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Breakfast with Tiffany: An Uncle's Memoir
Edwin Wintle was a successful, urbane professional whose life, at forty, was very comfortable. He had reached the point when he looked around at his well-ordered, unfettered existence and wondered, "Is this all there is?" After a desperate call from his sister at her wit's end, his street-wise thirteen-year-old niece Tiffany--a writhing ball of adolescent anger -- comes to live with him. If he felt he needed a shot in the arm, what he got proved more like electroshock therapy. Breakfast with Tiffany chronicles the newly minted family through a year of tumult and drama, as instant parent Uncle Eddy watches his best-laid plans go awry. With an edgy wit and compassion reminiscent of Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris, Edwin Wintle recounts not only the coming of age of his beloved, if troubled niece, but his own as well. Just when it seems there is certain disaster, the two manage to pull through it with their unconventional little family in better shape than ever.
352 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
September 11, 2009
I wrote the damned thing. I'd better love it!
April 21, 2013
Beginning with a very clever word play title - author Ed Wintle takes us along an amazing nine-month memoir whereby he agrees to foster-parent his thirteen year old ‘problem-chile, too-intelligent-for-her-own-good’ niece before his sister ends up doing-in either her daughter or herself. Let me say right away that I take my hat off to Mr Wintle for his brave and, dare-I-say foolhardy, venture. I'm admit I’ve never been a parent, and after getting through to the end of this book - I'm quite certain I would not voluntarily throw myself into parenting a teenager - and especially not when the teenager is street-smart, creative, sassy, drawn to other troubled youth for company and seemingly a trouble magnet.
Wintle writes with a warm and humorous voice, quickly engaging my attention with the details of his family members, his circle of Big Apple friends, his candid flashbacks to his lost loves, heart-breaking family tragedies and unfulfilled ambitions and dreams. This is definitely not a Disney-production storyline – some very explosive and confrontations between uncle and niece are outlined … but Wintle skilfully weaves enough warm fuzzy connection moments into the book to avoid the whole thing sinking into a sturm und drang pit.
Given the age of the niece, I as an avid reader-observer got to experience the almost to be expected battles with an early teenager over internet and mobile phone use, curfews, drug use, appropriate clothing choices, staying over at friends, allowance limits, safe sex, body image issues and best friend woes. Given Wintle’s age bracket, I was also privy to a range of financial, career, health, dating and mid-life transitional issues facing a stressed forty-something, good-looking film agent. It would seem the dynamic power in their uncle-niece relationship forces each to look honestly at themselves, their motives and needs and subsequent emotional and personal growth is achieved.
Without giving away anything too much, two thirds of the way into the book, Wintle throws up a curve-ball that I wasn’t quite prepared for and it took me the rest of the book to get over this shocking reveal. And so whilst the book ends on a good note for me – there’s some sobering elements which stops the final scenes ending with an all-out song and dance sequence through Central Park.
Throughout the book, I laughed, I cried, I rejoiced, I was outraged … and since I was so thoroughly moved – I can only recommend others read this book to discover what it is like to have breakfast with a Tiffany. Wintle does leave the ending open for some kind of a sequel but I’m not sure he’s working on such at present.
Wintle writes with a warm and humorous voice, quickly engaging my attention with the details of his family members, his circle of Big Apple friends, his candid flashbacks to his lost loves, heart-breaking family tragedies and unfulfilled ambitions and dreams. This is definitely not a Disney-production storyline – some very explosive and confrontations between uncle and niece are outlined … but Wintle skilfully weaves enough warm fuzzy connection moments into the book to avoid the whole thing sinking into a sturm und drang pit.
Given the age of the niece, I as an avid reader-observer got to experience the almost to be expected battles with an early teenager over internet and mobile phone use, curfews, drug use, appropriate clothing choices, staying over at friends, allowance limits, safe sex, body image issues and best friend woes. Given Wintle’s age bracket, I was also privy to a range of financial, career, health, dating and mid-life transitional issues facing a stressed forty-something, good-looking film agent. It would seem the dynamic power in their uncle-niece relationship forces each to look honestly at themselves, their motives and needs and subsequent emotional and personal growth is achieved.
