Product Description

Middle-class black homosexuals deal with their sexuality and the AIDS, racism, and homophobia that go with it in a novel that explores the lies people tell one another in an effort to conceal their true selves. 25,000 first printing. $25,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #189739 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-07
• Released on: 1994-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Amazon.com Review
At the end of Invisible Life, Raymond and Nicole had just ended a blossoming love affair when Nicole found herself unable to cope with Raymond's bisexuality. Just As I Am begins soon after that, as the two former lovers try to rebuild their lives. Raymond has moved to Atlanta to practice law, and he continues to question whether he's genuinely bisexual or really gay, but is unable to accept that a real lifetime love might happen with anyone but a wife. (The reappearance of charismatic--and closeted--pro football player Basil Henderson doesn't exactly make things easier for him.) Nicole has agreed to marry her rich, white lover, who's bankrolling her latest Broadway effort, even though she's not sure she loves him. She and Raymond are reunited when their mutual best friend, Kyle, succumbs to his HIV infection and Raymond returns to New York City to be by his side. Over the years, E. Lynn Harris has proved himself a powerful male counterpart to the commercial success of African American authors like Terry McMillan; the turbulent plot of Just As I Am, with its relentless focus on characters' feelings, ably demonstrates how he's become so popular.

From Publishers Weekly
Set in a black upper-middle class milieu, this unappealing potboiler attempts to detail the lives and loves of an intersecting group of overachievers with a variety of sexual appetites. Harris ( Invisible Life ) has managed to capture the material aspects of the good life and the East Coast black gay scene, but he has also propped up his labored prose on a well-intentioned scaffold of gay activist issues. The result is more checklist than novel: when a character is introduced, a demographic stereotype is quickly outlined to elicit the reader's mechanical response. Successful, handsome and bisexual, African American sports lawyer Raymond Tyler Jr. has just moved to Atlanta from New York. But he's plagued by problems. His respected and politically active Alabama family think he's straight. He's hot for a supposedly hetero colleague at the law firm who seems to be coming on to him, but who fears being exposed. His newest client, a sexy star NFL quarterback and arrogant troublemaker, wants a little action too and doesn't mind embarrassing Tyler to get it. Meanwhile, Tyler's former lover, a New York actress, is dealing with a rich, pushy and cartoonishly possessive lover. Melodramatic and banal, this book is soap opera material. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Harris confronts several important issues head-on in this novel of a black American's coming out. Atlanta lawyer Raymond Tyler struggles with his sexual identity, openly dating women while seeking male liaisons and justifying his lifestyle under the guise of bisexuality. A year of crisis brings Raymond face to face with himself as he deals with Nicole, who loves him; Basil, who has a facade to maintain; Kyle, who is dying of AIDS; his parents, who don't understand; and Jared, his straight best friend. The execution is too pat, but superb character development and insight make this a powerful sequel to Invisible Life , which was privately printed in 1991 and is now being reissued by Anchor: Doubleday. Many gay readers will identify with the story, which often seems more truth than fiction. Recommended.
- Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

ADDICTED TO E. LYNN HARRIS!!!!!!!!
This is my second book by Mr. Harris and I must say that I am truly impressed. Just As I Am was the perfect sequel to Invisible Life. I could not put it down! Now that I am done, I am on Amazon. com to buy the third book in Harris's trilogy! I did however get a bit irritated at Nicole's color hang-up. I mean, I can understand her pain of being teased as a child but come on, she's all grown up now and an actress and the winner of numerous beauty pagents. Pleeezze!! It was refreshing in a way to know that Jared was not gay and yet had no qualms about he and Ray's friendship. But still a little part of me wanted him to be with Ray! E.Lynn Harris has really opened my eyes to the gay African-American community. I really enjoy reading his work and I just hope that he can write them as fast I can read them!!!

Get lost in this book!
E. Lynne Harris is absolutely amazing! My boyfriend bought the trilogy of books home (Invisible Life, Just As I Am, and Abide With Me), and right around the time I had started to question his sexuailty, I picked it up and kept reading until I finished all three (I realized I was out the loop for not having read these sooner). This book however was my favorite of the three. Harris is able to deal with the characters of this book with a honesty that humanizes them to the utmost, and at times made me laugh, cry, and scream with them. A face is put on the sufferers of HIV and AIDS, as Harris takes us through Kyle's struggle with the diseases. Although Kyle may seem like he is dying, I soon learned he knew more about life than most people who live full, healthy lives. I rarely have had a book move me to the point of tears, but this is the one. I was often annoyed with Nicole, and her confusion and self-hate about her skin color, but I came to realize that these are human things. I am so impressed with this book, because Harris seeks not only to entertain, but successly taught me life lessons as well...

Ridiculously juvenile!
I am truly stupefied that anyone found this book anything more than dry and pretentious.These characters are so underdeveloped and superficial I was able to read as a completely detached observer.The dialogue is contrived and stilted,and there is no unity in the narrative of the story:the chapters could well be excerpts from any of 100 different books...but let's at least be glad there aren't 100 other similar books out there. I sympathize with the author's sense of urgency in revealing the angst of the gay male of African origin,and that of AIDS sufferers, but an essay on the same would have been a more humane experience than this juvenile short story that E. Lynn Harris tries to pass off as adult literary fiction!