Josh Kilmer-Purcell

I adored every word in this book! While reading it, I wanted to rush over to Sharon Springs, make friends with these guys, and become part of their world, kind of like Ariel in Disney's Little Mermaid. This memoir was light-hearted, funny, sincere, and real, and was reminiscent to me of The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy by Robert Leleux . The Bucolic Plague inspired me to dream my own dreams, evoked nostalgic feelings in me for eras I never lived in, and caused me to stay up until 3 AM because show more it was just so good I couldn't put it down.

This book had me from the beginning, goats, diarrhea, and all. The moment Josh stuck his head out the window because he couldn't breathe, I knew I was in for a good book. The zombie flies, the paralyzing panic in Martha Stewart's kitchen, all these things and more made me laugh right out loud. The part where Josh realizes that eventually Brent is going to have to find out about the 88 goats in the barn is so something that I would do and feel. I would do something like that, and then be like, uh-oh, now I have to tell my husband? Eek! I did have to skip the scene where he slaughtered his turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, especially once he related that the turkey went with ease and calm under his arm, trusting and secure. So for anyone who is squeamish about animal death scenes, be forewarned!

But this book was not just about good times- in fact, this book illustrates how you should never take anything at face value. On the surface, Josh and Brent lived a utopian, idyllic life. For a while, at least. Then in the pursuit of perfection, they lost the sense of authenticity, the simplicity of what they were doing, and worst of all who they were together. The very traits that they loved in each other became traits they despised. I found myself wanting them to know that this was happening, to calm down, appreciate what they have, realize that it does not all have to be impeccable, Martha standard perfection. Eventually, after Josh left for work without telling Brent he loved him, they realized that the most important thing they had was each other. They seem to have it together, and I hope they do.

And anytime they want to invite me to dinner and to play with their goats, I am available. Just saying.

Review originally at http://quixoticmagpie.blogspot.com/2011/06/bucolic-plague-review.html. show less

This is the hilarious and yet touching true story of a former drag queen and his partner who decide to buy a mansion and become farmers. The pair are New Yorkers at heart and the transition to small town life is a tough one.

They tackle everything from raising goats to exploring the crypt on their property. All the while they are making new friends and trying to keep up with their old lives. The author works at an advertising agency and his partner works for Martha Stewart. Their attempt at show more running a farm isn’t an easy adventure, but it’s a unique one!

It’s not all funny stories on the farm though. The book chronicles not only their country escapades, but also their personal struggles and their full-time jobs in the city. It’s a bittersweet look at attaining your dreams and trying to live up to someone else’s. It’s about trying to find the balance between happiness and perfection and trying to determine what you really want out of life. It’s less about the actual act of farming and gardening and more about living the life you want.

BOTTOM LINE: I was expecting this to be a quick fun read, but I actually really liked it. The guys struggle with the things we all struggle with; balancing your personal life and work, balancing your expectations for yourself and others, etc. show less

A memoir of late '90s New York, when by day Josh worked for an advertising company and at night performed as the drag queen Aquaria, and at all times was an alcoholic embroiled in a doomed relationship with a drug-addicted sex worker called Jack. Kilmer-Purcell is frank and darkly funny about his experiences, and makes for a compelling narrator. For reasons that become somewhat clearer as the book progresses, Jack remains a bit of a cypher throughout; that, coupled with the slow decline of show more their relationship, is both understandable and true-to-life, but it makes for a book that spins its wheels a bit in its last third. Still, an attention-grabbing portrait of a particular moment in time. show less

Oh no you don't! No sighing, sneaking past this review, and saying how good it is! Sit there and READ this.

Josh and Brent, two of the most annoying perfectionist queens Manhattan has ever sucked into its lapidary drum of the effete, are bare-naked and warty as all get-out in this hilarious, touching, brutally honest memoir by the tall one. (Josh.) And he memoirs the way it feels to be human, alive, selfish and self-absorbed and sweet and lovable better than most. He's honest about how hard show more it is to work like a (highly paid) slave so you can have a dream come true. Then, as so many before him have, he wonders when in the HELL he's going to have time to enjoy the said dream.

Then there's the short one. (Brent.) He isn't writing the book, so of course he doesn't get all the best lines. Just most of them. He's the alpha perfectionist of the pair...good gravy, he worked for MARTHA STEWART!...and he decides, on hearing the tall one articulate his dream to live in their fantabulously gorgeous mansionfarm full time, that He Will Make This Happen. Because he loves, so much, the tall one. The scene in the book where they have that conversation, about why they'd have to give the place up in the rancid economy of 2008, made me cry. What they wanted, what their dreams hung on, *pffft* because the rotten shits on Wall Street wanted morebiggerfatter bonuses.

Now these two aren't guiltless little cogs in the Murrikin Machine, mind. They were both in the sizzle biz, taking home oodles of the spondulix selling people an unattainable dream's unattainable health goals for old farts (the short one) and unnecessary, overpriced goods and services (the tall one). But they made so much more out of their lives...they worked hard, they deserved their success...than the standard script for rural gay boys reads.

And then they found, accidentally and because the tall one is a lousy navigator, the perfect place to turn their well-honed swordsmanship skills at these useless pursuits into the plowshares of a real, and really funny, and very satisfying life.

Their website makes me drool. (Not over them, keep your minds out of the gutter.) The farm, the recipes, the products, the involving and addictive blogs, and of course Polka Spot the llama are tremendous pleasures.

Their TV show, The Fabulous Beekman Boys, is a gem and it's worth seeking out on Planet Green, the little bitty Discovery Networks offshoot they run on. This is Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House for the 21st century. Buy it, read it, and heavenly days, recommend it to your friends! The boys need money! Farmer John's goats don't eat air, and that hip replacement wasn't free, and the boys have aging parents who'll need to come live with them soon enough.

Think of the scuff marks. Poor short one. (Brent.) show less