Without giving away anything too much, two thirds of the way into the book, Wintle throws up a curve-ball that I wasn’t quite prepared for and it took me the rest of the book to get over this shocking reveal. And so whilst the book ends on a good note for me – there’s some sobering elements which stops the final scenes ending with an all-out song and dance sequence through Central Park.
Throughout the book, I laughed, I cried, I rejoiced, I was outraged … and since I was so thoroughly moved – I can only recommend others read this book to discover what it is like to have breakfast with a Tiffany. Wintle does leave the ending open for some kind of a sequel but I’m not sure he’s working on such at present.
January 29, 2015
I found this book to be very funny and heartwarming although I will admit I didn't like the parts that alluded to the authors sex life but I adored the way he spoke of his niece even during her bad moments,his love for her was so apparent. I laughed out loud genuinely many times and thought Tiffany was exactly what her uncle believed she was and that is a brilliant,spunky,talented young woman who just needed to be believed in. I'm happy I read this book.
February 1, 2009
I accidentally bought this book when I meant to buy "Breakfast at Sally's." I mistook it because they're both memoirs and both have the word "breakfast" in the title. It was a good mistake to make...I loved this book. Not because it was so incredibly well written, because it wasn't. But the story was beautiful and completely poignant for me.
October 1, 2012
This book is one of my favorites. That has me angry, confused, laughing, and crying all in the same book.
February 2, 2023
I thought it was a nice read.
September 10, 2007
This is a great memoir about an uncle and his niece. Edwin Wintle is single, childless and gay living a stylish life in NYC when his recovering alcoholic sister turns to him for help with her troubled 13 year old daughter. Uncle Eddy moves Tiffany to NYC and enrolls her in school. While they have always gotten along quite well on their numerous overnight and weekend visits, he is unprepared for the reality of parenting a 13 year old. Heartwrenching, honest, humourous and smart this one will likely be in my top ten reads for the year.
I highly recommend this to anyone but it will be of particular interest to those who love memoirs, narrative non-fiction or anyone who like me has no kids and is curious to see what it would be like to take on a siblings troubled child.
I highly recommend this to anyone but it will be of particular interest to those who love memoirs, narrative non-fiction or anyone who like me has no kids and is curious to see what it would be like to take on a siblings troubled child.
October 28, 2008
Book reads quite well, but had the feel of a fiction piece to me as I went through it; not that he was making up details, but that they're so precise at times it was tough to accept such exact recall (though he mentions near the end he was taking notes, of a sort).
There were a couple of points at which I nearly gave up on the book, between Wintle's shallowness and his refusal to deal with Tiffany's manipulative behavior. And then, he'd come through with an honest (often somewhat painful) revelation about his life that made it easier to care about the outcome.
There were a couple of points at which I nearly gave up on the book, between Wintle's shallowness and his refusal to deal with Tiffany's manipulative behavior. And then, he'd come through with an honest (often somewhat painful) revelation about his life that made it easier to care about the outcome.
October 4, 2009
1 1/2 stars. The story of a gay man in NYC taking in his troubled 13-year-old niece is obviously far from my own experience. That would have been OK. I was even prepared to read things that would try my patience with the girl's behavior, but I hadn't been prepared to so dislike the uncle. At it's core, this is a parenting book, and it does reflect that journey. However, the writer seems too pleased with himself throughout, and the end is unsatisfyingly abrupt.
April 26, 2010
This was an "eh" book. Even though it was a memoir, the story felt unauthentic. I felt that there were a lot of loose ends regarding Tiffany. Also, the entire time I was reading it, I felt like the author just wanted us to marvel over what an exceptional, generous human being he was for taking in his troubled niece. I had a difficult time sympathizing with anyone in this story.
Very happy that I did not buy this one at B&N.
Very happy that I did not buy this one at B&N.
February 20, 2018
I really liked this, but the beginning is bit slow. Besides that, I think it's very well written and very well illustrates the life of a new father/guardian. The characters are extremely addictive, I wish I knew about this book sooner.
