Living in Daddy's Closet, Volume I

By: Michael Lee Tucker

Narrated by: Michael Lee Tucker

Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

The is a novel about a boy growing up with a closeted gay father. It details the good times and the bad times of living with a parent who never wanted to live up to who and what he was.

©2010 Roberson Audio Publications (P)2010 Roberson Audio Publications

When is the movie coming out?

I am really hoping that this book will become a film; the characters are so rich and alive. The premise is wonderfully intriguing, and one might think that it is about race, and being gay but it is not it is just about people making the wrong choices in life and then trying to make them work. The character of Harlan is fascinating and complex, it starts with his adolescence and goes to the point of his becoming a young father trying to maintain a relationship with his wife and family and his male lover, whom he has been in love with, since his first year at the university. He is black which is only important to the plot because he has managed to mainstream his life style into upper middle class America of the 1950's and 60's and he afraid the being gay will be his downfall. The pressures of his family, who has also reached a certain standard of living due to some mysterious business owned by his mother and aunt from which they have both retired, weigh heavily on him and pressure him to get married and have kids. The character of Aunt Lillian is fantastic, and should be play by Angelina Jolie in the film, I see Hali Berry as her freewheeling fun loving niece and Harlan's mother. Living in Daddy's Closet is probably the best argument for allowing marriage that is on the market today for its message is "why can't we let people be happy?" Good Question! I can't wait for Volume II; How did Aunt Lillian get so rich? Please let us know Michael Lee Tucker. The last thing this is the first audio book that has song incorporated in the book as part of the plot it's a nice plus. The song "Let Love Abide" is really beautiful, great and has so much meaning.

A Rebel with a Cause

If you think about it, every great book has serve a cause. There was a reason it was written and a reason why it became popular. The book “Black like Me” by John Howard Griffin is a prime example. It was an outcry for social justice when there was none. One would like to think that people read it, because we all profoundly wanted things in America to change and they have to some extent. The Feminine Mystique changed the lives of women every where by opening up their eyes to the manipulation that had been going on for decades to create the loving “housewife” who would be happy at home taking care of the kids. While puttering through the web pages of audible.com, I fell upon what might be the very book that will open up people's minds about what it is like to be a gay man trapped in a marriage with kids to someone you don't love as a spouse, and how the desire to be with someone that you do love and can love with time becomes overwhelming. The name of the book is “Living in Daddy's Closet”. It is written in from the point of view of the main character's son hence the title. It is told with an extraordinary sensitivity and sense of humor. Some of the chapters where the main character, Arlan Johnson is trying desperately to hide his homosexuality are absolutely hysterical. However the main point, that the son's hits on in the book, is that he (the son) wanted his father to be happy no matter what and it was something that his father could never be. Unless he had been allowed to be with the person that he had really loved. The book states with saying verbatim that people should be allowed to marry the Person they love, it will make for a happier world all around. Interesting enough the main character is black and his family makes great sacrifices for him to have a “normal life” in the 50's and 60's, so there is a contrast of civil rights and gay rights. What they want for him as a black person, you have the feeling that they would not grant him as a gay person.

A Heart Wrenching "Five Star" Love Story! Worth listening!

Seriously! One of the pleasures and bonus of "Living In Daddy`s Closet by Michael Lee Tucker," was the beautiful love song, "Let Love Abide." The actual music, which was a first for me, right in the storyline. A real treat! Douglas, the lover, of the main character Harlan, wrote the lyrics for him, the one person he loves more than life itself. The audience, his aunt, mother and her boy friend all witness the love in the words and the way it was sang. Douglas indeed was in love with Harlan. It was beautiful, I felt the epitome of his love, as if I was standing in the living room of Lillian's house watching the very handsome blond hair blue eyes, Douglas, expressing his love for Harlan. Just a few of the lyrics to the song he sang, "When the autumn winds caress you... as the summer wind subsides... may the thought of me possess you...and let love abide..." Something like this, a beautiful song written by two lovers who love will go through the test of time.

The main character Harlan is highly intelligent, talented, handsome, and fascinating and when he discovers true love with the president of the local bank only son, name Douglas, his life is filled with love, and dreams. Their small world get smaller and smaller as the playing field changes with each choice Harlan makes hoping to bring his lover closer, while keeping everyone from questioning their sexuality.

Harlan loves and respects his Aunt Lillian. She Plays an important role in his life. The 50's theme was family and what better way to prove you are a man. Aunt Lillian was a way with Harlan and just by her suggestion she could get him to do what she wants. She raised him like if he was her own son and tried to protect him from the ugliness of the world. He will do all within his power to please her, to make her proud.

The characters are well written and speak with authentic voices as they pass on their morality and traditions to their love ones but unaware of how it affects each of their lives. The story is so captivating as it draws you into the secrets lives of hidden secrets in a small town in Stockton, California.

I am patiently waiting for Volume II. The story is well worth listening, the cover is not the best but the writing and story is fantastic!