BLOG TOUR: The Book Of Oded Chapter 2 by Oded Kassirer (Excerpt + Q&A with Author)
BLOG TOUR
Book Title: The Book of Oded, Chapter 2
Author and Publisher: Oded Kassirer
Release Date: October 8, 2025
Genres: Gay Non-Fiction Memoir
Tropes: A kind of forbidden love
Themes: Coming out, HIV/AIDS
Length: approx. 25 000 words/ 94 pages
Heat Rating: No sexual content
It is a standalone book and does not end on a cliffhanger.
Buy Links – Available in Paperback and Kindle Unlimited
Paperback also available from IngramSpark
A Story of Love in 17 parts
A poetic and deeply personal exploration of love, identity, and spiritual truth through a queer lens — part reflection, part quiet confession. This book speaks to anyone who’s searched for belonging or inner peace.
Blurb
The Book of Oded, Chapter 2: A Story of Love in 17 Parts is a true story told through seventeen short reflections, each introduced by a photograph.
This real-life memoir follows Oded Kassirer’s journey through love in its many forms—love that comforts, love that tests us, and love that stays even when people are gone. With honesty and openness, Oded shares moments from his own life, weaving together memory, relationships, and the everyday search for meaning.
Each part begins with an image, creating a rhythm of words and photos that invite the reader to pause, reflect, and connect. The book moves gently between joy and loss, humor and sorrow, offering a window into how love shapes us over time.
The Book of Oded, Chapter 2 is both deeply personal and universal—a reminder that behind every story of one life, there is also the story of love itself.
Excerpt
Looks like I don’t have to do that anymore, since Gil and I are dating now. Well… Gil being a lieutenant in the Israeli army, we only see each other once every two or three weeks, for maybe a day and a half. So we’re dating-lite.
But there’s more. You see, I’m out, and Gil is… well, I’m in a bigger closet than Gil.. OK, let me explain something about coming out and closets: you don’t just come out once and you’re done. No. You come out of the closet you’re in, into a slightly bigger closet. First, friends know. Then some family. Then all family, maybe a few coworkers. And so on, into bigger and bigger closets, until one day you think you’re totally out. But when you hesitate to put a photo of you and your boyfriend on your work desk, you realize: you’re still in a closet. A really big one, but still a closet.
So in my case, my friends know, and some of my family knows too. But as I start dating Gil, I find myself stepping backwards into a smaller closet. Back to lying to my family and friends. They ask: “So how do you know this guy Gil? He’s four, five years younger than you.”
“Oh, he’s my friend.”
“But we are your friends…”
And with Gil’s family it’s worse. We have to invent a background story, making sure our lies match. It’s back to lying and living a double life — something I’ve always hated.
Maybe because we don’t actually live together, and only see each other once in a while, I agree to it. Maybe I don’t value enough the freedom of being out. Or maybe I need to go through this to finally understand it.
And so Gil and I continue to keep our relationship very low profile. We have to be creative to communicate. Gil is stationed at a small base in the Golan Heights, just a few hours north of Tel Aviv, right on the border with Syria. When I call him, I can’t say what I really want to say. All the lines are tapped—not to catch gay soldiers, but to make sure nobody leaks classified information. Gil, being an intelligence lieutenant, is very aware of this. So even saying “I miss you” is, for him, like shouting into the phone: “GAY! GAY! GAY!”
So we come up with a code. We both love listening to Sarah Vaughan, the jazz singer. “Sarah” becomes our password. Our way of saying what we can’t.
“Hey Gil, how are you? Oh, by the way, Sarah really misses you.”
“Tell her I miss her too.”
“And she wants you to know that she loves you.”
“Tell her I love her too.”
It works—until one day, Gil can’t come to the phone and I leave a message with someone else: “Could you please tell Gil that… Sarah misses him?” When Gil finds out, all hell breaks loose.
Q&A with Oded Kassirer
Describe a scene in your writing that has made you laugh or cry?