September 24, 2007
Occasionally amusing memoir about an uncle raising his rebellious niece in NYC.
October 21, 2020
Razoavelzinho
Embora este livro não vá entrar na lista dos meus livros favoritos, eu não me arrependo de ter lido porque trouxe umas mensagens importantes sobre família, respeito e adolescência. Além de ter adorado a abordagem da homossexualidade.
Quando comprei esse livro - nem me lembro quando -, não fazia ideia de que se tratava das memórias do escritor sobre os dois anos em que ele foi o responsável pela sua sobrinha mais velha. Aliás, mesmo depois de ter começado a ler o livro, eu não me atentei a isso. Apenas quando terminei e li o resumo do autor na orelha do livro que cai em mim. Ou seja, esse livro não é um romance de ficção, então não espere um enredo eletrizante e um final em que tudo acaba bem e todo mundo se entende. Mas não desanime porque até que a vida de Edwin tem suas reviravoltas, com a chegada de Tiffany, ganhou mais emoção.
Mas o livro carece de umas edições porque sempre que o escritor queria inserir uma informação nova, por exemplo, que ele tem medo de sapo porque foi mordido por um quando criança, ao invés de apenas colocar essa informação, ele resolvia voltar no passado e relatar todo o dia que viveu até o momento em que foi mordido pelo sapo (eu inventei esse exemplo, não tem nada disso na história rs). Não me incomodou na primeira vez, não atrapalhou na segunda, mas lá pela quinta vez, eu já estava aborrecida de ler isso. Principalmente quando a informação não servia de nada para a história. Talvez a editora tenha pedido um número mínimo de páginas e por isso ele precisou enrolar...
No livro temos outros personagens além de Edwin e Tiffany. E algo que me agradou muito foi ver que a legião de amigos de Edwin era constantemente mencionada ao longo de sua saga para criar a sobrinha.
Não preciso nem dizer que gostei de Edwin. Gostei da relação que ele tinha com a sobrinha. A maioria dos escritores - normalmente héteros - quando escrevem um livro sobre uma relação paternal entre um personagem gay e outro adolescente, tende a adicionar um crush entre o adolescente e o adulto dando a impressão de que homossexuais são tarados. Aqui, como não se tratava apenas de um personagem, pudemos ver a rotina de Edwin, seus rolos, namoros e relações familiares, amorosas e de amizade. E pudemos ver como gays são tchan, tchan, tchan, pessoas normais.
Já a Tiffany... eu tinha uma relação de ódio com ela. Realmente me falta paciência para adolescentes rebeldes e eu só queria que ela amadurecesse um pouco, mas ela me deixava orgulhosa uma hora e me irritava em outra. Além de ser ingrata em alguns trechos do livros. Mas também conseguia enxergar seu lado - e, felizmente, seu tio nunca se esqueceu da razão dela ter tão problemática.
A história acabou abruptamente e espero que Tiffany tenha se emendado um pouco para sua família ter um pouco de paz.
Embora este livro não vá entrar na lista dos meus livros favoritos, eu não me arrependo de ter lido porque trouxe umas mensagens importantes sobre família, respeito e adolescência. Além de ter adorado a abordagem da homossexualidade.
Quando comprei esse livro - nem me lembro quando -, não fazia ideia de que se tratava das memórias do escritor sobre os dois anos em que ele foi o responsável pela sua sobrinha mais velha. Aliás, mesmo depois de ter começado a ler o livro, eu não me atentei a isso. Apenas quando terminei e li o resumo do autor na orelha do livro que cai em mim. Ou seja, esse livro não é um romance de ficção, então não espere um enredo eletrizante e um final em que tudo acaba bem e todo mundo se entende. Mas não desanime porque até que a vida de Edwin tem suas reviravoltas, com a chegada de Tiffany, ganhou mais emoção.
