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A
Guide to Recognizing Your Saints; A Memoir: Dito Montiel
by Zack Roddy, Editor-in-Chief
There are many words to describe the versatile soul of Dito Montiel:
rocker, model, filmmaker, and author. His critically acclaimed
autobiography, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, has recently been
turned into a critically acclaimed film, which Montiel wrote and
directed himself, and that stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Shia LeBeouf.
Although the film garnered many awards at the 2006 Sundance Film
Festival, including Best Director and Best Ensemble Cast, the real
treasure is Montiel's book, which is full of rich descriptions and
real characters.
Growing up in Queens, New York's
toughest neighborhood, Astoria, Dito Montiel learned early on that
not much was expected from him in his life. "We were kids from
nowhere going nowhere." Growing up without rules on the streets as a
teenager, Dito headed down a path for destruction, mixing up with
the Greek/Italian gangs, experimenting with drugs and sex, and even
watching several of his friends get sent to prison, or die. Being
the only one to escape his neighborhood without going to jail or
dying, Montiel claims that his saviors are his saints, or the people
or places that influenced him to turn his life around. Each chapter
of the book is devoted to different saints, who include Dito's
Father, his best friend Antonio, a rock and roll journalist named
Cherry Vanilla, and a talent agent named Frank the Dog Walker. As
Dito begins to explore his new horizons, he faces many new
experiences, including modeling jobs with Versace and Calvin Klein,
a stint as a rock and roller with his band Gutterboy and his
discovery of his flair for writing. As Dito matures, he realizes
that his saints have shaped him into the person he has become today,
and that he owes all his successes to them.
What makes A Guide to Recognizing
Your Saints such a poignant memoir is its utter reality. Every
conversation, every experience, and every thought is layered with
such richness and memory because Montiel experienced each of them
personally. Every character we meet, we feel like we know, due to
Montiel's rich descriptions and flair for details, and by the end of
the memoir, you realize you care about each of the characters, and
their outcomes. I completely recommend reading this sensational
novel, you will be enthralled from beginning to end.
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