Jay Mandal

Waiting for his train in crowded Waterloo, David encounters Rob, who has run away from his parents and hasn't got anywhere to go, so he ends up suggesting Rob stays with him at his parents' house. After some hesitation, Rob does, and ends up staying over a year. David falls in love with him, but hides it. The return of David's parents from abroad sends Rob living elsewhere and they lose touch, but after some months Rob turns up again, and not only asks to live with David again, but to start a relationship, which isn't all smooth sailing as the skeletons in his closet start emerging. Parts of this were OK, but the past child abuse felt a bit tacked on, there were passages that were just painfully wordy, and there was some odd vacillating in the point-of-view character.… (meer)

This book was a struggle. Not because it's hard to read or the story is confusing or anything, but because the relationship it describes is a struggle. Which I guess means you feel for the characters, at least the main one. This books spans several years, which only adds angst, and little sadness over so much wasted time (which is something that really gets to me in fiction, but not in real life.) The brit speak was a little hard to follow at times, but if you've watched any brit soaps, you ought to do just fine. What I liked about this book was that it proves that a normal, somewhat seemingly boring life can be fun and interesting. We don't all have to be rock stars or fashion models.

On a scale of 1 to 10, a 6.… (meer)