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by Alex Sanchez
High School. Coming Out. Friends... and more!
The first in the Triology (!!!) It's "Rainbow Boys," "Rainbow High," and then "Rainbow Road."
Read more about Alex Sanchez here. And add your review of this book in "comments!"
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Rainbow Boys
by Alex Sanchez
High School. Coming Out. Friends... and more!
The first in the Triology (!!!) It's "Rainbow Boys," "Rainbow High," and then "Rainbow Road."
Read more about Alex Sanchez here. And add your review of this book in "comments!"
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2 comments:
I know this is an old post of yours, Lee, but I'm a bit late in discovering Alex Sanchez. Hope you don't mind a late review. :)
*****
I read Alex Sanchez’s Rainbow Boys in one day. It’s a very good book - very classic as a problem novel, with Sanchez touching on all sorts of adolescent issues not only involving sexual identity, but also the family. What I liked best about the book was how Sanchez doesn’t give easy answers to the problems he raises. With every solution posed, there’s always a payoff, and that’s how life works (which is unfortunate in many ways). Everything works in shades of gray - except for the bullies and bigots, but then again, bullies and bigots can only think in terms of black and white to begin with because that’s how they define life - so there’s no easy path to take for anyone involved.
The characters are pretty well-developed. I’m quite taken in by Kyle. Nelson exasperates me, but at the same time, I can’t help but feel like the world-weary older sister who wants to smack her head against the wall whenever he does or says something stupid and yet wants to give him a big old hug in hopes of making things better for him. Jason’s story isn’t quite there yet by the end of the novel, but his story's simply heartbreaking.
Sanchez’s writing style is pretty spare. The problem that I tend to have when it comes to short, functional sentences is that I don’t feel as much of an emotional connection as I want to feel with the characters. There’s some distance between reader and characters that’s caused by such a rapid turn of phrase (due to the brevity of the sentences, which tends to move the action forward pretty quickly). There were scenes in which the transition wasn’t very clear (or was skipped altogether), so I was a bit confused about the setting or whatnot (”Where am I? How’d I get there from the previous paragraph?”).
But that’s the only quibble I have, and it really all boils down to personal preference. I certainly would like to check out the sequel sometime.
Thanks for the Review, Renee. And it's not "late" at all. The whole point of this blogsite is that as it progresses, it will have more reviews and will provide a more complete view of what's out there in terms of GLBTQ characters and themes in YA fiction.
So, everyone, feel free to review away, any book that has a post up...
and every week two or three new books get posted!
Thanks for being part of this community!
Namaste,
Lee
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