Edwin John Wintle: Breakfast With Tiffany Reviews


	reviews UK/International Reviews *People ("Critic's Choice")* June 27, 2005 "Breakfast with Tiffany is charming without being sentimental. Wintle's dead-on wit sparks the narrative, and his neurotic but creative approach to child-rearing is bracing . . . In the end, both Wintle and his feisty niece learn more than expected about the power of love -- in all of its incarnations." *Read the full review*
	Entertainment Weekly: (#113 on the 2005 MUST LIST: "122 People & Things We Love This Summer") June 24/ July 1, 2005 "Wintle's new memoir, recounting how the gay writer came to raise 13-year-old niece Tiffany, is one of the most unconventional -- and heart-warming -- parenting guides ever." *Read the full review*
	ELLE (Winner of the “Elle’s Lettres” August Readers’ Prize) August, 2005 “In a three-way photo finish, [our readers] favored actor, lawyer, film agent, man about town, and newbie author Edwin John Wintle’s account of taking his niece under his wing over the latest from two seasoned authors and magazine writers. . . . This is an endearing coming-of-age story set in the Big Apple. It’s easy to get caught up in the seamlessly written narrative of ‘Uncle Eddy,’ who in trying to help save his troubled niece winds up saving himself. Wintle bewitchingly captures both the spirit of the angst-ridden girl and his own fears of inadequacy as a substitute parent. This lovely journey of two people becoming a real, modern family brought back memories of my nephew crashing at my house as a teen and of my struggle to be both a friend and a guardian to him. . . . I wish I’d had a fairy god-uncle back when I was in high school."
	Time Out New York (10th Anniversary Issue) October 5, 2005 “Wintle’s uncle perspective is a unique one, and the prose of his first book is fast-paced, loving, absorbing and wonderfully witty.”
	*The London Times Sunday Book Review* August 7, 2005 “Prepare to be seriously charmed. Prepare to have your heart wrenched and your cockles warmed. . . Exquisite.”
	New York Magazine -- A “Best Beach Reading” Pick The Summer Issue: July 4 – 11, 2005 “Heartwarming”
	*Entertainment Weekly: (Grade B+)* June 17, 2004 "In his funny, caring, gentle way, Wintle manages to get through to Tiffany, and she to him, forming an odd but very real family."
	Time Out (Summer Reading Pick) May 5-11, 2005 “Wintle’s book, already being made into a film, is Baby Boom meets Auntie Mame, only the adult is a gay bachelor in Greenwich Village and the child is his troubled teen niece from Connecticut. Seen through witty, neat-freak eyes, it’s all quite entertaining.”
	Genre July 2005 "Surprisingly affecting . . . The interaction between 'Uncle Eddy' and Tiffany is nothing short of irresistable."
	Out June 2005 ". . . breezy and entertaining . . . Wintle's true-life tale eventually generates real emotional weight. The relationships between gay men and their families are often fraught with danger, but Breakfast with Tiffany portrays a homo overachiever intent on lifting his loved ones up — against their will if necessary."
	Kirkus Reviews (Starred review) May 1, 2005 "She's 13, he's 40; she's been given her walking papers from her mother, he's the uncle there to catch her: they are a modernized odd couple, and the sparks they throw are a glowing pyrotechnic display. Tiffany is a life force with attitude problems, a taste for belly-button jewels and face tackle, who informs Wintle that snorting dust will make you paranoid (heroin makes you mellow, she notes), and can play her uncle's heart like a bongo and crack it like a coconut; Wintle is an obsessive-compulsive "all-time Control Queen" who will rise to the occasion, bringing to it a delightfully nuanced, impractical, caring, ham-handed, heart-gladdening, inclusive, protective approach. [Wintle] struggles to meet each new challenge head on, taking cues from his own sad youth and fraught adulthood . . . with a gorgeous clarity. The story begins and ends with Tiffany's freshman year at high school . . . leaving readers to pray for volumes sophomore through senior."
