Review: I Came Out for This? | Amazon Top 10

Lisa Gitlin comes onto the summer literary scene with a novel I Came Out for This? that is bound to gather a large following. First, the subject matter: this is a the story of a Joanna Kane, a 47 year old Jewish woman from Cleveland, Ohio (‘which will prejudice you against me immediately because what’s Cleveland, Ohio? A loser city. When you say you’re from Cleveland, Ohio, people look at you with no expression, trying to think of what to say.’) who finally comes out as a lesbian after years of suppression and falls madly in love with Terri Rubin, a woman who delights in multiple partners of temporary status. Second, the writing style: each page of this book is designed as a torn out page form a notebook that could be a diary or just a source where the heroine can vent, a method of publishing thanks to the sensitivity of Bywater Books that gives the book a lift. And third, the gift of the first time novelist, Lisa Gitlin. It seems on the first few pages that the reader will be able to put up with just so much of this whining woman’s tale that the book will never be finished. Wrong. Gitlin writes with such enormous wit and hilarious dialogue with the reader and at the same time holds our attention because of the empathy we have for her and her plight to find happiness with her late in life discovery of her true sexuality. Most people will find themselves compelled to read this rather short novel in one sitting and be enchanted by the skill of Lisa Gitlin.

Gitlin is unafraid to take potshots at not only Cleveland, but also at Washington, DC, at being Jewish, at the embarrassing foibles of those new to physical escapades, and to be realistic, at life in all its incongruities. She is able to tell us a story (it sounds as though this may be an autobiographical one, though it is generally said that ALL novels hold autobiographical contents), to entertain us with her close to standup comedienne manner of writing, and at the same time keep us so tied to the crazy machinations of Joanna Kane that we rout for her all the way to bliss. So if it is a fresh writer with a sound first novel that is brave enough to relate the world the way it is, this is a perfect book to read now – before the demand for it becomes great.

Grady Harp
Amazon Top 10 Reviewer
July 10, 2010