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The Beloved Son: A Novel
by Jay Quinn
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$14.95 |
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$10.17 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
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$4.78 (31%) |
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Paperback
Publisher: Alyson Books
The acclaimed novel, now in paperback. In rich, lyrical prose, Jay Quinn tells of a family reunion over one weekend, as two sons come to terms with their parents' declining health. Jay Quinn is also the author of Back Where He Started, The Good Neighbor, and The Boomerang Kid.
| Customer Reviews: |
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| Light, yet difficult topic |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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This is the first book of Quinn's that I have read. Friends have read others and enjoyed them. It deals with aging parents and deepening family bonds.
What I liked about it, while reading it after the holidays and being with family...it is not a downer. Enough tension to keep it interesting, but everyone gets along, beautifully.
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| this beloved book |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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like all of jay quinns work , this novel is total brilliant . from the start to the finish , i just hope he keeps on writing , i cannott wait for his next novel . but about this novel , THE BELOVED SON . it is a MUST read . it will have u in awe and floaten in air .
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| Relatable story of family |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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I'll keep this short. I enjoyed The Beloved Son but it wasn't one of those books that you "can't put down". I thought the character development was good and the story was relatable but overall I felt it was to "sickly sweet". Phrases similar to (because I don't have the exact lines in front of me) 'I looked at my brother with love' or 'I was so lucky to know the man my brother has become' were abundant and left me feeling soured because I doubt most people would really be thinking things like that. The only part of the book that really spoke to me was the exchange between Karl and his mother as the walked through the neighborhood. That was truly believable.
Overall I'd give it: B-
It was an interesting story but not a page-turner. I just couldn't wait to finish it. (Also there were a LOT of errors. Whole paragraphs repeated, dialog where the wrong character is stated as having been the one "talking". Not sure if it was only my copy of the book or if they are all like that).
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| I really wanted to like it more than I did. |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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I want to begin by saying that Jay Quinn is one of my favorite writers. Few authors so beautifully create characters well define and beloved that I am sad when the story ends. I wanted the book to continue because I became emotionally attached to the point that I don't want to end the time I had to be with them. The Beloved Son is one of his best.
The problem that I have with this excellent story is with the person responsible for the final edit. Is it me or did any of the others who reviewed this book notice that on at least two occasions that paragraphs were repeated on the same page? At first I thought that I had just lost my place on the page, but then I would look and there was the same paragraph word for word.
Don't ask me to give specific page numbers because I didn't stop my reading to make notes, nor do I want to wade back into a beautiful story with my focus on printed errors.
I guess my surprise comes with being the only reviewer who seemed to notice.
I am currently reading the new Michael Thomas Ford book, Changing Tides. The irony is that both Ford and Quinn, popular "gay" novelists,( don't stone me for stating such) have new works that have gay "minor characters." You could argue with Changing Tides, but he doesn't come to a realization that he might possibly be gay until the last 40 or 50 pages.
The vast majority of both books deal with experiences of people who constitute the masses and who already are covered by every other novelist well more than enough.
I enjoyed both men's previous works because I could count on their creating solid gay character who I could identify with in the majority of the story. If either of these two authors were to take one more small step away from characters who enhance my love of gay fiction, the gay characters would be lost or ignored as much as we are in society. If you believe that I just said that the books must be gay oriented, reread my first four paragraphs.
Also, I know that this review could use an editor, but then I'm not an author, never claimed to be, and I don't receive royalties.
You may disagree, but I am allowed at least an opinion in this country, for now.
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| A Great Page Turner |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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"The Beloved Son" was one of the best beach book of the summer. Others have already discussed the story in detail. Let me use the space to explain why I liked "The Beloved Son" far more than Quinn's last two books ("The Good Neighbor" and "Back Where He Started"). I thought the two other books had unrealistic happy endings and at least two gay characters whose belief in organized religion reflected the author's opinion rather thn the chracter's.
"The Beloved Son" has a happy ending of sorts, but life is not going to be easy for any of the characters in the coming years and Quinn fully acknowleges that fact. "The Beloved Son" also has a character who is
Catholic in a way that few other gay men are Catholic anymore. This time
the character (Swen) fully explains why he choses to remain in a church that would seem not to want him.
Enough. This is a very good book. Buy it!
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