Kilmer-Purcell fertilizes this narrative until it reeks of charm.” — New York Times
“Enter 60 goats and homemade soap, apple-picking and an heirloom vegetable garden. Hilarity follows. And trouble. But let’s not spoil the party. It’s fun.” — USA Today
“The Bucolic Plague has something different to offer—if we can do it anyone can, it tells us, provided we can laugh at ourselves.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Side-splitting.” — Wall Street Journal
“A hilarious memoir.” — Whole Living
“The witty new memoir from Josh Kilmer-Purcell.” — Food & Wine, Online Review
“Always entertaining and often moving.” — The Stranger (Seattle)
“Baby goats, diarrhea, and Martha Stewart. Former drag queen turned goat farmer Josh Kilmer-Purcell begins his latest book, The Bucolic Plague , with a hilarious vignette involving all three. Clearly, the man has an interesting story to tell.” — Wisconsin State Journal
“Kilmer-Purcell writes with dramatic flair and trenchant wit, uncovering mirthful metaphors as he plows through their daily experiences.” — Publishers Weekly
“This particular merging of city and country is both sweet and savory.” — Kirkus Reviews
“I adore the Beekman boys’ story. Their unlikely story of love, the land, and a herd of goats is hilariously honest. If these two can go from Manhattan to a goat farm in upstate New York, then I can’t help feeling there is hope for us all.” — Alice Waters
“I gobbled up this book like…well, like goat cheese on a cracker. Kilmer-Purcell’s genius lies in his ability to blindside the reader with heart-wrenching truths in the midst of the most outlandish scenarios. He makes you laugh until you care.” — Armistead Maupin
“A delicious book about two city boys who buy a farm, fall in love with a herd of goats, and attempt to revive the American dream. . . . Never has mucking out a stall been more scintillating!” — Alison Smith, author of Name All the Animals
“My Amtrak seat mate in the Quiet Car, a complete stranger, insisted that I read out loud the scene — a goat in labor — that was making me laugh so hard I was crying. . . . Kilmer-Purcell’s book is manically funny, sweetly open and trusting, and slick and snarky.” — New York Times Book Review
The Bucolic Plague has something different to offer—if we can do it anyone can, it tells us, provided we can laugh at ourselves.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
A hilarious memoir.
My Amtrak seat mate in the Quiet Car, a complete stranger, insisted that I read out loud the scene — a goat in labor — that was making me laugh so hard I was crying. . . . Kilmer-Purcell’s book is manically funny, sweetly open and trusting, and slick and snarky.
New York Times Book Review
I adore the Beekman boys’ story. Their unlikely story of love, the land, and a herd of goats is hilariously honest. If these two can go from Manhattan to a goat farm in upstate New York, then I can’t help feeling there is hope for us all.
A delicious book about two city boys who buy a farm, fall in love with a herd of goats, and attempt to revive the American dream. . . . Never has mucking out a stall been more scintillating!
I gobbled up this book like…well, like goat cheese on a cracker. Kilmer-Purcell’s genius lies in his ability to blindside the reader with heart-wrenching truths in the midst of the most outlandish scenarios. He makes you laugh until you care.
The Bucolic Plague has something different to offer—if we can do it anyone can, it tells us, provided we can laugh at ourselves.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
Raised in rural Wisconsin, Kilmer-Purcell moved to Manhattan to work in advertising in the 1990s. In his memoir I Am Not Myself These Days, he wrote about moonlighting as a nightclub drag queen. Now he recalls how he and his partner, Dr. Brent Ridge, a Martha Stewart Omni Media v-p, became weekend farmers after purchasing the 19th-century Beekman Mansion on 60 acres near the “hauntingly beautiful” town of Sharon Springs, N.Y. Kilmer-Purcell writes with dramatic flair and trenchant wit, uncovering mirthful metaphors as he plows through their daily experiences, meeting neighbors, signing on caretaker Farmer John, herding goats, canning tomatoes, and digging a garden, as they fix up the 205-year-old house. Cleverly contrasting ad agency life with rustic barn mucking, he must choose: “I just can’t face spending the rest of my life behind a desk selling dish soap to Middle America. Hell, I want to be Middle America.” This entertaining book gets an extra big boost from the forthcoming Beekman Farm, a Planet Green documentary TV series about the dynamic duo’s eco-adventures scheduled to air this spring. (June)
Enter 60 goats and homemade soap, apple-picking and an heirloom vegetable garden. Hilarity follows. And trouble. But let’s not spoil the party. It’s fun.
