Reviews and Comments

A languid look at love, longing and loneliness in teenage James' Middle English world in late adolescence. Using adult James as Hewitt's narrator is a masterstroke, fleshing out his younger self's inner world - his desperation for love (of sorts), to be touched, to connect, whilst not understanding anyone around him, let alone Luke, the boy he remains obsessed with. Coming of age stories often offer simplistic answers to younger people's (especially queer people) competing needs for love and connection, but Hewitt doesn't resort to cliché in the closing act. It's a lovely, compelling story, despite sometimes drifting into excess lyricism, and I saw a lot of myself in James, well into gay adulthood.

It’s impressively enough written and the look at queer Americana is both valuable and interesting. The look at how awkward questions of identity beyond LGBTQ damage and break relationships is pretty compelling although I wouldn’t ever say Theron or Jake is ever painted as likeable. The pace of the book also regularly nosedives although that languid feel is a stylistic choice.

I'm really looking forward to this, even more because Sebastian Croft is narrating the audiobook.

It's a fast read, and it's fun. The artwork is insanely detailed and I'm completely hooked, although I'm not fully engaged with the characters yet. Did Byrne rip this off with The Pitt?

Heading to Japan in a month, it's finally time to get into Manga and see what all the fuss is about.

It's engaging enough so far - Theron/David is certainly interesting and likeable at this stage, although the density of some of the early exchanges with Jake feels like it stifles the intensity of what's developing. I'm enjoying it but I'm not hooked yet.

With his 17 year old protagonist Garner shows there’s a lot more to be said about adolescence, adulthood and identity than most coming of age stories suggest. The voice he gives Isaac is both tender and tough, his feelings entirely understandable in their complexity, and the confusion of his entry into the gay world resonates with me still. We indeed are always ‘coming of age’ in the same way we’re always coming out. It’s a bravura piece of writing that deserves a huge audience.

The aftermath of Harrison’s attempt to murder Isaac is in many ways even more interesting than the runup. The processes of both men’s feelings are laid out in their complexity and simplicity - a literary balancing act that continues to imbue the novel as a whole with class, integrity and vitality. Garner depicts queer characters and situations that in lesser hands would descend into cliché, but in Isaac he offers something that feels new, fresh and thoughtful. Understanding sexuality and feelings, sex and intimacy, friendship and identity is hard for anyone, but Garner’s depiction of Isaac’s particularly queer experience of them resonates powerfully. The protagonist is frequently unlikable but I’ll miss him.

The all-consuming first relationship comes to an end and only then do I realise just how rare it is for authors to describe the inner worlds of what that all too often does to younger gay men. The workings of Isaac's self esteem are laid out, and not over dramatised - he doesn't even know why he hovers around an eating disorder - it's a book full of bittersweet moments and Isaac is a really really likeable protagonist, even when he's not being likeable.

The gradual collapse of Isaac's relationship with Harrison is both sad and obvious, the observations of an adolescent into both his relationship dysfunction and his own personal emotional difficulties are powerfully captured by Garner. More troublingly the breakdown of his friendship with Cherish is even more unsurprising, but Garner never strays into cliché. Far too much of Isaac's addiction to his own drama resonated too strongly with me. Such a strong book.

The book's pace is slower in this section but it probably needs to be. Isaac begins to understand his relationship with Harrison is problematic, despite still being obsessed with him. He also falls out with his mother - new for them, but a necessary component of his emergence into adulthood. And thankfully the narration style grows up a bit in line with those character developments.

Isaac's reactions to his step father's infidelity could so easily be clichéd but Garner's style makes it relatable and interesting. On the one hand his upset with Leon is clear but on the other his mother's influence on his personality is even more clear and it's deeply relatable to.

Isaac's obsession with Harrison is so well observed it's uncomfortable. And it makes him all the more likeable. An enjoyable enough section of the book but there's more meat to the story to come, as well as more development for Isaac.

The beginnings of Isaac’s affair with Harrison, with all the confusion and mutual posturing rang too many bells. I love how Garner really knows his characters, and how much depth he gives them without turning them into caricatures or Booker Prize bores. I’m not always sure if the narration has the tone right but it’s a small gripe.

An unexpected encounter with Nick and lipstick and the strong, conflicting feelings Isaac is left with say a lot about the gay world, but also how confusing it still is for young people entering it. It's impossible not to relate to Isaac.