activities as wide-ranging as publishing nonfiction, writing comic books, launching a literary-criticism blog, and taking to the stage (as a spoken-word performer, jazz singer, and rock-and-roll front man).
In 2011, excited by the rise of digital e-books, he returned to his first love, publishing new fiction inspired by the work of Alfred Hitchcock. He also organized the republishing of his seminal gay novels under the banner Robert Rodi Essentials.
Robert still resides in Chicago, in a century-old Queen Anne house with his partner Jeffrey Smith and a constantly shifting number of dogs.
.
German version: Robert Rodi wurde 1956 in einem Vorort von Chicago geboren. Im Alter von 22 schloss er sein Philosophie-Studium ab. Schon vorher beschäftigte er sich mit Comedy. Sein erster eigener Roman, "Fag Hag" aus dem Jahr 1991 war ein großer Erfolg. Es folgten mehrere andere komische Romane, zahlreiche Kurzgeschichten und Sketche. Robert lebt mit Partner und Hund in Chicago.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 31, 2024
love love loved this! idea was wack (i just watched freaky friday og let me live) execution was so cool
had sooo much fun reading this
been behind on my reading but i’m trying to finish what i started this month before it ends :)
had sooo much fun reading this
been behind on my reading but i’m trying to finish what i started this month before it ends :)
May 20, 2012
When You Were Me is a body-swap comedy. But here's the thing about body-swap comedies—and one of my published novels is one of them, so I can speak with a little authority here—nobody really reads them in order to find out how the bodies get swapped. It can't happen in real life, you see, and the more an author tries to make the premise into something logical, something that can neatly be explained, the less it works. So Thorne Smith's Turnabout used a magical little statue that flips its married couple within a couple of chapters. Freaky Friday employed a masterful device in which the mother initiated the swap before the book's opening pages, but she doesn't intend to divulge how. Way to go, Mom!
When You Were Me's body swap doesn't take place until the halfway point of the book. Halfway through. That's a couple of hundred pages of the characters contemplating the body swap, researching the body swap, picking out someone to do the body swap, going to the physician's office to make sure the bodies are okay before the body swap, settling legal matters and cleaning up apartments before the body swap, and then finally going through the body swap in great detail. It may be a body swap comedy for an OCD audience of estate planners and contract lawyers, but no one else is having any fun.
Another thing about this particular subgenre of comic writing is that much of the tension between the newly-swapped individuals arises from their unwillingness to be in their new bodies. Jack and Corey, the two protagonists of Rodi's novel, however, are only too willing to switch—and it's because they're so full of self-loathing for what they perceive as wasted lives. Self-hatred isn't fun to read about in any form, and it's so distilled and bitter here that it's difficult to root for either of the idiots who get themselves into this mess.
By the time the body swap antics actually begin, they're rushed and haphazard; the book's climax is confusing and the denouement even more so. I've been a Robert Rodi fan since Fag Hag, and I've always been happy that he's continued to write novels and resist the siren call of television scripting. However, if When You Were Me is the author's anguished response to being dragged clawing and screaming over the threshold of his fiftieth year, it's made me thoroughly uncomfortable.
Body-swapping, it has a lot of. Comedy, not so much.
When You Were Me's body swap doesn't take place until the halfway point of the book. Halfway through. That's a couple of hundred pages of the characters contemplating the body swap, researching the body swap, picking out someone to do the body swap, going to the physician's office to make sure the bodies are okay before the body swap, settling legal matters and cleaning up apartments before the body swap, and then finally going through the body swap in great detail. It may be a body swap comedy for an OCD audience of estate planners and contract lawyers, but no one else is having any fun.
Another thing about this particular subgenre of comic writing is that much of the tension between the newly-swapped individuals arises from their unwillingness to be in their new bodies. Jack and Corey, the two protagonists of Rodi's novel, however, are only too willing to switch—and it's because they're so full of self-loathing for what they perceive as wasted lives. Self-hatred isn't fun to read about in any form, and it's so distilled and bitter here that it's difficult to root for either of the idiots who get themselves into this mess.
By the time the body swap antics actually begin, they're rushed and haphazard; the book's climax is confusing and the denouement even more so. I've been a Robert Rodi fan since Fag Hag, and I've always been happy that he's continued to write novels and resist the siren call of television scripting. However, if When You Were Me is the author's anguished response to being dragged clawing and screaming over the threshold of his fiftieth year, it's made me thoroughly uncomfortable.
Body-swapping, it has a lot of. Comedy, not so much.
December 29, 2010
Works best when skewering gay mid life crisis. Bloated at over 400 pages. Plenty of extraneous characters that could be excised for clarity and pacing. Too much plot denouement with the witch and the pet dog.