Mas o livro carece de umas edições porque sempre que o escritor queria inserir uma informação nova, por exemplo, que ele tem medo de sapo porque foi mordido por um quando criança, ao invés de apenas colocar essa informação, ele resolvia voltar no passado e relatar todo o dia que viveu até o momento em que foi mordido pelo sapo (eu inventei esse exemplo, não tem nada disso na história rs). Não me incomodou na primeira vez, não atrapalhou na segunda, mas lá pela quinta vez, eu já estava aborrecida de ler isso. Principalmente quando a informação não servia de nada para a história. Talvez a editora tenha pedido um número mínimo de páginas e por isso ele precisou enrolar...
No livro temos outros personagens além de Edwin e Tiffany. E algo que me agradou muito foi ver que a legião de amigos de Edwin era constantemente mencionada ao longo de sua saga para criar a sobrinha.
Não preciso nem dizer que gostei de Edwin. Gostei da relação que ele tinha com a sobrinha. A maioria dos escritores - normalmente héteros - quando escrevem um livro sobre uma relação paternal entre um personagem gay e outro adolescente, tende a adicionar um crush entre o adolescente e o adulto dando a impressão de que homossexuais são tarados. Aqui, como não se tratava apenas de um personagem, pudemos ver a rotina de Edwin, seus rolos, namoros e relações familiares, amorosas e de amizade. E pudemos ver como gays são tchan, tchan, tchan, pessoas normais.
Já a Tiffany... eu tinha uma relação de ódio com ela. Realmente me falta paciência para adolescentes rebeldes e eu só queria que ela amadurecesse um pouco, mas ela me deixava orgulhosa uma hora e me irritava em outra. Além de ser ingrata em alguns trechos do livros. Mas também conseguia enxergar seu lado - e, felizmente, seu tio nunca se esqueceu da razão dela ter tão problemática.
A história acabou abruptamente e espero que Tiffany tenha se emendado um pouco para sua família ter um pouco de paz.
May 14, 2023
Very New York City, ultraliberal, amoral propaganda that is supposedly a "real story" but ends up reading like a ready-for-Hollywood novel and at best is creative non-fiction. We know up front that "the names and other identifying characteristics of the persons included in this memoir have been changed," so there really isn't a "Tiffany" and the specifics aren't accurate. That's why it's all a bit difficult to believe.
Supposedly a gay film agent with HIV suddenly is asked to take in a wild-child 13-year-old niece and a week later his life is transformed. This is about their year together. "Tiffany" is a caricature that is abandoned by her uncaring parents, swears like a sailor, and thinks she know everything but is allowed to get away with things that are beyond reasonable.
It is filled with all sorts of asides that make the book more about the author's political/social agenda than about any secrets in dealing with an offensive child. Gay dating, anti-war protesting, normalizing trashy NYC, Hollywood politics, literature, health care, mental health therapy, etc. None of it is that interesting unless you're a New York or entertainment industry snob that doesn't understand how the rest of the world operates.
And it's all written very poorly. Almost at a level that makes it read like simplistic teen fiction.
The book culminates in a totally impossible-to-believe scene where the two walk together along the river and he starts singing Moon River to her from Breakfast at Tiffany's! She asks him what a huckleberry friend is and they walk off hand-in-hand together for the first time since she lived there. This imagined movie scene lacks any credibility since we know her name isn't "Tiffany!"
It also leaves us wondering what happened to "Tiffany" since it ends in spring of 2003 and the book was published in 2005.
In those final pages the author admits, "I knew my desire to inspire admiration, even envy, in strangers was nothing to be proud of, but I couldn't help it." Sorry, Wintle, there's little that's inspirational here and to be honest nothing to really be proud of.
Supposedly a gay film agent with HIV suddenly is asked to take in a wild-child 13-year-old niece and a week later his life is transformed. This is about their year together. "Tiffany" is a caricature that is abandoned by her uncaring parents, swears like a sailor, and thinks she know everything but is allowed to get away with things that are beyond reasonable.
It is filled with all sorts of asides that make the book more about the author's political/social agenda than about any secrets in dealing with an offensive child. Gay dating, anti-war protesting, normalizing trashy NYC, Hollywood politics, literature, health care, mental health therapy, etc. None of it is that interesting unless you're a New York or entertainment industry snob that doesn't understand how the rest of the world operates.
