This novel follows Robin, from The World of Normal Boys, in that phase in life when you change from boy to man; only that Robin has already had that change, he is not a normal 20 years old guy, and so his summer spent waiting tables in an upscale Philadelphia restaurant is not careless and light as for any other normal boy.

I wondered why K.M. Soehnlein chose to set the story in the middle of the ’80, and other than the obvious reason that, being a sequel of a previous story set in the same period, it had to be, I think there are also not so obvious reasons, like, for example, the fact that 20 years old boys in the ’80 were maybe still “innocent”, or at least more than today. There are social tensions that now are almost non-existent, or at least not openly acknowledged; AIDS was still an almost unknown threat, still the “gay cancer”, if you were not gay it was not your problem; having a interracial relationship was still almost a taboo, something daring and brazen.

The story follows both Robin than Ruby, and they are at two different moments in life, but to both of them is asked to take a decision, an important one for their future. Robin is living an adult life, he has a steady boyfriend, plans for the future, and obligations; Ruby instead is on the brink of adulthood, still a teenager but with the urge, and the desire, to leave that part of her life behind. In a way Ruby wants to be an adult and Robin instead wants to re-catch his lost teen years. Robin is dumped by his grown boyfriend Peter, but I think he is not so much upset by that; he has George in his life, his long lasting best friend George, someone who was not ready to be something more when they were teenagers, but who is now all grown up, and a living temptation. Robin wants to have another chance with George, but not in a serious way, he wants the carelessly feelings of having a boyfriend, of going and making out, without the oppressive weight of “adult” sex, with the danger of the virus.

In a way, this is not a coming of age story, since Robin doesn’t want to take that step into adulthood, he wants more time, he wants to enjoy the thoughtlessness of having a relationship with someone like George, someone he can trust, since George was always there, always a good friend, and for sure not someone who wants from Robin more than Robin is ready to give. Even with sex, Robin and George are behaving more like teenagers than adults, while the real teenager, Ruby, is testing the water with real sex. At some point Robin will be ready to go further on, maybe with George, maybe with someone else (I hope not, I think George is good for Robin), and maybe Ruby will regret those years when everything was still so scaring and unknown.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0758232187/?tag=elimyrevandra-20