Some wonderful Rodi snarkiness (e.g. so much inherited Victorian furniture crammed into an apartment that it looks like the barricade in Les Miz).
A romp like this should be less than 300 pages. This sizzles when Jack anguishes over his shallow wishes and fizzles when it slams to a halt with Jack's sister, the fat goth friend, therapist Alan and poor Nelly (the dog). If the characters don't exist to advance the plot or provide color then ditch 'em.
I love Rodi and have eagerly read everything he's written. This one needed more editing.
Some wonderful Rodi snarkiness (e.g. so much inherited Victorian furniture crammed into an apartment that it looks like the barricade in Les Miz).
A romp like this should be less than 300 pages. This sizzles when Jack anguishes over his shallow wishes and fizzles when it slams to a halt with Jack's sister, the fat goth friend, therapist Alan and poor Nelly (the dog). If the characters don't exist to advance the plot or provide color then ditch 'em.
I love Rodi and have eagerly read everything he's written. This one needed more editing.
December 18, 2008
Though this is a familiar formula it takes many expected and satisfactory turns. Though I was thinking the characters take a little long agonzing over steps we know they are going to (it's the premise of the book), it does lend them credibility as characters and depth to the situtaions they find themselves in. Any one in this book could have been a stereotype but the richness of detail keeps them real. I got carried away with it and i love that!
Again, why hasn't this been made into a movie or play?
Again, why hasn't this been made into a movie or play?
January 30, 2008
A queer bodyswap story (!!!), which I found rather enjoyable even when it was, well, kind of stupid. Basically: Jack, the 53-year-old millionaire, swaps with Corey, the 26-year-old aimless quasi-burnout, and more social awkwardness than wackiness ensues. Though slow-paced (it takes almost 200 pages for the switch to occur), there’s something about the narrative that pulls you along. The book’s biggest flaw is, I think, somewhat shaky characterization: I never felt I really got a handle on who Jack and Corey were; I had to adjust my view of them to fit whatever Rodi needed to happen in a particular scene. (This was especially apparent in a passage where Jack (as Corey) yells at and berates Corey’s friend Frida, pretty much for no reason; I finished that chapter suddenly hating him, and then had to be coaxed back into thinking of it as an aberration.) However, the end takes a fun turn, and on the most basic level, I was entertained. So: rated more for enjoyment than for quality, but I’m cool with that.
April 20, 2011
This is a fun novel that takes a gay twist on the "Freaky Friday" storyline. The switch is between a former workaholic who would like to relive his youth and a twenty-something who is desperate for money. I particularly got into this novel because I've often joked about how fun it would be to trade bodies with a hot young guy and live out all my fantasies. While laughing at how the character's plans don't exactly turn out like they hoped, it allows us to laugh at ourselves and our own gay community's ideas about youth, beauty and success. If you're looking for a fun light read in the gay fiction category, you won't be disappointed with "When You Were Me".
December 15, 2009
What a totally fun "gay freaky friday" story. It started off a little slow but once things got going, it was terrific. A really great ending, too. Rodi is a great storyteller and I've enjoyed all his books; this one is no exception.
June 29, 2021
The notion of body switching—trading your consciousness, your life—for someone else is a very familiar theme. From Freaky Friday to Trading Places to The Tale of the Body Thief, myriad authors, directors, et al., have played with this idea. In this novel, Mr. Rodi takes this notion and zips it into the skies.
One man craves youth, the other needs money and each thinks the switch will give them exactly what they want. We know, don’t we, gentle readers, that disaster is lurking somewhere down the road, especially with the addle-pated Francesca as the witch performing the body-switching ceremony. But poor Jack and Corey are going to have to find out for themselves.
The novel is laced with insight, gaffes, giddiness, glee, warmth, awkwardness and the trademark humor that makes me pluck a Rodi book off the shelves when I see his name on the cover. The story alternates between Jack and Corey’s new viewpoints, revealing an equal facility in writing the thoughts and feelings of an older man and a much younger one.
We appreciate the maturity that comes with age and the satisfaction of having people look to you as a guiding hand and the calm in a raging storm. We also rejoice in the unconscious strength, vim and vigor of youth, of endless possibilities in partners and the revelation of how much fun untethered sex can be. It’s a terrific novel with a pointed message about yearning for what’s on the other side of the fence and learning to appreciate what a great deal you’ve already got.
One man craves youth, the other needs money and each thinks the switch will give them exactly what they want. We know, don’t we, gentle readers, that disaster is lurking somewhere down the road, especially with the addle-pated Francesca as the witch performing the body-switching ceremony. But poor Jack and Corey are going to have to find out for themselves.
