A Boy Named Phyllis

A Suburban Memoir

De: Frank DeCaro

Narrado por: Frank DeCaro

What's a boy to do? An only child, a little chubby (and carrying it low). By age six already a regular in the Sears Husky Boys Department. Young Frankie is also gay, and he's trapped in the aluminum-sidinged, lawn-sprinklered, what-exit - wilds of New Jersey suburbia. Imagine Elton John born to an Italian-American Edith and Archie Bunker, and you've got the picture.

A Boy Named Phyllis is Frank DeCaro's witty gem of a memoir about growing up among working-class Italian folk in Little Falls, New Jersey. There are the usual trials and tribulations between little Frankie and his parents, Marian and Frank Sr., but this is no angst-ridden, coming-of-age gay memoir. Frank is funny, and A Boy Names Phyllis is the antidote to such books.

It is the mid-1960s, and the DeCaros have it all: a living room that no one is allowed to live in; a complete collection of cardboard cutout decorations for every holiday; an Entenmann's factory around the corner; and a killer lineup of Friday-night TV - The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222, The Odd Couple, and, if you can stay awake long enough, Love, American Style. There's only one problem: instead of developing a crush on Laurie Partridge, Frankie gets a boner for Keith. He perfects a drop-dead Paul Lynde imitation, and ultimately finds liberation through Elton John and Disco.

©1996 Frank DeCaro (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

frank D is a great narrator

I am a Frank D fan from Sirrus XM days so I was excited to listen to this.
I loved it.
Frank can tell a story like no other.
Thanks for sharing your life story with the world.

Franktastic!

I’ve loved Frank since the Sirius Out Q days and if you loved his show this is the book for you !

Good Listen!

I loved the story. I felt like you were telling my story. so many parts were my life too. Thanks for writing it.

Always better when narrated by the author

I enjoyed this book. It brought me back to my childhood in NJ close to the same area. We are about the same age. Even mentioned buying something at the Valley Fair. I was a kid and the only one I knew about was in Hillsdale (it’s something else now).

Hilariously Performed and Insightful!

this is the best book I have read in a long time. the performance was hilarious, the story was very relatable even if you're not gay, just Italian, and it's told in such a way that it's very colorful and brings each memory to life. I hope there's a sequel and I hope there's a movie made of this book.