Charlie David

This is really tough for me to rate. I actually had to force myself to finish this book, and only did so for a challenge.

What I Liked:
--Charlie David is a great writer. His words flowed and made sense and were poetic at times. GRINDR was a great story. This one actually made me tear up in public and was beautifully written.

What I Didn't Like:
--This was too sad/grotesque/dark for my tastes. I prefer HEA type romances and there was none of that in this book. Suicide, murder, ghosts; this book had it all--except happiness.

My rating: 3 stars. I would have given 2 stars for content (because it wasn't my type) but 4 stars for how well it was written.… (meer)

between 2 and 2.5 stars. this probably should be marketed as a ya book - it's a coming of age story written very much in the language of the 18 or 19 year old protagonist. there are some inconsistencies in the story and it took me about half of the book to get invested much at all. that said, it's not poorly written, it's a really fast, kind of sexy read (without ever being graphic), and i was interested in how the second half would turn out. it's definitely super cheesy at times, but that seems mostly appropriate to the narrator's age.… (meer)

Although many of the stories were a little short for my taste (they were, indeed, 'tastes' rather than 'meals' in their own right), Charlie David accomplishes something impressive here. Each story has it's own style, almost as if they were written by different authors, but there is definitely a consistent 'voice' that connected them. I simply can't think of any better way to explain it than that. You can almost picture yourself curled up on the couch, a pillow clutched to your breast, as you sit and listen to Charlie tell you some of his favourite stories. I genuinely liked the characters, but wish we could have had more time together. Many of the stories were so short (3-10 pages), there simply was no opportunity to really explore a relationship with them. Perhaps 'tease' would be a better description than 'taste' but some of the longer stories (Pygmalion, Harvest, and and Narcissus) are handled beautifully, and even some of the shorter stories (I'm particularly thinking of October 13th) do an admirable job, considering their brevity.… (meer)

Boy Midflight is a coming of age and coming out story without the angst that usually accompanies both this genres. It shows us a short period in Ashley's life, that moment in life when you have to take some important decisions for your future life, and with the help of some flashbacks it also goes back to his teen years.

When the story starts Ashley is 18 years old and attending a performing art college in Canada. It's quite clear that Ashley is a bit confused about his sexuality, or better about him and his sexuality related to the world. Ashley is not new to the gay world, actually his first sexual impulses were for boys not for girls, and from his memories we also learn that he has had some gay experiences with boys his age or slightly older, some good, some bad, but he has also had some girlfriends in between, and when he meets Chris, his love interest in this story, he is with Rachel. Rachel is only a name, since she disappeared even before the story starts when Ashley dumps her to be free to flirt with Chris.

I think that basically Ashley is an everyday boy, with all the insecurities of his age and the certainty that only a boy his age can have. Ashley faces everything full front, with little second thoughts. He is also very driven by his body and desires, but he always pinks his perspective with the illusion of love. I'm not criticizing him, I like his attitude: for him everything is about love, maybe even the slight tingle of sexual desire that someone else would scratch without thinking too much. Ashley has an innocence and naivete that crash a bit with his older attitude: Ashely is living alone, far from home, and he is facing some very delicate and important issues, as what would be his future, and what he has to renounce to to be himself; Ashley is not weak, but he is fragile, since he hasn't yet built a protective shield from the world, and all his feelings and naked nerves are plainly exposed. It's easy to hurt him, but at the same time it takes to him very little time to heal from the wound: Ashley is not yet a man, but he promises to become a good one in a few years.

In the less than 200 pages of the book, we follow Ashley through all his life experiences that are often paired with a sexual experience: it seems like the turning points on his life are spurred by a boy/man, the little and the important ones, and the length of the relationship depends on the importance of the decision. It seems like Ashley takes with him, or gains force, from the men in his life and from everyone of them he learns something. Ashley is not selfish, he is really searching for true love, for the one who will love him forever like the prince charming he has always dreamed, but he is easily distracted by the glitter of a lesser prince.

I like the style of the author, it's young like his character, and the flowing of words are right in role for Ashley, you are inside his mind and you can see his development from boy to almost man, almost since, even if there is an happily ever after, Ashley in the end is still an 18 years old boy with all the world in front of him. The book is also quite sexy but again, I feel a "strange" innocence: Ashley has various sexual experience, from the simple kiss to the complete intercourse, but the author prefers to linger on the sweetness and cuteness of a kiss, sometime even replayed moment for moment, taste for taste, and skates over with elegance on the more intimate details. I actually didn't understand if and when Ashley looses his "innocence" or if he still had it at the beginning of the story... it's not actually important to know, Ashley faces every new relationship like it's the most important one of his life.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1928662188/?tag=elimyrevandra-20… (meer)