And it's all written very poorly. Almost at a level that makes it read like simplistic teen fiction.
The book culminates in a totally impossible-to-believe scene where the two walk together along the river and he starts singing Moon River to her from Breakfast at Tiffany's! She asks him what a huckleberry friend is and they walk off hand-in-hand together for the first time since she lived there. This imagined movie scene lacks any credibility since we know her name isn't "Tiffany!"
It also leaves us wondering what happened to "Tiffany" since it ends in spring of 2003 and the book was published in 2005.
In those final pages the author admits, "I knew my desire to inspire admiration, even envy, in strangers was nothing to be proud of, but I couldn't help it." Sorry, Wintle, there's little that's inspirational here and to be honest nothing to really be proud of.
April 30, 2020
Pretty lame. The majority of this book was about the author and his “sophisticated” life. For lack of a better term. Tiffany (Brittany) wasn’t even a troubled teen in such regard and seems the author was just living vicariously through his niece. He never got to lead the life of a serious actor and all he talked about was how “talented” his niece supposedly was and what dreams HE had for HER. Seems as if he was placing HIS lost “reality” on HER.
Honestly, skip over this big SNORE. “Tiffany” was the usual mouthy teenager and hardly got into any SERIOUS trouble. So she was young and naive and had to eventually learn the hard way. Big deal.
Honestly, skip over this big SNORE. “Tiffany” was the usual mouthy teenager and hardly got into any SERIOUS trouble. So she was young and naive and had to eventually learn the hard way. Big deal.
December 3, 2022
Possibly 2 1/2 stars, but definitely not my favourite read. I usually really enjoy a memoir, but this book has been picked up and quickly put down by me with disinterest several times over the years until I finally decided to give it a chance... I should have just moved it along perhaps. The author failed to draw me into his world, not did his constant coo-ing over the beauty and talents of his revoltingly behaved niece enamour me to their developing relationship.
March 21, 2024
Si bien la relación entre tío y sobrina me pareció interesante, siento que el fondo de la historia no te lleva a nada.
Se entiende que una adolescente pueda pasar por muchas tribulaciones y que ello, pueda afectar en su día a día pero, no encontré nada relevante.
Sí me pareció cliché que ser el tío gay conlleva a que tenga una enfermedad. Eso me pareció muy meeeee
Se entiende que una adolescente pueda pasar por muchas tribulaciones y que ello, pueda afectar en su día a día pero, no encontré nada relevante.
Sí me pareció cliché que ser el tío gay conlleva a que tenga una enfermedad. Eso me pareció muy meeeee
April 22, 2022
Really good, but left me wondering how everything turned out.
February 5, 2025
Jeden z ciekawszych pamiętników jakie było mi dane napotkać
March 10, 2016
My teacher gave me a small stack of books to read upon hearing how much I love reading, and claimed that this was her all-time favourite. Honestly, the title is what really appealed to me - clearly, it wasn't anything to do with Breakfast at Tiffany's, but I appreciated the reference.
This novel, this memoir, is a truthful, brutally honest book about life. I can't say I know what it's like to be in the author's place - I'm not a man, I'm not gay, I am not the guardian of my niece and I don't even live in America - but the little things are just so real.
Tiffany's home life isn't great, and one day her uncle volunteers to take her in. Never did he anticipate so much drama and pain from such a small girl. She's thirteen when she first moves in with her Uncle Eddy, and despite being a nice girl she is known to hang around with the wrong crowd. No matter how hard he tries, Eddy cannot prevent her from finding similar friends at her new school.
The pair really go through their ups and downs, and Ed himself talks a lot about personal thoughts and issues. He'd tested HIV-positive many years ago, and was also an unsuccessful actor. He broke up with his boyfriend relatively recently, and suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. Basically, life just has not turned out the way he'd planned.
Living with a teenager teaches him a lot of things. He is reminded of his own youth, and has to get on with his life all while keeping Tiffany going too. It's not easy. Things do get rough, and he does find himself wondering why he ever got himself into this. But in the end their relationship is good, and they have a lot of fun together.
