Cross Dressing by Bill Fitzhugh

Cross Dressing Reviews

• 
  Aynge

  I didn't laugh once, and though I'm not Catholic, I was actually offended several times. Talk about sacrilegious. Want to read a funny book? Pick up Chris Moore's Lamb.
• 
  Sid Nuncius

  I have read and enjoyed several of Bill Fitzhugh’s books; I think this is the best so far. It is readable and amusing, but also carries some truly scathing satire.
  
  The plot is based heavily in farce, of course. Dan Steele is a cynical, materialistic, uncaring advertising executive with little compassion or moral sense. By an...er...unusual sequence of events he ends up pretending to be a Catholic priest and working in a badly underfunded Care Centre run by an unconventional and very attractive nun. This being Bill Fitzhugh, he also has a number of people who are trying to track him down and kill him.
  
  The story of an inhumane man discovering his humanity may sound hackneyed, but it’s very well done, very amusing and has a plot which becomes quite gripping. It is also brilliantly excoriating about the contrast between the many magnificently good people who do the Church’s work on the ground and the self-serving behaviour of some of its hierarchy. Fitzhugh’s approach is probably best summed up in a quote he uses from Lenny Bruce: “Every day people are drifting away from the church and going back to God.” He also takes some very well aimed potshots at the advertising industry, US materialism and so on.
  
  Most of all, though, this is a really good read; I was hooked and thoroughly enjoyed it, and I’ve rounded 4.5 stars up to 5 for that reason. Warmly recommended.
  
  (My thanks to Farrago for an ARC via NetGalley.)
• 
  Steven Brandt

  Dan Steele wants the best life has to offer: the best beachfront property, the best car, the best stereo, the best clothes. Unfortunately, he is only a mediocre advertising executive. So to keep up with his own expensive tastes, he has to rack up a huge amount of debt. But Dan always has his eye out for a chance to get ahead and when one of his fellow ad-execs comes up with a winning campaign for a hundred million dollar account, Dan wastes no time stealing it and presenting it as his own work, and framing the guy as a drug user in the bargain. For one shining moment, things seem to finally be going the way Dan wants them to.
  
  Then Dan’s twin brother Michael shows up. Michael is a Catholic priest who just returned from a rather harrowing mission trip to Africa. He is suffering from a poorly treated wound he received while in Africa and has nowhere to turn but his brother Dan. Naturally Dan doesn’t have any money to get his brother medical treatment, so he comes up with a scheme to have his brother pose as him so that they can use Dan’s health insurance. The plan works reasonably well, until Michael dies. So the upshot is that Michael is dead and Dan must now pretend to be Michael to avoid an insurance fraud lawsuit.
  
  Now Dan must live the life of a priest, while the homicidal ad-exec that he cheated tries to kill him, insurance investigors hunt him, and bank examiners try to shut down Michael’s care center, now being run by Dan. Whew! Sounds a little like an episode of Friends.
  
  Cross Dressing was kind of up and down for me. Early on in the story I was a bit put off by Dan’s amoral behavior, I mean seriously amoral, and Sister Peg really threw me for a loop. I mean, here’s nun who blackmails and steals to keep her care center going, and hires prostitutes in the bargain. I was close to giving up on this book altogether but I decided to stick with it a little bit longer. I understand that Bill Fitzhugh was poking fun at Christians and that’s okay; I can take a joke as well as anyone. So I kept listening and after a while I began to sense a certain pattern emerging.
  
  After Dan’s brother, the priest, dies and Dan is sort of forced to take his place I began to have hope. Dan goes to work at Sister Peg’s shelter and it seems that a previously unknown side of Dan begins to emerge. He almost immediately connects with a little girl at the shelter named Alyssa, who is there because of an abusive father. Fitzhugh drops a few clues that Dan’s own troubled childhood helps him to relate to Alyssa. Then Dan actually begins working on the shelter: cooking, cleaning, even doing repair work around the place. The pattern I was beginning to see, and hope for, was one we’ve all seen before: the greedy old scrooge type gets a look at how the other half live and decides to change his ways. And for all I know, that may be where Fitzhugh was headed with this. Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the end. There was a particular part of the story where Dan has come up with a brilliant idea to spark some funding for the shelter. It involved an ad campaign featuring Jesus hanging on the cross, bloody and broken, but then Jesus lifts his head, smiles and winks at the camera, and begins the sales pitch. That was too much for me, so I quit right there, about three-quarters of the way through the book.
  
  Narrator Colby Elliott did a fine job as usual. At first I felt his pace was a little too fast, but once I became acclimated, it seemed okay. I think Elliott reads with a certain amount of enthusiasm that really adds something to the story.
  
