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Review

240 pages, Softcover

Quentin Crisp, long famous as "one of the stately homos of England," exiled himself to America in 1982 after he discovered that in New York, "happiness rains down from the sky." Resident Alien is often bitingly amusing account of his love affair with the Big Apple. Based on his diary in The New York Native, this is vintage Crisp: at once witty and profound, tough-minded and compassionate, outrageous and wise. His affecting words cover topics from politics to prejudice, from the human spirit to the individual obstacles he faces every day in his solitary life. But the real flavor of his writing lies not in the punchy one-liners but instead derives from that mixture of wicked humor and gentle wisdom, of raconteurial flair and analytical rigor, of Swiftian indignation and superhuman tolerance. These combined factors make him a most remarkable man, and make his story gripping, funny, insightful, and starkly revealing.