Both a coming-of-age and a coming-out story, this memoir by Paul Monette (1945-1995) tells about what he considered his "wasted years"--the years before he met the man who would become his long-term lover, and before he came out as a homosexual. The author discusses the pain of being a closeted homosexual, and of AIDS, which claimed the lives of many of his friends. Though the story follows the usual autobiography format, describing his early life, family, education, and later life, the writing is infused with a sense of the political, and the author's anger clearly comes through.