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By Jean Ferris
Cowboys. Bull Riding. Rodeo Camp the Summer before Senior Year of High School.
When John meets Kit, he thinks he's made a friend who's the ideal cowboy - and he wants to be just like him.
Then he finds out Kit's Gay.
And that begins the wild ride of John's heart. Just how much like Kit is he?
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4 comments:
when i first heard about this book i was like "gay cowboys...really?" but i gave it a chance, and i encourage others to do the same! it was wonderful! The characters are realistic, and completely different than the usual questioning teen, it was a real look into another world for me (a liberal new jersey native. Many of the characters were just passable, but the main characters shine when needed. And who doesnt love a bittersweet, unexpected ending?
The anon that left the comment is my friend Caroline lol! Hai thar, Caroline! Anyway, we heard about this book when my friend came back from NJ Pride with a booklist, and we saw it and had a good giggle because... well, gay cowboys. Not only was this book published before Brokeback, but it seemed to be pretty serious about the subject.
Needless to say, I was very happy with the result of reading this book. The narration is excellent. It is definitely a boy's voice, and the emotions are conflicted and contradictive, which is true to life. And the ending. Oh my God, it was painful, but in the end, needed. This is a prime example of don't judge a book by its cover/summary, because it's not your everyday rodeo book, nor is it your everyday LGBTQ book.
On my city library's web page for this book, somebody posted:
"From this book, I understand that a gay is a male who is attracted by another male's physical appearance. Though gays can have some remained traits of men, such as hot temper, physical stamina etc., their emotions/reactions are so complexed!"
Here they suggest not only that a gay male is not a man (?!), but that men cannot have complex emotions/reactions. Clearly, this person has never read any other books. I am thoroughly confused.
Thoughts?
Hey Madison, I think your instinct is right on (that they haven't read many books with diverse characters) and my best response is to recommend you (and that reviewer) watch this amazing TED talk by the African author, Chimamanda Adaichie, who talks about stereotypes as 'the danger of the single story.' It's here: http://www.leewind.org/2010/02/chimamanda-adichie-on-danger-of-single.html
Enjoy!
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