The novel is laced with insight, gaffes, giddiness, glee, warmth, awkwardness and the trademark humor that makes me pluck a Rodi book off the shelves when I see his name on the cover. The story alternates between Jack and Corey’s new viewpoints, revealing an equal facility in writing the thoughts and feelings of an older man and a much younger one.
We appreciate the maturity that comes with age and the satisfaction of having people look to you as a guiding hand and the calm in a raging storm. We also rejoice in the unconscious strength, vim and vigor of youth, of endless possibilities in partners and the revelation of how much fun untethered sex can be. It’s a terrific novel with a pointed message about yearning for what’s on the other side of the fence and learning to appreciate what a great deal you’ve already got.
June 22, 2018
For Pride month I am reading some of the gay themed books on my "To-Read Bookcase." I bought this one many years ago at a thrift store for under a buck. This book was exactly what I wanted for a summer read, and Pride Month, in fact, if it hadn't been for Pride festivities here in town, I probably would have read this book in a couple of days instead of the week it actually took me to read it.
I wish I could say that the premise is laughable, a 53 year old gay man (who is still handsome) feels that his life is over because he is so old, but sadly that is how too many homosexual men feel at that I age.
So enter the cliched "Freaky Friday" plot! He convinces a hot 26 year old who has totally screwed up his life with an excess of credit card debt, drugs and emotionless one-night stands to switch bodies with him, by offering him lots of money (oh yeah, the still Handsome but unhappy 53 year old is also rich).
I gave in to the farce and let myself enjoy the book. I think the author could have even gone a little further over the top. After the hired gypsy switches their bodies, he actually holds back as he tries to keep the story too realistic as to what might happen. I say once you write in a gypsy that can help gay guys transfer their personalities into other bodies, you might as well go nuts with the storytelling.
I wish I could say that the premise is laughable, a 53 year old gay man (who is still handsome) feels that his life is over because he is so old, but sadly that is how too many homosexual men feel at that I age.
So enter the cliched "Freaky Friday" plot! He convinces a hot 26 year old who has totally screwed up his life with an excess of credit card debt, drugs and emotionless one-night stands to switch bodies with him, by offering him lots of money (oh yeah, the still Handsome but unhappy 53 year old is also rich).
I gave in to the farce and let myself enjoy the book. I think the author could have even gone a little further over the top. After the hired gypsy switches their bodies, he actually holds back as he tries to keep the story too realistic as to what might happen. I say once you write in a gypsy that can help gay guys transfer their personalities into other bodies, you might as well go nuts with the storytelling.
February 2, 2017
Definitely light reading but fun fantasy. This is a book where a retired millionaire in his 50s changes bodies with a willing 26 year old. The 26 year old gets the millionaire's life for his troubles, and the millionaire gets to be young again.
June 5, 2011
Freaky Friday, Seventeen Again, they both deal with a favorite fantasy, that of being young and vital again but retaining what we've learned in life's school of hard knocks. This book is a gay man's take on that theme.
Jack Ackerly is a self made millionaire who's worked hard his whole life and now at 53 he feels he's missed his youth.
Corey Szalo is 26, still young and attractive but starting to panic because there are always younger prettier kids on their way up and he's pretty much frittered away his life so far. He's broke with no prospects and no skills.
When Jack meets a new age wiccan that claims she can put Jack into a younger body if the man in the younger body agrees to a swap he goes looking and finds Corey.
While this deal sounds a bit Faustian, where's the harm if both parties agree?
Well, the novel poses the question and then explores the outcomes in a mostly serious way with an apprciative eye for the inherent comedy in the situation.
This story may cover ground that's already been explored but it takes new turns and brings up new points that have gone unexamined. And it does it in an entertaining manner. Both main characters and most of their friends are interesting people that you come to care about and by the end you're hoping that the author has a way of untangling all the knots he's created.
I'll leave you to find that out for yourselves. It's certainly worth the journey.
One note... several other reviewers mentioned the length of this book and it is one of the longer novels I've read this year but I didn't really mind the length while I was reading it. And there really weren't any parts that I could suggest eliminating.
Jack Ackerly is a self made millionaire who's worked hard his whole life and now at 53 he feels he's missed his youth.
Corey Szalo is 26, still young and attractive but starting to panic because there are always younger prettier kids on their way up and he's pretty much frittered away his life so far. He's broke with no prospects and no skills.
When Jack meets a new age wiccan that claims she can put Jack into a younger body if the man in the younger body agrees to a swap he goes looking and finds Corey.
While this deal sounds a bit Faustian, where's the harm if both parties agree?
