I Took Both Roads

"There is an urgent need for more bisexual men to rise up and be heard. Thank you for contributing your voice to this still small but growing chorus."
- Robyn Ochs, co-author, Recognize: the Voices of Bisexual Men

Matteson's I Took Both Roads: My Journey as a Bisexual Husband is both eye-opening and inspiring. It is a timely, sensitive exploration of a topic through a loving and accepting lens. He first became aware of his sexuality in the early 1950s, and his bisexuality in the '60s -- dangerous times to be seen as different from the norm. It is as much an account of his incredible and supportive relationships with others - his parents, his spiritual advisors, his long-time gay partner, and particularly his wife - as it is an account of what it is like to be bisexual.
Matteson skillfully brings the reader on a journey through his life. He introduces the memoir by acknowledging his "hope...that reading [his] story will help you to develop a deeper understanding of, and empathy for those whose sexual orientation is different from your own, and those who have gone through changes in their identity during the course of their married life." Robert Frost's famous poem about life's choices, "The Road Not Taken," is a recurrent motif in Matteson's book, and readers will come to understand that they, unlike Frost's speaker, need not recall their choices "with a sigh" of regret, but can instead proudly take both roads, though they seem to be divergent.