Life is Not a Rehearsal
by David Brudnoy

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Book Review: Contradiction in Terns: A Conservative Gay Man / Personality
Summary: 4 Stars

Dr. David Brudnoy is an intellectual giant; no one disputes this. His politics run a little to the right of Ronald Reagan, Jesse Helms, and other noted conservatives. When he collapsed and nearly died of complications of AIDS several years ago, it came as a surprise to the public to find out that a man can be both gay and conservative. It seems an oxymoron. The public support for Brudnoy following his near death was gratifying to even the most hardened moralist among us.

Brudnoy documents his life-story in this well-written, often very moving story of his life. He delves often into his life as an intellectual seeking to be "like others". He speaks to his rise to national media prominence and to the values of integrity and humbleness he maintained during that rise. And he speaks often of that subject that he kept to himself all of his life: his sexual orientation.

If I were to object to the book, it would be that he belabors the point of his being gay. He does not delve in the graphic details of his sex-life for that is none of anybody's business. And, I suppose one can forgive the focus on his being gay and the problems that (in his perception) it created for him since the motivation for the book seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to the outpouring of good will following his collapse. Still, maybe it is I who miss the point. Maybe where I see him concentrating too much on his being gay, to Brudnoy that *is* what has defined his life.

This is not a book about being gay. It is a book about how being gay has impacted his life. It is also the life story of a very impressive and likable man to whom life has been both good and bad. I wish Dr. Brudnoy the very best and thank him for sharing his life. I am beter off for it.

Biographies & Memoirs Books

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