COVER STORY

At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream by Wade Rouse

For When: You gotta be out in the country

by Josh Middleton

Published: Jun 16, 2010


(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

The concept of a flaming homo like Wade Rouse moving from the city to a cottage in the woods is akin to the poor shark swimming through the oily Gulf. It's bat-shit crazy.

Still, Wade and his partner, Gary, agree to forfeit pampered cosmopolitan living in an attempt to find their life's meaning in the rustic Michigan wilderness. Guided by Thoreau's Walden and emboldened by I Love Lucy reruns, Rouse sets out in At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream: Misadventures in Search of the Simple Life to tackle his self-penned to-do list of 10 life lessons.

For this quintessential girly man, it's not surprising that some of his greatest challenges derive from the realization that certain urban luxuries no longer make the cut when living among trees and rabid raccoons. His recollection of experiences — like trading his pointy-toed Kenneth Coles for "vomit green" waders or desperately driving two hours out of his way for a strip mall and a quadruple-shot vanilla latte — are laugh-out-loud hilarious.

But don't be quick to count this sister out. Working through the initial tribulations, Wade eventually discovers the fabulosity of rural living. Suddenly he taps into his spiritual side and begins to work those backwoods like Dorothy in her ruby reds. Oh, snap.

Three Rivers Press, 301 pp., $14, June 2

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