  Fitzhugh is a clever writer and can be downright funny at times, but Cross Dressing didn’t suit my own personal tastes. I think this is a book that a lot of people will enjoy, however.
  
  
  Steven Brandt @ Audiobook-Heaven
• 
  Rogue Reader

  Still reading some easy release fiction, moving through a tbr pile from 2004 - Fitzhugh's Cross Dressings is next on the pile, a pun on religion and on clothing neither of which make the man or women but do make a good story, though trite. Fitzhugh reminds me of Christopher Moore without the woo woo.
• 
  John Derek

  I didn’t realise that this was a re-release of a much earlier work from the author and wasn't sure if it was an attempt to jump on the bandwagon because of the author's current popularity.
  I have read some of Bill Fitzhugh's books before and found them mildly amusing. The Bug Job was very enjoyable. But Cross Dressing is a bit of a let-down, especially considering the description the book promoters issued. For something hyped to be black comedy, this was very much ordinary, banal and predictable.
  I did think at one point we were entering Nuns on The Run territory. I wish we were because at least that made me smile, giggle and guffaw. Cross Dressing failed on all counts.
  Everything seemed to be so clichéd and over the top. The religious element was not in the least bit funny and will have many up picking up the sick bucket. (I am no Catholic, yet I was actually offended by some of the material.) Having a bit of fun with the Church is one thing (I am sure they can take a joke), but this went above and beyond, in my view.
  I like black humour and comedy in the right place, but not like this. Everything was forced and rushed. Nothing new under the sun, as they say, but at least make an effort to put a different spin on things.
  Predictable just about summed this book up for me, as it was really disappointing.
• 
  Stephanie Dagg

  This book is a riot, but with a serious side too.
  Take two (obviously) twin brothers who have grown up to be poles apart - a Catholic priest and an advertising agent- and throw them back together. But only briefly, as Father Michael suddenly dies of a tropical disease. Whilst saddened, Dan sees the opportunity to leave his troubles behind (and he has plenty of them) by becoming his dead brother. Now this self-centred, ambitious individual who rubbed shoulders with thrusting over-achievers is having to cope with life's victims and their dedicated carers.
  There's loads of humour but also plenty of very sharp social commentary. The cast of characters is wide and varied, with every one of them eccentric in some way and, as a result, they're all utterly fascinating. Settings, from plush offices to shabby social centres, are created for the reader in lively detail. The plot is clever and always entertaining.
  Much to enjoy in this excellent novel.
• 
  Drew K

  Can a debt-ridden ad executive find true happiness assuming the identity of his dead twin brother? Especially if that means living as a priest? Bill Fitzhugh dares to find out in this book, and it's a wild ride as we try to answer that question. This book strikes the wonderful balance of being hilarious, with several laugh out loud moments, while carrying a plot I really cared about. It sounds like a recipe many authors try - mix together a madcap plot, mistaken identities, quirky characters and a little bit of sexual tension and see how it all comes out - well this one comes out perfect! This is my favorite of his books that I've read so far, and although that list is short, it's about to get longer as I set out to read all the others that I can.
  
  Thanks to Farrago Books and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Patricia

  Absolutely the funniest book I've read in a long time. He takes on big advertising and the church and he shows no mercy to either.
  
  The characters were fabulous. (In my mind's eye, I kept seeing Scott Emmans as the stapler guy in Office Space.)
  
  The storyline flowed in and out through the entirety of the book and was very easy to follow.
  
  All in all, Bill Fitzhugh just hits it out of the park with this one. I can only hope that someone makes this into a movie. It would be a shame not to.
• 
  Annarella

  Funny and full of dark humor, it made me laugh and kept me reading the farcical adventures of the characters.
  I grew up Catholic and some of the characters are quite realistic even it may sound weird.
  Full of dark humour it may not be everyone's cup of tea but it surely was mine.
  Highly recommended.
  Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
• 
  Jeff Thomas

  Clever, funny, a quick, but engaging read.
• 
  Lenny

  Started slow and seemed like a Anti-Catholic rant-- BUT I was wrong. This is a wonderfully woven story with great characters. I enjoyed it very much
• 
  Colin Harris

  didn't finish. The crowbarred-in Steely Dan references got just too much for me.
• 
  Howard

  A deft, funny, caper novel, incorporating gleefully savage attacks on the Church, the advertising industry, and the charity industry; occasionally heartfelt characters; and an inspired marketing gimmick.
  
