On the surface this seems to be a simple story, but once you get into the book you realize this is a case where it is the journey itself that matters most. The main character, Billy, narrates the book in his own voice. At first the conversational style might throw you off a bit -- there are some run-on sentences and odd punctuation, and Billy often addresses you, the reader, directly. Once you settle in for a few pages, though, Billy's words are easier to follow and the occasional odd rhythms only add to his charm. There is plenty of humor and drama, and some the best-written dialog I've encountered. There are some sexy scenes, too, and Billy's enthusiasm for these (well, at least in the ones with the boys!) comes across quite vividly as well.
What also impresses me is how John Fox uses the literary device of the unreliable narrator as a way of depicting Billy's transformation over the course of the book. Billy at first tells a few tall tales about his sexual exploits with girls. We don't know he's misleading us at the time, of course, since like all teenaged boys he is quite skilled at boasting. It is only as he proceeds further into his story -- presumably starting to trust that you, the reader, are going to stay with him despite all the very personal details that he's revealed so far -- that Billy finally starts to own up to what is untrue. One by one he sheepishly admits his lies, until eventually he reaches a point where he promises that he will stop lying completely. On the part of the reader it results in a strange sensation, as if a character in a book is somehow interacting with you, even benefitting from the fact that you have proven so loyal and unjudgmental. Since the matter at hand is that of sexual orientation, it is a technique that carries deep resonance. Essentially, the reader becomes much like a friend who is helping Billy to accept who he is. I can't recall any other book that manages to accomplish this in the same way. I imagine also that a confused youth who is struggling with the same issues as Billy would experience this stylistic device with an added degree of intensity.
This novel was originally published about 20 years ago. Even at that time the setting of the story was in the past, during the Kennedy-McCarthy Presidential Primary campaign, so it is no less pertinent a book today than it was when it first appeared. Quibbles about its setting being out of date are therefore entirely beside the point. (Part of me does wonder, though, if the author chose that particular era to avoid having to deal with the spectre of AIDS, which at the time of the book's first publication had become so much a part of gay literature.) This book is primarily about transformation and self-acceptance -- timeless literary themes -- and succeeds tremendously on that count.
The ending of the story is somewhat jarring but does serve as a reminder that gay youth hesitate to come out for many reasons, amongst them family pressures, career aspirations, and fear of bodily harm. It takes courage to step forward and proclaim who you are, whether you live in today's world or Billy's. Still, despite the air of sadness that permeates the final pages, there is also a sense of hope for Billy and the friend who is with him at the end. The continued journey may not be as easy but you feel that they will have one another.
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Top reviews from other countries
Greg Dunn
Well worth searching out - deserving of a wider audience
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 5, 2020Amazon Kunde
Das Buch ist in einem sehr guten Zustand und wurde schnell verschickt und erhalten.
Reviewed in Germany on March 28, 2017R Agascar
A beautiful coming of age story
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 9, 2014