In this riveting memoir, humorist and LGBTQ activist Gurko unpacks, with incisive wit, a bold and surprising life. Reflecting on his youth as a Jewish boy in New Jersey, Gurko draws strength and life lessons from his parents, both survivors of the Holocaust, who planted in him “the seed of awareness that would eventually compel me to understand and embrace the importance of speaking up and sharing our stories, no matter what.” The stories he shares jolt, amuse, and illuminate. From New York to California, Gurko weaves an exhilarating tale of nights at Studio 54, working as a personal trainer to the Hollywood elite, and the go-nowhere conversations one might have over dinner as an escort. (“To what country are you the Ambassador?” he asks a client at a 3-star Michelin restaurant. The response: “I’m not at liberty to discuss.”)For all Gurko’s crack comic timing, the storytelling here is at times raw in its honesty and always revealing in its emotional depth. Through challenges, tragedies, and triumphs—such as discovering life-changing family history and giving a distant relative a voice after being silenced—Gurko's life story will pull readers in with humor and humility. His childhood struggles with his weight and height, plus feeling like an “other” in a suburban Jersey school in 1968, are all moving, as is his account of beginning to wonder “Oy vey, am I a homosexual or what?” (A classic early sign: being “shaken to the core” by The Wizard of Oz.) Also powerful: accounts of addiction (“There was only one sport I excelled in: partying,” he writes”) and then getting sober amid the devastation of the AIDS crisis.
Relatable, impassioned, and moving, Won't Be Silent is an inspiring memoir of fully living one’s truth, from Gurko’s nervousness about coming out to his parents to his full embrace, in the face of the rise of white nationalism in the Trump era, of the “honor” and “responsibility” of his heritage.
Takeaway: Fierce, hilarious, moving memoir of living one’s truth.
Comparable Titles: Barry Losinsky’s Oy Vey! I’m Glad I’m Gay, Edward Enninful's A Visible Man.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
