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"An unexpected friendship saves a young man's life in this moving, utterly charming debut about chosen family, the winding road to happiness, and the grace of second chances. Could I one day inspire happiness in others, the same way he seemed to do in me? It's 2005 and Harley has dropped out of college to move home, back to rural England where he works a dead-end job at a movie theater. Estranged from his father and finding every attempt at happiness futile, he is on the verge of making a devastating final decision. Fortunately for him, things don't go according to plan, and his attempt on his own life is interrupted by his new roommate, Muddy. Muddy is everything Harley is not: white, ostensibly heterosexual, freewheeling, confident in his masculinity. Despite their differences, a deep friendship blossoms between them when Muddy takes Harley under his wing and shows him everything that, in his eyes, makes life worth living: birdwatching, karaoke, rugby, and the band Oasis. But this newfound friendship is complicated. It has enormous repercussions for the pair's romantically entangled friend group-with Chelsea, an overbearing striver whose generosity they begrudgingly rely on; with Finlay, her raffish and uncouth boyfriend; and with Noria, who despite her simmering confidence is smarting from a series of unreturned affections. And then there's the violent affair with an older man that Harley finds himself slipping back into... As secrets and jealousies endanger all that Harley has come to rely on, he finds himself faltering once again, even though he finally has something-and someone-to live for. Soul-stirring and witty, full of hope and peopled with characters who feel like close friends, Small Joys explores a young man's turbulent journey toward happiness and announces the arrival of an exciting voice in fiction"--… (meer)
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I rarely give up on books but I came close over the days that I read “Small Joys”. It is an exhausting look at depression and sadness and maybe the edge of mental illness. It is also an examination of friendship - the kind that you hope and pray to have at some point in your life and if you are lucky you will find that friendship when you are at the lowest point, when you are at the bottom of the pit - the kind of friendship that takes the time to watch, listen and tries to pull you up and out of that all consuming despair.
When you come at life with the belief that it is “something to be bargained with, to be battled with” somehow you just know that it is not going to be uplifting and easy to like or jump onboard. Couple this premise with very brash, outspoken and more outspoken characters in this book, it was just exhausting. But I kept reading and thinking and feeling so badly for this poor boy who has no self-worth - so, so sad. The road is going to be long and arduous - one giant step forward and a million baby steps backwards. Healing, rupturing, rejecting, accepting, realizing that hope can be had, friends can be made, they can care and try to protect and you might start to share and see what it can be to heal and realize you have worth. The words aren’t empty when they are spoken with the love found on the pages of this book.
Thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for a copy. ( )
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
'Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing' Elie Wiesel, The Gates of the Forest.
Opdracht
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
To Terry Miller, In friendship; with love.
Eerste woorden
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
I had never thought much about birds before I met Muddy.
Citaten
Laatste woorden
Ontwarringsbericht
Uitgevers redacteuren
Auteur van flaptekst/aanprijzing
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
"An unexpected friendship saves a young man's life in this moving, utterly charming debut about chosen family, the winding road to happiness, and the grace of second chances. Could I one day inspire happiness in others, the same way he seemed to do in me? It's 2005 and Harley has dropped out of college to move home, back to rural England where he works a dead-end job at a movie theater. Estranged from his father and finding every attempt at happiness futile, he is on the verge of making a devastating final decision. Fortunately for him, things don't go according to plan, and his attempt on his own life is interrupted by his new roommate, Muddy. Muddy is everything Harley is not: white, ostensibly heterosexual, freewheeling, confident in his masculinity. Despite their differences, a deep friendship blossoms between them when Muddy takes Harley under his wing and shows him everything that, in his eyes, makes life worth living: birdwatching, karaoke, rugby, and the band Oasis. But this newfound friendship is complicated. It has enormous repercussions for the pair's romantically entangled friend group-with Chelsea, an overbearing striver whose generosity they begrudgingly rely on; with Finlay, her raffish and uncouth boyfriend; and with Noria, who despite her simmering confidence is smarting from a series of unreturned affections. And then there's the violent affair with an older man that Harley finds himself slipping back into... As secrets and jealousies endanger all that Harley has come to rely on, he finds himself faltering once again, even though he finally has something-and someone-to live for. Soul-stirring and witty, full of hope and peopled with characters who feel like close friends, Small Joys explores a young man's turbulent journey toward happiness and announces the arrival of an exciting voice in fiction"--
Google Books — Bezig met laden...
(3.83)
1
When you come at life with the belief that it is “something to be bargained with, to be battled with” somehow you just know that it is not going to be uplifting and easy to like or jump onboard. Couple this premise with very brash, outspoken and more outspoken characters in this book, it was just exhausting. But I kept reading and thinking and feeling so badly for this poor boy who has no self-worth - so, so sad. The road is going to be long and arduous - one giant step forward and a million baby steps backwards. Healing, rupturing, rejecting, accepting, realizing that hope can be had, friends can be made, they can care and try to protect and you might start to share and see what it can be to heal and realize you have worth. The words aren’t empty when they are spoken with the love found on the pages of this book.
Thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for a copy. (