I did find this book great. It has hints of humour, conveys the bitter truth, and even gave me a taste of what it's like to be a guardian of a teenage girl. There are definitely references I would have appreciated more had I been older than sixteen, and many of Ed's problems, thoughts or situations may have been more interesting or important to an older generation.
That being said, I actually kind of loved this book. It isn't quite in my favourites - but who knows, maybe in thirty years time it will be. I think I can easily give Breakfast with Tiffany: An Uncle's Memoir 4.5 stars out of the full five.
This novel, this memoir, is a truthful, brutally honest book about life. I can't say I know what it's like to be in the author's place - I'm not a man, I'm not gay, I am not the guardian of my niece and I don't even live in America - but the little things are just so real.
Tiffany's home life isn't great, and one day her uncle volunteers to take her in. Never did he anticipate so much drama and pain from such a small girl. She's thirteen when she first moves in with her Uncle Eddy, and despite being a nice girl she is known to hang around with the wrong crowd. No matter how hard he tries, Eddy cannot prevent her from finding similar friends at her new school.
The pair really go through their ups and downs, and Ed himself talks a lot about personal thoughts and issues. He'd tested HIV-positive many years ago, and was also an unsuccessful actor. He broke up with his boyfriend relatively recently, and suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. Basically, life just has not turned out the way he'd planned.
Living with a teenager teaches him a lot of things. He is reminded of his own youth, and has to get on with his life all while keeping Tiffany going too. It's not easy. Things do get rough, and he does find himself wondering why he ever got himself into this. But in the end their relationship is good, and they have a lot of fun together.
I did find this book great. It has hints of humour, conveys the bitter truth, and even gave me a taste of what it's like to be a guardian of a teenage girl. There are definitely references I would have appreciated more had I been older than sixteen, and many of Ed's problems, thoughts or situations may have been more interesting or important to an older generation.
That being said, I actually kind of loved this book. It isn't quite in my favourites - but who knows, maybe in thirty years time it will be. I think I can easily give Breakfast with Tiffany: An Uncle's Memoir 4.5 stars out of the full five.
December 9, 2010
Title: Breakfast with Tiffany: An Uncle’s Memoir
Author: Edwin John Wintle
Pages: 352
Publisher: 140135999X (ISBN13: 9781401359997)
Breakfast with Tiffany: An Uncle’s Memoir is a story about a gay forty-year old uncle becomes the guardian of his niece, a thirteen year old girl named Tiffany. The story started out very interesting with the rebellious experiences of Tiffany from Connecticut. As soon as the story unfolds, I found the tone of the novel dull and drowning. I gave up reading before half way through the book.
At thirteen, Tiffany drinks and smoke and rarely goes to school. The plot seems a little unrealistic from my perspective. I did find motives to continue to read this book at the beginning. However, as the story continues itself, I can easily predict what is going to happen in the next few chapters since it is a memoir: Tiffany moves to New York City to live with his uncle, Tiffany do not like being in New York City, Tiffany slowly adopts to her new environment, and Tiffany gets to know her uncle and they learn from each other so on.
I would recommend this book to people who likes memoirs and people who are undergoing teenager issues such as moving to a new place, and dealing with new relatives and environments. This book is for teenagers, and adults who are trying to get along with each other. People can really get a lot out of Tiffany and her uncle through this book.
Author: Edwin John Wintle
Pages: 352
Publisher: 140135999X (ISBN13: 9781401359997)
Breakfast with Tiffany: An Uncle’s Memoir is a story about a gay forty-year old uncle becomes the guardian of his niece, a thirteen year old girl named Tiffany. The story started out very interesting with the rebellious experiences of Tiffany from Connecticut. As soon as the story unfolds, I found the tone of the novel dull and drowning. I gave up reading before half way through the book.
At thirteen, Tiffany drinks and smoke and rarely goes to school. The plot seems a little unrealistic from my perspective. I did find motives to continue to read this book at the beginning. However, as the story continues itself, I can easily predict what is going to happen in the next few chapters since it is a memoir: Tiffany moves to New York City to live with his uncle, Tiffany do not like being in New York City, Tiffany slowly adopts to her new environment, and Tiffany gets to know her uncle and they learn from each other so on.