A scene that make me cry and sometimes still make me emotional, is the scene with my mom: After Gil, the man I write about in my book, decides to leave Israel, he goes on to travel for a few months. He settles in Los Angeles and writes me a letter, yes it was that long ago…, in which he suggests I come and stay a while with him in LA. I go to my mom to tell her about it and we get into a fight. I say very unkind words and I leave her house feeling angry and frustrated. Later that evening, as I listen to a radio show about homosexuality, I decide to call in and ask for advice. After a few minutes of conversation, the host suggests to call my mom and get her side as well. The show takes a break. I give the producer my mom’s phone number and when it’s back, the host says that they tried to get my mom but couldn’t. We continue chatting for a short while when the host, suddenly, cuts me off and says “Sorry, Oded, but we have your mom on the line”. And so my mom and I talked to each, through the radio, while thousands of people are listening, and we got to understand each other better. I get emotional because I feel that both my mom and I were willing to become so vulnerable and open so we can mend our relationship.
Do you prefer using pen and paper or a computer when writing?
When I first started writing my book, before I knew it was going to be a show or a book, I used pen and paper. Since then I use both pen/paper and computer. It really depends on my feelings at that moment. I am writing a few scripts at the moment, and I write these using Final Draft, which is a script app. It’s built for script writing and makes it easier. If I have a strong feeling of a story or an idea coming, I take a notebook and a pen and let that idea flow on to the paper. I love both ways of writing.
Do you have any other projects in the offing we should look out for?
I do. I have 3 scripts I am writing. Yes, that is my way of dealing with my ADHD… I am also working on a fiction novel as well as another non-fiction one. I am working on an exhibition of a photographic project. For now it is called “The Brilliance of it all”. You can check out some of my artwork on my website OdedKassirer.com
What’s your favorite movie?
I love movies and it is not easy to only mention one movie… One of my favorite movies is “2001: A Space Odyssey”. It is a masterpiece in my eyes and even after so long since it’s been out, it is still interesting, beautifully shot and masterfully directed. I love the work of Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish director. His works is influencing the scripts I am writing now. And I have to mention “One from the Heart”, directed by the great Francis Ford Coppola. If you haven’t seen it, find it and watch it. Let me know what you think…
What song puts a smile on your face?
Louis Armstrong “What a Wonderful World”. So beautifully song. Full of positive emotions. Just brilliant.
Who‘s your biggest supporter/cheerleader?
My husband of 30 years, Oscar. He is not just my biggest supporter, he is also the one that would always tell me what he really thinks, feels about my work. When my writing was done, and before it became a one-man-show, I took him to the theater where I was taking acting classes. He sat alone in the audience, while I sat on a lonely chair on stage. I proceeded to read my writings without pause and when I was done, he looked at me and said “I want to produce it”. I asked “Produce what?”, to which he answered “Your one-man-show”…
If you could tell your younger self something what would it be?
This is what I would tell my younger self: “I am sorry you are felling so lonely now. I am sorry you feel so alienated even when you are amongst family or friends. I can tell you that your being by yourself is making you a beautiful, sensitive and very creative person. You are your best friend, enjoy this solitude, it is a precious gift that the universe is giving you. In time, you will see that even when you don’t ‘fit’, you still belong. Your uniqueness is what makes you who you are. Celebrate it. I love you. I love you. I love you.”
What are the three best things about you?
- I follow Monty Python’s advice and I ‘Always look on the bright side of life’….
- I can find beauty anywhere and in anything.
- I know that what looks like the ‘little things’ now, will eventually be the ‘big things’.
Thank you
About the Author
Oded Kassirer was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, and moved to Los Angeles in 1988. His creative journey began in film and animation, where he worked on major studio projects before turning toward acting, writing, and personal storytelling.
Alongside his career in the arts, Oded has explored photography and visual expression, blending images and words to reflect the intimate moments of everyday life. The Book of Oded: A Story of Love in 17 Parts is his first book – a true story that combines memoir and photographs in a deeply personal exploration of love, memory, and connection.
He lives in Los Angeles, with his husband, Oscar.
Author Links
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