  While often compared to Hiassen, Fitzhugh is fast creating his own dark and funny category. In this third outing, amoral adman Dan Steele, up to his neck in debt and smug consumerism, is fish-out-of-watered when he steals the best idea of his career ("More is more") from an unstable copywriter, just as Dan's twin brother Michael, an excommunicated do-gooder priest, returns from Africa, ill. Registered at the hospital as Dan for insurance coverage, Michael succumbs to tetanus, and, on the run from legal problems, insurance investigators and his now homicidal ex-colleague, Dan dons Michael's collar. As Father Michael, Dan goes to work at Sister Peg's Care Center, where he falls for Peg (fortunately, no more a nun than he is a priest). Predictably, Dan finds redemption caring for others, and he'll obviously save the financially teetering facility with his advertising savvy. Fitzhugh commits sins of inclusion, as well: There are two hookers with hearts of gold; no less than four gunmen converging for the climax; not content to harpoon his satirical targets, Fitzhugh levels them with assault weapons and then jumps up and down on their heads. There's always a bit too much of everything, but the author's having so much fun that we do, too. To top it off, he claims a product placement deal--the first ever for a novel--with Seagram's, and you can hear him chortling through the ad-speak whenever Dan is glowingly described sipping scotch.
  
  Smart, fast and funny. Fitzhugh is a dangerous man.
  
• 
  Marc Gerstein

  Lover of satire that I am, I’m starting to get hooked on Bill Fitzhugh. Like another of my favorites, Christopher Buckley, Fitzhugh is a contemporary practitioner of the art although Fitzhugh’s humor tends to be a bit darker and his plots have more of a mystery=thriller angle. Nevertheless, “Cross Dressing” is a hoot, and plays especially well as a listen-as-you-exercise audio.
  
  Dan Steele is an ethically-challenged ad exec who tries to help his twin brother Michael, a priest who apparently picked up a bad disease while trying to good work in Africa. Unfortunately, Michael dies in the hospital (this is not a spoiler, it’s part of the setup). More unfortunately, he dies with Dan’s identity (and insurance) since the brothers did a name switch; Michael had no insurance and they had no idea his health issues were major, much less fatal. So suddenly, Dan can’t be Dan and must be Michael. Now, as readers, we’re ready to take on the ad industry, the church, street gangs, insurance fraud investigators, and a homicidal ex ad guy turned electronics salesman. It’s a fun ride, and it’s pretty much impossible to anticipate what’s coming. And by the way, make sure you read the Epilogue, but don’t peek ahead. Really. :-)
  
• 
  Muneer Uddin

  After reading Pest Control, I picked up Organ Grinders and hated it. This book was a triumphant return to the style of writing and humor that made Pest Control such a great book. The character development is excellent. At the beginning of the novel, Dan Steele, the main character is a prototypical yuppie executive whose thirst for material possessions exceeds all other desires in his life. By the end, he cares about his fellow man and not as much about how many toys he can amass. The aspect of the novel that really shines, though, is how Fitzhugh portrays the residents of the Care Center. While most authors might stereotype the elderly as cranky old codgers, Fitzhugh portrays them as the people who society forgot and who are desperately trying to cling to the Care Center, the last meaningful thing in their lives. While the ending seems kind of rushed, it is satisfying. This novel is a return to the style of Pest Control, and is all the better for it.
• 
  Steven Gregor

  Well-written and funny, the author clearly cares about the issues discussed in the book. While it's almost as fashionable today to bash the Church as it was in 2000 when the book was originally published, the gentle rebukes of certain portions of Catholic doctrine are all the more powerful because he concedes that the Church is full of driven, motivated people seeking to make the world a better place and that the institution is a global force for good and most individuals that are members (or pretend to be members) of the clergy are good people trying to do good things. Honestly, it's a refreshing take that you rarely see on TV shows, movies, or in the news. I'd recommend it to Catholic friends looking for a funny book to read.
• 
  Sylvia

  Absolutely loved it. This book hit all the marks ... the most improbable characters were utterly believable (a reformed hooker masquerading as a nun and an ad-man with hellhounds on his trail taking cover in a collar?) , AND managed to illuminate an un-heavenly host of contemporary problems on every level from neighborhood to national to international AND do it with equal measures of empathy, hilarity, insight and indignation. Bill Fitzhugh is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors.
• 
  Carol Jean

  They don't come any more bitter and cynical than this book! The advertising business and the Catholic church collide, and the explosion is devastating.
  
  I love Fitzhugh's turn of phrase. Favorites in this book: "His most prominent feature (was) a look of sweaty disappointment" and, speaking of the residents of an old age home, "living vicariously better lives through television." The latter would be a great slogan for something...perhaps our culture in general?
• 
  Neil

  Bill Fitzhugh delivers a well-tied knot of a book, reminiscent of Christopher Moore. You have to flex your suspension of disbelief, but the ride is worth it. This isn't his best book, but the LA setting and the Catholic backdrop makes it worth the time.