I would recommend this book to people who likes memoirs and people who are undergoing teenager issues such as moving to a new place, and dealing with new relatives and environments. This book is for teenagers, and adults who are trying to get along with each other. People can really get a lot out of Tiffany and her uncle through this book.
February 12, 2009
What happens when a forty-something gay man living in New York takes in his troubled fourteen-year-old niece for a year (or four)? We find out in Breakfast With Tiffany. Edwin enjoys his New York lifestyle as a single gay man working a stressful job as a film agent. But the relationship between his sister and niece is deteriorating fast and Tiffany is getting into more trouble than her mother can handle. Edwin steps in and offers to move Tiffany to NY to live with him and try to get her back on the right track. He had no idea what he was in for. The uncle and niece had previously had a good open relationship, with her living with him for a few summers, but this Tiffany is angry and feels victimized and Edwin is about to b introduced to a world that he knows little about: parenting. From finding a school to dealing with her bad crowd; talking about sex and trying to make Tiffany realize her potential; Edwin recounts the experience in detail.
I really enjoyed this. It's beautiful to see how the relationship between Tiffany and her uncle evolves over the course of a year. They make gains and setbacks and gains and setbacks. Edwin shares a lot about his own life as well, which is interesting, relevant, and not distracting. A good read.
I really enjoyed this. It's beautiful to see how the relationship between Tiffany and her uncle evolves over the course of a year. They make gains and setbacks and gains and setbacks. Edwin shares a lot about his own life as well, which is interesting, relevant, and not distracting. A good read.
July 18, 2007
Wintle, a 40-year-old, gay, obsessive-compulsive New Yorker, takes in his 13-year-old niece, Tiffany. Tiffany is being *saved* from her life in Connecticut, where she fought with her recovering alcoholic mother, associated with delinquents and feared her mother's violent boyfriend. Wintle portrays Tiffany as a complex teenager. She drinks, smokes and dabbles in drugs yet sings beautifully, writes poetry and excels in school when she tries. Throughout all the events in Tiffany’s life, Wintle struggles with his responsibilities as a guardian while trying to maintain his own life and career. A good read about love, compromise and trust. Love the playful title. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this as a movie soon, as Wintle negotiates deals between authors and movie studios. Is Dakota Fanning 13 yet? Book #11 of my 2006 Book List, finished reading it on 2-25-06.
January 24, 2009
Throughout this book I rooted for Tiffany and her uncle to make things work, to save Tiffany from falling in with juvenile delinquents, to give her hope for her future, and at the same time I was a little disappointed in the memoirist. He's more self-centered than I could sympathize with, even after learning what he'd been through in his own life from adolescence onwards. At times he was just as much a teenager as his niece, and that was his downfall in his conflicts with her. I suspect he at least had some internal acknowledgment of his failure to be the mature adult in their relationship, but sometimes I wanted him to admit it to his readers, too. Still, this book inclues a refreshingly honest take on American urban teenage life, as well as dysfunctional family issues like alcoholism, domestic violence, and general irresponsibility and selfishness.
June 3, 2012
Ed is middle-aged single gay man living in New York. His life is pretty cool - nice NY apartment, good job in the movie business - and then he offers to take in his troubled 13-year-old niece, Tiffany. This book chronicles one year of Ed and Tiffany living together. It's based on a true story, although Ed admits that some parts are fictionalized. Perhaps one such part is the fact that his 13-year-old niece is a freshman in high school. I'm not sure how the East Coast school system works, but when I was 13, I was in 7th grade. I turned 15 when I was a freshman in high school. For a kid who apparently is a terrible student, I doubt that "Tiffany" skipped a few grades. But whatever. Nitpicky comments aside, this is a pretty fast-paced story about Ed becoming an overnight father and realizing that taking care of a child is difficult and that teenage girls are scary.