Well, the novel poses the question and then explores the outcomes in a mostly serious way with an apprciative eye for the inherent comedy in the situation.
This story may cover ground that's already been explored but it takes new turns and brings up new points that have gone unexamined. And it does it in an entertaining manner. Both main characters and most of their friends are interesting people that you come to care about and by the end you're hoping that the author has a way of untangling all the knots he's created.
I'll leave you to find that out for yourselves. It's certainly worth the journey.
One note... several other reviewers mentioned the length of this book and it is one of the longer novels I've read this year but I didn't really mind the length while I was reading it. And there really weren't any parts that I could suggest eliminating.
May 9, 2012
Loved this book.
Rodi has often been called "Beach Reading" or "Light", I call him relatable. If you've read something heavy or you have something going on in your life, you can step in to a Rodi book and have a brief vacation without leaving your home.
This book has a great premise, I couldn't wait to read it. A young gay man changes bodies with an older gay man.
There was a long set up to the body swap but I enjoyed the build up and finding out about the characters. I couldn't put this book down, I loved the witch I wanted more of her. I'm right in between the ages of the two characters, one is 26 and the other 53 and I could relate to both.
Rodi is renowed for making his character's chaste, and I felt he pushed the boat out a bit farther here, even if the book has no sex scenes, there was some light eroticism.
A fun story, a satisying if overly complex ending and I loved this story.
Rodi has often been called "Beach Reading" or "Light", I call him relatable. If you've read something heavy or you have something going on in your life, you can step in to a Rodi book and have a brief vacation without leaving your home.
This book has a great premise, I couldn't wait to read it. A young gay man changes bodies with an older gay man.
There was a long set up to the body swap but I enjoyed the build up and finding out about the characters. I couldn't put this book down, I loved the witch I wanted more of her. I'm right in between the ages of the two characters, one is 26 and the other 53 and I could relate to both.
Rodi is renowed for making his character's chaste, and I felt he pushed the boat out a bit farther here, even if the book has no sex scenes, there was some light eroticism.
A fun story, a satisying if overly complex ending and I loved this story.
June 22, 2009
I appreciated this book because I must have watched Freaky Friday a hundred times when I was a kid. I even watched the remake with Carrie Fisher. So the personality/body switch plot devise combined with gay male aging angst was enough to keep me entertained by the pool.
Dawn and I started out reading this book aloud, but decided the writing was too chunky. Clearly, the editor did not try and read those names aloud and there was too much alliteration. But I guess I should have expected this from Robert Rodi!
Dawn and I started out reading this book aloud, but decided the writing was too chunky. Clearly, the editor did not try and read those names aloud and there was too much alliteration. But I guess I should have expected this from Robert Rodi!
December 30, 2011
This is a Faustain romp of a novel. It's got nicely drawn comic characters, ingenious plot twists, as if the protagonists are seeing themselves in distorting mirrors, even a riff on literacy and the state of the novel in the digital age (delivered by a glamourous, sophisticated man who I couldn't help thinking might be based on a person who's name possibly begins with R). The character that used yiddish words in just about every sentence was a bit irritating (as if we all have obscure language dictionaries on hand) but that's a minor quibble in among all the skilled and pacy writing.
August 29, 2008
How do you make a book about swapping bodies more interesting? Make the "bodies" those of gay men!
I did so love Robert Rodi in high school and I was disappointed to find I do not have the same love of his work now. However, the setting (Chicago) was beautifully incorporated, if a little too detailed, and the story did keep me turning the pages. And the ending came weonderully out of let field.
I did so love Robert Rodi in high school and I was disappointed to find I do not have the same love of his work now. However, the setting (Chicago) was beautifully incorporated, if a little too detailed, and the story did keep me turning the pages. And the ending came weonderully out of let field.
January 22, 2014
There really needs to be a better system of rating. I really liked this book - enjoyed the characters and plot, even though it was something that could never happen. I was looking forward to finding out how Robert Rodi would bring this story to a satisfactory conclusion, and I was not a bit disappointed! Wonderful humor, but with definite substance, too.
March 10, 2008
Freaky Friday, except starring two gay men, one an older, established career man and one a handsome youth just beginning to make his own choices about life. They switch places and learn the lessons they need to eventually go back to their original lives. An odd little story, for sure.
November 27, 2007
A Freaky Friday for gay men. Somewhat entertaining, but kind of predictable. And the ending was weird.
May 4, 2010
Robert Rodi has done it again. This is my second book by Rodi and I really enjoyed the different characters. Looking forward to reading others.
February 25, 2011
Good book. Good leisure time reading.
February 26, 2008
This book sucked ass.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews