One Man Guy

De: Michael Barakiva

Narrado por: Michael Chernus

Alek Khederian should have guessed something was wrong when his parents took him to a restaurant. Everyone knows that Armenians never eat out. Why bother, when their home cooking is far superior to anything "these Americans" could come up with? Between bouts of interrogating the waitress and criticizing the menu, Alek's parents announce that he'll be attending summer school in order to bring up his grades. Alek is sure this experience will be the perfect hellish end to his hellish freshmen year of high school. He never could've predicted that he'd meet someone like Ethan.

Ethan is everything Alek wishes he were: Confident, free-spirited, and irreverent. When Ethan gets Alek to cut school and go to a Rufus Wainwright concert in New York City's Central Park, Alek embarks on his first adventure outside the confines of his suburban New Jersey existence. He can't believe a guy this cool wants to be his friend. And before long, it seems like Ethan wants to be more than friends. Alek has never thought about having a boyfriend - he's barely ever had a girlfriend - but maybe it's time to think again.

Michael Barakiva's One Man Guy is a romantic, moving, laugh-out-loud-funny story about what happens when one person cracks open your world and helps you see everything - and, most of all, yourself - like you never have before.

©2014 Michael Barakiva (P)2014 Macmillan Audio

Charming and honest

It is a sweet, honest story that can bring anyone back to the trials and tribulations of the teenage years. I enjoyed Michael Barakiva’s performance.

Awesome!

I loved this story very much!
I definitely recommend it.
Very interesting and entertaining.
I will definitely buy a copy of the book.

High Energy Summer School Excitement and Romance

Michael Barakiva spins an exciting story filled with the entertainment and energy of Manhattan through the eyes of awkwardly cool and geeky skateboarders and honor students drawn together in the post marriage-equality world of a summer school romance.
Michael Chernus brings the same rapid high energy narration to the story, making the dialogue and descriptions of Manhattan magic a first crush can so sparklingly see in the early summer energy of June. The voices and accents Michael Chernus brings to the narration weave so perfectly with the excitement and wonder Michael Barakiva wrote in an incredibly entertaining, hip, sweet, love story.
I have listened to it now at least 10 times, still discovering new scenes and images each time.
I hope both of these men choose to use their talent in new works yet to be created.

Short but sweet

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Would depend on the friend, I guess, but mostly yes. It's a nice story of a first love, combined with the complexities of living in an immigrant family (and specifically an Armenian one). Both are nicely handled.

What other book might you compare One Man Guy to and why?

The way the folks josh around reminded me a bit of Will Grayson Will Grayson, but that differs in a lot of other ways.

Which scene was your favorite?

Several good moments -- best friend refusing to be sidelined by new romance, kissing goodbye to a hated bookbag...

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Parents proving better than a kid's paranoid expectations.

Any additional comments?

Narrator's voice was a good fit for the main character, but I assume he's a bit inexperienced, both by the unnaturalness of his use of upward-inflected sentences and by the unsubtlety of edits in places. But none of that came between me and the story.

Very entertaining!

Pretty cheesy and trope-y at times with the typical "nerd meet bad boy scenario," but the story was cute and light-hearted which makes for good entertainment. I liked the diversity and that you learn so much about Armenian culture and history. Some moments bordering on steamy, but nothing too serious (plus they're minors).
The narrator was pretty good. Sometimes his inflections would sound a little off, but it wasn't really bothersome.
All in all I would recommend if you're looking for something casual and fun. Don't expect to laugh out loud or cry though.

Just pure fun.

It goes down pretty easy. I have just finished reading a couple of other coming out stories involving some real heart break situations. This story comes up to the cliff and it looks as the characters are going to have to jump off but the author surprises you with the humanitarian response. It truly a nice ride and the two boys are just too cute.

So if you enjoy coming out highschool stories but want to laugh a little and maybe learn to believe they all don't end up with someone cutting their wrist then this is the story for you.

bad narration

It was great story, but it haf bad narration. He did not change his tone at all.

Touching and Engaging

One Man Guy is an incredibly sweet and touching coming-of-age and coming-out story.

It was beautifully written and well-crafted but the absolute highlight was exploration of the Armenian-American culture clash Alek constantly struggles with.

The lush descriptions of the favoured Eastern European delicacies had me drooling and the prose had an incredible sense of place be it suburban New Jersey, eclectic downtown Manhattan or the seeming infinite journey between the two.

Alek coming to terms with his coming out was honest and heartfelt so I think it will appeal to anyone without a particular interest in LGBT literature.

I highly recommended for all readers! I just wish it was longer!

Charming Story

Very well written. Enjoyed the romance without the details of sex. Appreciated the details of cooking. Obviously the author has some experience in cooking these dishes.

Frickin amazing must read

This book was amazing and made me uncontrollably smile so many times. Super cute and well written. I really enjoyed learning about Armenian culture as well. Also made me realize how single I am, but what can ya do 🤷🏼‍♂️