Mississippi Sissy

by Kevin Sessums

Paperback, 2008

Status

Available

Call number

MEMO Sess

Genres

Biography & Memoir

General Nonfiction

Collection

Michael C. Weidemann LGBT Library at Gay City

Publication

Picador (2008), Edition: First, 352 pages

Description

Mississippi Sissy is the stunning memoir from Kevin Sessums, a celebrity journalist who grew up scaring other children, hiding terrible secrets, pretending to be Arlene Frances and running wild in the South. As he grew up in Forest, Mississippi, befriended by the family maid, Mattie May, he became a young man who turned the word "sissy" on its head, just as his mother taught him. In Jackson, he is befriended by Eudora Welty and journalist Frank Hains, but when Hains is brutally murdered in his antebellum mansion, Kevin's long road north towards celebrity begins. In a memoir that echoes bestsellers like The Liar's Club, Kevin Sessums brings to life the pungent American south of the 1960s and the world of the strange little boy who grew there.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member mgaulding

Astonished. What can I say. As a gay boy who grew up a sissy in the South, I completely identified with the alienation that Sessums felt. But the ability of this boy/man to transcend the most awful of setbacks early in life is without a doubt one of the more inspiring stories I've ever read. I

finished this book over three months ago and I am still haunted and bewitched by this book. The women in this book are full of such strength. The author's mother, grandmother, his maid Matty Mae, his Aunt Lola. A poignant portrayal of author Eudora Welty who along with his mentor Frank Harris, groomed this author to write an autobiography that is absolutely perfect. Run to the bookstore. BUY this book. 100 stars out ten (sorry to digress to such cliche's it's the only way to express sufficiently my enthusiasm for this book). I guffawed and cried my way through this brilliant book.

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LibraryThing member RobinReardon

Really enjoyed this book. Only criticisms might be that the timeline skips around rather too much and that Sessums seems in love with his writing style (not a bad thing in itself, just don't want it to be obvious when I'm reading). A few minor grammatical errors that surprised me, given his

otherwise excellent command of the written word.

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LibraryThing member ahooper04

Interesting story of a boy growing up in the deep south dealing with being gay.

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