One of These Things First Audiobook By Steven Gaines cover art

One of These Things First

Preview
Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

One of These Things First

By: Steven Gaines
Narrated by: Steven Gaines
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

From New York Times best-selling author Steven Gaines comes a wry and touching memoir of his trials as a gay teen at the famed Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic.

One of These Things First is a poignant reminiscence of a 15-year-old gay Jewish boy's unexpected trajectory from a life behind a rack of dresses in his grandmother's Brooklyn bra-and-girdle store to Manhattan's infamous Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic, whose alumni includes writers, poets, and madmen as well as Marilyn Monroe and best-selling author Steven Gaines.

With a gimlet eye and a true gift for storytelling, Gaines captures his childhood shtetl in Brooklyn, and all its drama and secrets, like an Edward Hopper tableau: his philandering grandfather with his fleet of Cadillacs and Corvettes; a giant, empty movie theater, his portal to the outside world; a shirtless teenage boy pushing a lawnmower; and a pair of tormenting bullies whose taunts drive Gaines to a suicide attempt.

Gaines also takes the listener behind the walls of Payne Whitney - the "Harvard of psychiatric clinics", as Time magazine called it - populated by a captivating group of neurasthenics who affect his life in unexpected ways. The cast of characters includes a famous Broadway producer who becomes his unlikely mentor; an elegant woman who claims to be the ex-mistress of newly elected president John F. Kennedy; a snooty, suicidal architect; and a seductive young contessa. At the center of the story is a brilliant young psychiatrist who promises to cure a young boy of his homosexuality and give him the normalcy he so longs for.

For listeners who love stories of self-transformation, One of These Things First is a fascinating memoir in the vein of Susanna Kaysen's Girl, Interrupted and Augusten Burroughs' Running with Scissors. With its novelistic texture and unflagging narrative, this book is destined to become one of the great indelible works of the memoir genre.

©2016 Steven Gaines (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Americas Biographies & Memoirs State & Local United States Funny
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup
Honest Storytelling • Engaging Memoir • Fascinating Characters • Emotional Impact • Skillful Writing • Bizarre Family
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
I thoroughly enjoyed this delightful (relatively short) autobiographical piece read by the author. Entertaining, interesting, amusing. I loved that it took place (mostly) in Brooklyn NY. I think The fact that Steven Gaines and I come from similar backgrounds and are close in age probably added a great deal to my enjoyment. Not a prerequisite, though, not by any means.

Delightful!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Not what I expected, but definitely worth the listen. This book was insightful from the child male prospective, enjoyed.

Enjoyable!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

The background story of his life in a time where being different and the stuggles and difficulties he had to go through growing up.

Pulls at your heartstrings

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This book was a nice reminder that there are people who are actually more neurotic than I am. This poor kid. I guess I never really thought about what it must have been like to be gay in an era where it was considered a mental disorder. What a relief that this seems to have changed a great deal in public perception.
I like listening to the stories about his crazy family and the odd balls in his neighborhood. I also found it strange that while his father seemed to be a jerk in some ways he was actually very supportive in others. I don't know many fathers who would take their child daily, for 2 weeks, to where a show was being taped, in the off chance of glimpsing a star. Or who would remain in poverty to send their child to psychoanalysis.
Anyway, it's worth the listen.

It's an interesting look into this man's youth

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Picked this up on the Daily Deal. Had not expected to find it so interesting/enjoyable. One of my two favorite books this year - keep thinking about it. And the author reads it himself . . . always a bonus.

Loved it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Gaines delights in transporting listeners to the very bowels of his NYC past then catapults you into his hilarious and unique world of his stint at Payne Whitney mental hospital. His writing is chalk full of fantastic characters and lively discussions and revelations. Gaines reads this book and I couldnt imagine it any other way. He is a story teller! I got this on sale and honestly, I would have gladly paid full price for this work of art. There isn't a dull moment. A must get!

A MUST READ (hear)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I liked learning about the psychology used in earlier times. I had not understood how being gay was a disease rather than just the way one is. This helped me to understand a little more

good story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

you don't find this book interesting! What stories, and well told! I'm glad I just happened to stumble on this while browsing Audible's choices.

You'd have to be crazy if...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Loved this book. The author made me feel I was actually in New York and at all the places he grew up in and not only to care about him but the people who were in and out of his life.

Great listening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Coming of age when being gay was considered a mental illness, when psychiatrists thought they could "change" people into being straight, was a terrible, heartbreaking time. It makes this book painful to read in spite of the upbeat take the author seems to have on his life now.

Interesting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews