Becoming a Man won the 1992 National Book Award for Nonfiction. His 1992 memoir, Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story, tells of his life in the closet before coming out, culminating with his meeting Horwitz in 1974. It was a miserable existence for Monette, he writes: 'within three months this sense of separateness would grow so acute that I really didn't want to talk to anyone anymore who wasn't touched by AIDS, body or soul.' Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story Monette describes the day as 'the day we began to live on the moon,' isolating himself from the reader in order to demonstrate the devastating loneliness that is felt among AIDS patients and their loved ones. The memoir details the final nineteen months of Horwitz's life, beginning with the day that he was first diagnosed with AIDS.

Monette's most acclaimed book, Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir, chronicles Horwitz's fight against, and eventual death from, AIDS. Notable works Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir Monette himself later described the books he produced in this time period 'glib and silly little novels.' His more serious work came later in his life and was largely driven by his experiences with AIDS. Carroll in 1978, which featured a gay protagonist. He wrote and published several novels during this time period, starting with Taking Care of Mrs. In 1978, he moved to West Hollywood with his romantic partner, lawyer Roger Horwitz (NovemвЂ“ October 22, 1986). He described his youth in the closet as an вЂinternal exileвЂ™, an вЂimprisonmentвЂ™, and claimed that closeted life equates to вЂthe gutting of all our passions till we are a bunch of eunuchs.вЂ™ Д¬onflicted about his sexual orientation, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he taught writing and literature at Milton Academy. Monette would later describe this life in the closet as hindering his personal development as a child, as he was forced to deny a part of his identity that was seen as sinful by everyone around him. For the majority of Monette's childhood, he felt suffocated and alienated by the strict, religious atmosphere in which he was raised. The rigid social confines of his suburban, middle-class upbringing placed Monette in a position where life in the closet seemed to be the only option. Monette was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and graduated from Phillips Academy in 1963 and Yale University in 1967.

Becoming a man half a life story