	Publisher's Weekly April 25, 2005 "[Wintle] does an exceptional job of portraying Tiffany as a complex teenager . . . The lighthearted tone makes a serious subject amusing, and Wintle is charmingly self-deprecating . . . the journey is eye-opening, and anyone who's wondered about the mysterious lives of teenagers will enjoy Wintle's tale."
	Instinct (Grade: A) June 2005 "Edwin John Wintle takes on a role other gay men may wonder if they'd be good at: parenting. "Good art always stirs up some emotions," Wintle tells his niece, Tiffany -- who has come to live with him in Manhattan to get away from a horrible home life with her mother, Wintle's sister. Emotions are indeed stirred in this remarkably syrup-free, honest account of raising a 12-year-old girl in a dangerous city. They work through real pain, frustration, heartbreak, rebellion, preteen angst and mind-boggling parental fear and helplessness with determination and gritty hope. It's not sappy; it's good art." Detroit News June, 2006 “Memoirs don't have the best reputation right now, but don't let Oprah villain James Frey ruin it for the good guys like Edwin John Wintle, whose Breakfast with Tiffany: An Uncle's Memoir, is a refreshing, quick read in a genre that can be tired.” NY Newsday July 17, 2005 “A sassy narrator, Wintle’s story shakes things up. Funny and poignant . . . bright storytelling” Chicago Tribune July 31, 2005 “Wintle knows how to milk a dramatic moment. His exacting eye for the details of teenhood are rich. In a country where several states ban adoption by gays and lesbians and anti-gay marriage crusaders stomp on homosexual family values, Wintle’s story of nontraditional parenting proves the personal is political.” *Seattle Post-Intelligencer* June 17, 2005 “A winning, realistic and sometimes scary memoir of parenting in the teen years.” Cleveland Plain Dealer June 19, 2005 “A heart-warming, cautionary tale, Wintle doesn’t create false, sentimental scenes. His honesty leavens his intentions with the reality all parents face. This is a book about real life. And love.” Palm Beach Post June 26, 2005 “A breezy, conversational writer . . . Wintle doesn’t make either himself or his niece into sitcom cartoons. Tiffany and Uncle Eddy are both layered people. Wintle is rather wise, although he’s careful not to be caught at it . . . [A] mingled, bittersweet feeling is what makes Breakfast with Tiffany such an unassuming joy.” San Diego Union-Tribune July 17, 2005 “Uncle Eddy is very sane and isn’t going to be buffaloed, so much of the book plays like an extended episode of ‘Supernanny’ – the gay, slightly frivolous New Yorker with transsexual best friend spends a lot of his time channeling Robert Young in ‘Father Knows Best.’” Frontiers (2005 "Best of the Best") "Deliriously self-aware . . . How a self-absorbed, obsessive, 40-year-old gay man becomes a parent in the face of the irrationality of teenage girldom is hysterically funny, eye-opening, and unforgettable." Inside Out Hudson Valley "It's a sad, funny, insightful, and challenging chronicle of the first year of this unconventional family . . . and we're lucky enough to get a glimpse into this tumultuous yet tender beginning." Southern Voice May 27, 2005 "Uncle's story of raising troubled niece transcends gay [and] parenting memoirs with compelling account of love and self-doubt. . . . . interesting, enjoyable, challenging . . . emotionally riveting writing. The book jacket likens him to fellow gay writers and memoirists Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris, but the comparison falls short. That's not a criticism of Wintle. It's just that the incidents Wintle recounts in "Breakfast," at times seemingly outrageous, never push the boundaries of believability like some of Burroughs' anecdotes. And while Wintle is certainly witty, his writing never hits the level of hilarious sarcasm inherent in Sedaris' essays. But perhaps because of this, Wintle also reaches emotional depths often missing in Sedaris' just-for-laughs observations."
	contact \| home ©ejw2014 site by arroyo design