July 24, 2015
Read for the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge - a book you've been meaning to read
I put this book on the first page of my actual, hard-copy "to be read" journal in 2005, when the book was first published, so it is kind of the ultimate "been meaning to read it" book for me. And me in 2005 would have loved it, I think, but me in 2015 very much didn't. It was (unexpectedly) about the Need to Make Art, a genre I once loved but now try to avoid because I find it largely insufferable. I also found the numerous asides about the author's sex life to be kind of odd - I wasn't offended by them (if they were the main subject of their own book, I'd probably want to read it), but they felt so out of place in this story. And my perpetual complaint applies here, too: it should have been shorter. 2.5/5 stars.
I put this book on the first page of my actual, hard-copy "to be read" journal in 2005, when the book was first published, so it is kind of the ultimate "been meaning to read it" book for me. And me in 2005 would have loved it, I think, but me in 2015 very much didn't. It was (unexpectedly) about the Need to Make Art, a genre I once loved but now try to avoid because I find it largely insufferable. I also found the numerous asides about the author's sex life to be kind of odd - I wasn't offended by them (if they were the main subject of their own book, I'd probably want to read it), but they felt so out of place in this story. And my perpetual complaint applies here, too: it should have been shorter. 2.5/5 stars.
September 17, 2010
I really enjoyed this book, more than I thought I would, actually. The mixed reviews had me leery, but my trepidation was unwarranted. The age difference between the author and his niece is approximately the same as between me and my (twin) nieces, and I found myself able to relate to much of what he wrote: the mercurial nature of the teenage female temperament, the desire to maintain status as the "cool" uncle balanced with the desire to establish boundaries and the struggle to keep a young person from making life-altering mistakes.
I just wish there had been some sort of epilogue letting readers know how Tiffany's doing now. Better yet, it would be awesome if she stuck with developing her own writing skills and some day we get a book retelling the tale from her perspective.
I just wish there had been some sort of epilogue letting readers know how Tiffany's doing now. Better yet, it would be awesome if she stuck with developing her own writing skills and some day we get a book retelling the tale from her perspective.
October 28, 2015
Someone recommended this book to me as the best memoir she had ever read. Suffice to say, it can be difficult to take book recommendations from people you only marginally know...
I have trouble with a book if I don't like the main character, and the author/uncle here is too promiscuous, reinforces too many negative gay stereotypes, and is too full of himself for the job he did "saving" his niece, for me to have many positive feelings toward him. The parenting struggles are certainly real, and kept me in the book, which I was reading during a time of raising a teenager alone by myself. It reads vaguely like fiction, which helps as well, although I had asked for the recommendation of a memoir because I was feeling like reading something more representative of that genre for a change.
I have trouble with a book if I don't like the main character, and the author/uncle here is too promiscuous, reinforces too many negative gay stereotypes, and is too full of himself for the job he did "saving" his niece, for me to have many positive feelings toward him. The parenting struggles are certainly real, and kept me in the book, which I was reading during a time of raising a teenager alone by myself. It reads vaguely like fiction, which helps as well, although I had asked for the recommendation of a memoir because I was feeling like reading something more representative of that genre for a change.
May 13, 2011
I told myself I would read to page 50 before I stopped if I still didn't like it, but when I started skimming and skipping pages around page 35, I figured I'd just give up.
I know it's a memoir and not a novel, but I just couldn't muster a care for the teenager and the writing was stilted. Kind of like that. I think teenagers who are going through the usual parental angst might enjoy the book, at least to live vicariously through the teenage girl who gets to go live in NYC with her gay uncle.
I know it's a memoir and not a novel, but I just couldn't muster a care for the teenager and the writing was stilted. Kind of like that. I think teenagers who are going through the usual parental angst might enjoy the book, at least to live vicariously through the teenage girl who gets to go live in NYC with her gay uncle.
May 18, 2009
This is such a great memoir! It was recommended to me by my mom and my uncle Kenny. After reading it, I realized that, while I am not rebellious and out-of-control like "Tiffany," this book pretty much sums up my relationship with my Uncle Kenny, which is one reason I think I loved it so much. Uncle Edwin is my uncle in so many ways, especially in the relationship he keeps with his niece. Read it, especially if you are extremely close to your uncle (and even more especially if that uncle is gay).
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