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Dream Boy: A Novel
by Jim Grimsley
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Paperback
Publisher: Touchstone
ISBN13: 9780684829920
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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A prizewinning playwright shares the stunning and heartbreaking story of two adolescent boys who fall in love, painfully acknowledging their homosexuality and, at the same time, trying to sustain each other as their families fall apart around them. Reprint. 25,000 first printing. PW.
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| nice story but too flowery |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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I decided to read the book before watching the film. I was impressed and I wasn't...While Grimsley sets a wonderful narrative and tells a great love story without packing any implausible or Hollywood plot devices, I have to wonder if writers in this genre always feel there's a need for tragedy in these types of stories...I loved the pacing and the quiet narrative, but really, does flowery prose really equate to great writing? I recommend the book, but the text is overly descriptive bordering on clichéd. I preferred the story and how well nuanced the characters were, much more than the actual writing. (I would like to give it 3 1/2 stars but that doesn't seem an option here.)
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| Hope in a grim world? |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Nathan and his mother and father are new arrivals in Potter's Lake, a small rural town somewhere in the South of the U.S. Nathan's family rent an old farmhouse, which is in sight of the new house, occupied by the landlord Connelly family. From his bedroom window Nathan can see Roy's room in the new house. Nathan is a sophomore and Roy is a senior. Roy drives the school bus on which Nathan rides every weekday, but other than that the two seems far apart. Still Nathan watches Roy, intrigued by him, admiring his older strength, self-confidence and charm Soon Roy notices Nathan and the two strike up an unconventional friendship. Nathan is an unusually intelligent boy, ahead of his year in some subjects, and Roy enlists him to help write an English essay. In return Roy proposes to teach Nathan algebra. To Nathan's surprise Roy seeks physical contact with his young neighbor. Nathan happily responds. A new romance is formed but can the relationship withstand the unusually strong pressures that will emerge from family and peers?
This is a book about the joys and hesitations of first love, but more importantly it is about the huge handicap that family and peers can be in the development of individuality. The theme of homophobia is very prominent, as is the topics of child abuse (in its various forms). The Christian religion is also explored, mostly in a negative sense, although Grimsley is partially ambiguous on this point.
This is a very dark novel, indeed it was at first considered to bleak to publish. The writing is highly emotional and Grimsley mostly succeeds admirably in riveting his reader's attention, catching them up in the poignant drama. The text moves from relaxed happiness to the electrically erotic to ominously threatening to brutally violent. Grimsley orchestrates each emotion with expert skill. The exploration of the `haunted house' is a little cliché, and at that point the interest lags, but then Grimsley suddenly belts us with a piece of excellent writing to end the incident.
Both Nathan and Roy grow as characters throughout the story, and indeed the whole book is partially a tale of self-discovery and the resulting increase in self-assurance. Nathan's drunken, Bible-reading father and timid, distant mother stand out as excellent and memorable personality studies, although both these characters remain static, hopelessly caught in their individual snares.
The title of this book rather satirically calls up notions of Mills and Boon love stories, in which the world is seen through rose-colored glasses. The novel is of course quite the reverse. Some critics (Wikipedia) believe that the title refers to the DC comic character of the same name, who can preconceive the future briefly before it happens. Nathan experiences moments of déjà vu. More subtly Roy is referred to as he threatens to evaporate out of Nathan's life like some hazy mirage. Also there is the long, dazed, final sequence of the novel.
This novel won the American Library Association's Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual Book Award for fiction. It is an excellent read. It has much to offer all readers, including the mainstream heterosexual audience. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time.
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| Totally Captivating |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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It is such a refreshing book. I am so glad I read - again & again. It made me bawl my eyes out the 1st time I read. Despite the tragic ending - this is still a book that every romantic at heart should read.
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| If There Was Only One Book I Could Read For A Lifetime... |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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... This book would definitely be it! I read this book in less than four hours in the middle of the nite, I had school the next day and I could NOT put it down! The love story between Nathan and Roy, is simple, heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time! Roy's reluctance to admit his love for Nathan, and Nathan's bravery at letting this young man into his heart is so real and true, that I was in tears more than once during this book. Nathan's backstory alone is enough to fill an entire other book! It is neever really said what went on between Nathan and his father, but you can feel Nathan's fear... and when the book comes to it's violent end... your heart breaks, but the true end, the picture of these two boys casting aside everyone else aside just for the chance to love.... I applaud you Mr. Grimsley for this amazingly beautiful story, Thank You!
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| One of the best |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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A haunting, astonishing piece of fiction. The author's background as a playwright shows in the nonstop present-tense narration, which would be clunky and annoying in less-skillful hands. But Grimsley can write circles around most other writers, and the technique actually works to great effect. This is not only one of the best gay-themed American novels; it is one of the best American novels.
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