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By John Donovan
When the grandmother raising him dies, 13-year-old Davy is uprooted to Manhattan to live with his alcoholic mother.
In New York, he befriends another boy, Douglas, and the friendship grows into more.
Davy's mother freaks at the discovery, and the boys roam Manhattan - not so much figuring stuff out, but living and talking about "this queer business."
Published in 1969, this was groundbreaking stuff!
I have to admit this "classic" holds a special place for me, because it's the name-inspiration for one of my favorite blogs, super-librarian KT Horning's WORTH THE TRIP (Queer books for Kids and Teens!)
So check out the blog (and of course she has a great in-depth review there of "I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth The Trip.")
And, once you've read the book, add your review in "comments!"
1 comment:
Link --->http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/164615618
**Contains Spoilers**
Dear Mr.Donovan,
I've heard people say that this book is the gay the Catcher in the Rye. Now, I love the Catcher in the Rye, so you can see that I had to read this book. These people weren't wrong. That is, they weren't wrong about the first 150 pages. Let me explain.
Onto my first complaint,
The Climax
Look, John, you have me wondering if my copy of the book has about fifty pages missing from it. That was the weakest climax I've probably ever read, no kidding. And it was the weakest resolution.
You see, I think your problem was that you didn't know what order to put things in. I think that you just wanted to end the book. It was starting to drag out, but I'd rather it continue on and on and on then what you gave me.
No kidding.
Onto my second complaint,
First book to discuss teenage homosexuality my ass
Let's face it : you didn't discuss anything. The kiss was off screen for the love of God, offscreen!. They don't bring it up besides that pathetic excuse for a conversation at the end, where Davy says "I guess the most important thing is to not do it again."
WTF?
W....T....F...?
WHY?
How is this discussing anything? Keep in mind the book ends with the same conversation. This is pathetic. Like, really pathetic. Super Super Pathetic.
Which leads me to number three,
Onto my third and final complaint,
Where's The Epiphany?
I thought that this book was going to discuss teenage homosexuality, not skirt around it. I thought Davy was going to have to find himself. I thought he was going to have his big "OMFG!" moment. Like Holden, in the Catcher in the Rye.
We didn't have that. We didn't have that moment. Davy didn't think anything really about the kiss (The offscreen kiss, mind you! Offscreen!), other than not to do it again. What kind of stuff is that?
It doesn't feel like the book ended. It feels like it was just sort of...well, cut off. Like a movie, cutting it off right at the middle.
And In Conclusion,
The blurb lied. Maybe I would have liked this book if it wasn't made out to be something that it was not. Then again, why am I kidding myself? No I wouldn't have.
I mean, I really wanted to like this book. I did like this book for the first 150 or so pages. And then everything went downhill. It was sort of like the Catcher in the Rye at first, but then it just sort of turned out like a mix between Looking For Win-Dixie, or some other sad dog movie, and The Vast Fields of Ordinary.
I don't like The Vast Fields of Ordinary.
And you know the worst part about all of this, Mr. Donovan?
I love your title more than anything in the world.
TO SUM IT ALL UP,
The ending was sort of like the title.
I got there, only it wasn't worth the trip.
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