NORMAL? Series

Stephen J. Mulrooney's Normal? series started with his initial book, Normal?, published in 2013. Normal? begins with, “Were it a dream, it would be a most wondrous dream; but it’s more. It’s a life. And I don’t have to remember any of it. It remembers me.” With these words, Gene Poole-Hall takes us on a beautiful coming-of-age journey that will leave you questioning any preconceived impressions of the definition of normal, and lead you to the conclusion that when it comes to family, at the heart of the matter, it’s the heart that matters. Gene’s story begins with his adoption into an extended family that includes everything from a few drag queens to a well respected rabbi. If Gene’s life is anything but normal, he isn’t aware of it. He enjoys all the advantages of being an only child at the heart of a family of unrelated adults bonded together by mutual love and respect. This is a story you’ll want to read over and over again. It is a beautiful memoir that anyone who has ever loved, desired, and reached for a yearning just beyond their grasp can relate to. Gene’s story is our story, and he tells it in a manner that will awaken all the remarkable and beautiful memories that have slept in some far corner of our hearts for too long.
     Normal Too? starts with, “Sometimes it takes a village to raise a child. Sometimes, as in our case, that village looks more like The Village People. And sometimes, it is not the village that raises the child, but the child that raises the village … often to heights they never imagined.” With these words, Gene Poole-Hall takes us on another wonderful journey to show us that the love we have for one another is the most beautiful expression of who and what we are, whether it is expressed between or within genders, generations, or the rainbow of races and creeds that comprise the human experience. He reminds us that the important thing is not who we love, but that we love; and that a true family is a creation, whether we are born or evolve into it.
In this sequel to Normal?, Stephen J. Mulrooney shows us again that when it comes to the trials and tribulations of growing up, infatuation and love, the experience for us all is the same, no matter where we stand in the spectrum of the human rainbow. Normal Too? is Chris’s story. It’s a story of love, family, redemption, and hope. As with book one, it’s very emotional. It will have you laughing and crying, and at its conclusion you will realize that you love this unconventional family even more than you did at the end of book one. Normal Too? is not an ordinary, normal fictional novel. Like its characters, it’s wonderfully abnormal and memorable, and a welcome addition to anyone's all-time-favorite library shelf.
Apparently, the characters that told Steve their story in the first book haven’t stopped talking. Normal Curve? is Steve’s much awaited third novel in what Steve has decided to extend into a series. In Normal Curve?, Gene says, This is a story so real, and yet so magical, that you might well think it's fiction. But only those who don't believe in magic will find it so. For the rest of us, the only difference between a literary life, and a physical life, is that a literary life lasts forever. As Mother says, "The Circle of Life is just one big learning curve." Normal Curve? takes us along the Poole-Hall extended family's passage through countless twists and turns, and around a few curves that are anything but normal, but then again, I'm sure that's what you've been expecting. As he did in the previous two books in this series, Normal? and Normal Too?, our narrator, Gene Poole-Hall takes us on a journey that is so real, so extraordinarily full of love, humor, and magic, you may well find yourself wanting to become a member of this fictional family, where you too will live forever. If that doesn't sound normal, welcome to the family.