Kilmer-Purcell fertilizes this narrative until it reeks of charm.
Always entertaining and often moving.
The witty new memoir from Josh Kilmer-Purcell.
Side-splitting.
Baby goats, diarrhea, and Martha Stewart. Former drag queen turned goat farmer Josh Kilmer-Purcell begins his latest book, The Bucolic Plague , with a hilarious vignette involving all three. Clearly, the man has an interesting story to tell.
Enter 60 goats and homemade soap, apple-picking and an heirloom vegetable garden. Hilarity follows. And trouble. But let’s not spoil the party. It’s fun.
Side-splitting.
Kilmer-Purcell, best-selling author of I Am Not Myself and Candy Everybody Wants, recounts how he and his partner, Brent Ridge, fell in love and came to buy a farm in upstate New York. Longtime urbanites by nature and habit, they found themselves attracted to and somewhat serendipitously owners of the Beekman Mansion. Fans of both Oprah and Martha Stewart, they quickly became fully involved with renovating the house and turning it into an organic business making soap and lotion. Reality eventually sets in, and the strain tests their relationship. Johnny Heller, who has won two Audie Awards, narrates with good humor. This audiobook is recommended for listeners who are fans of David Sedaris, Stewart, and memoirs.—Pam Kingsbury, Univ. of North Alabama, Florence
A successful urban couple accidentally buys a rural estate and tries on weekends to make the place into a self-supporting farm while keeping their 9-to-5’s in Manhattan. Both Martha Stewart and Oprah are heavily implicated; theirs is a dream of aspiration shared by many Americans, if different in details. Kilmer-Purcell, who has enjoyed success as a memoirist, a drag queen, and a high-powered ad exec, has a stylish wit, and he artfully moves his story from the shared fantasy to some harsh realities. There is much charm, real love, and wisdom here. Johnny Heller rushes his delivery (“had to” is always “hadda”), but you probably won’t care. And when you’re done, rush to Beekman1802.com for the author’s strawberry galette recipe. It’s hilarious. B.G. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
A former drag queen swaps his pumps for work boots and life on a remote farm. After retiring his alter ego in favor of an advertising career and a serious relationship, Kilmer-Purcell (Candy Everybody Wants, 2008, etc.) and his partner Brent, the "resident health and wellness expert" for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, became instantly enchanted with Sharon Springs, a charming, upstate New York town they discovered by accident during a yearly apple-picking excursion. Their adoration spawned the purchase of the historic Beekman Mansion, a million-dollar monstrosity built in 1802, replete with seven working fireplaces, a crypt and 60 acres of farmland. As both men were raised conservatively, the joint purchase of this "second home" was extravagant and indulgent, though Kilmer-Purcell admits to seeing his future "as promising as a roll of free drink tickets once was to me." Aided by John, their trusty "co-farmer," along with the camaraderie of friendly locals, the couple began raising turkeys, dairy goats, a Holstein bull calf, a vegetable garden and a goat's-milk soap business, which exploded after a promotion on a Martha Stewart segment. A cavalcade of farming misadventures followed, all recounted in the author's droll, deadpan delivery. (The countless Martha Stewart references, however, come across as arrogant.) Eventually, the pastoral joys of country life, and Brent's unexpected layoff, took their toll on the couple's nearly-ten-year relationship. An apprehensive visit from a New York Times reporter helped leaven the mood, before the pair considered selling the farm as Kilmer-Purcell lamented, "Had this all been one big folly?"Though a well-worn theme, this particular merging of city and country is both sweet and savory. Author appearances in the New York tristate area
