Sam Hawk

This one is interesting to me.

First, a bit about the plot. Timmy is starting 10th grade at a Baptist Academy (a southern school) in 1980, he comes from a devout family (even though his parents are divorced). His best friend, Carleen, chubby and unapologetic is convinced they are going to have the best year ever. Her prediction seems likely when they arrive at school to find out the new kid, Doug is gorgeous. In addition to being cute, Doug is sweet and seems to want to be friends with Timmy.

Timmy is gay and he seems to be the only one who doesn’t know that. Of course, his religious upbringing hasn’t helped with that situation. Very slowly, he begins to realize through his friendship with Doug that he is attracted to boys. The plot isn’t very convoluted, and it’s not unexplored territory. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything that’s specifically Baptist before… so there’s that.

While the relationship between Timmy and Carleen is cute – they’ve been friends since playschool – they are both experiencing bullying and are quick to bully each other when times get tough. I found a lot of the bullying uncomfortable to read about (I feel like that’s normal and kudos to the author for making me uncomfortable). I didn’t like that the violence escalated to, what amounted to a severe physical assault, and yet none of the adults in the novel seemed to take it seriously. Even Timmy’s Aunt… who is the only character in the book who seems to love the kid unconditionally, kind of laughs off the assault when she finds out how Timmy dealt with it. I’m not completely oblivious, I know there are a lot of adults who don’t know how to deal with bullying and violence but it seemed to me that someone should have taken Timmy under their wing … other than another grade 10 kid.

Timmy is a very naive young man. That being said, I didn’t grow up in the South nor did I attend a strict Baptist School. But I did go into Grade 10 in 1983… and I can tell you that Timmy’s mannerisms and way of speaking didn’t read true to me. Again… I’m not a Southern Baptist so maybe it’s all very accurate.

Bullying and violence aside, it was a good read. The dialogue is well-written (and I can’t speak to the accuracy of the Southern vernacular). There’s a bit of a fairy-tale ending…but we all need those sometimes, right?… (meer)

This one is interesting to me.

First, a bit about the plot. Timmy is starting 10th grade at a Baptist Academy (a southern school) in 1980, he comes from a devout family (even though his parents are divorced). His best friend, Carleen, chubby and unapologetic is convinced they are going to have the best year ever. Her prediction seems likely when they arrive at school to find out the new kid, Doug is gorgeous. In addition to being cute, Doug is sweet and seems to want to be friends with Timmy.

Timmy is gay and he seems to be the only one who doesn’t know that. Of course, his religious upbringing hasn’t helped with that situation. Very slowly, he begins to realize through his friendship with Doug that he is attracted to boys. The plot isn’t very convoluted, and it’s not unexplored territory. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything that’s specifically Baptist before… so there’s that.

While the relationship between Timmy and Carleen is cute – they’ve been friends since playschool – they are both experiencing bullying and are quick to bully each other when times get tough. I found a lot of the bullying uncomfortable to read about (I feel like that’s normal and kudos to the author for making me uncomfortable). I didn’t like that the violence escalated to, what amounted to a severe physical assault, and yet none of the adults in the novel seemed to take it seriously. Even Timmy’s Aunt… who is the only character in the book who seems to love the kid unconditionally, kind of laughs off the assault when she finds out how Timmy dealt with it. I’m not completely oblivious, I know there are a lot of adults who don’t know how to deal with bullying and violence but it seemed to me that someone should have taken Timmy under their wing … other than another grade 10 kid.

Timmy is a very naive young man. That being said, I didn’t grow up in the South nor did I attend a strict Baptist School. But I did go into Grade 10 in 1983… and I can tell you that Timmy’s mannerisms and way of speaking didn’t read true to me. Again… I’m not a Southern Baptist so maybe it’s all very accurate.

Bullying and violence aside, it was a good read. The dialogue is well-written (and I can’t speak to the accuracy of the Southern vernacular). There’s a bit of a fairy-tale ending…but we all need those sometimes, right?… (meer)