“Raunchy, riotous and real” (James Dawson, author of This Book is Gay)
Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award in 2014,
Raziel Reid is the youngest ever winner of this award. Calls for the award to
be stripped because of the books content have thankfully been ignored.
This is the story of Jude, a junior high school aged boy who is
flamboyantly gay and very comfortable with his sexuality even though very few
of his peers are. His best friend is a self acclaimed “Slut” and his family is
a mess.
It reads quite well and is fast paced. You get drawn into
the World of Jude but when he retreats into his fantasy World of movies to hide
from what’s really going on around him it can get a bit confusing. But, maybe
this is indicative of life in the 21st century for teenagers, with
so much going on around them they probably have to retreat at times. From about
the halfway point, I realised the book was building to something huge and this
is the only reason I kept reading but the ending was, unfortunately, very
predictable. At about 160 pages it’s a
quick read and I read it at one sitting, although if I was a slower reader I
would be compelled to keep reading to find out what happens.
It’s the debut novel for Raziel Reid (http://www.razielreid.com/) and is
certainly not shy or modest in anyway. In my opinion the book is crass, violent
and unnecessarily graphic, but it is viewed as a book with subject matter that
is important, relevant and perfectly appropriate for young adults. I disagree.
Whilst I wouldn’t go as far as suggesting banning or limiting its availability
to young adults, I think it is more suited to the 15+ teens. Whilst I like
books that push the envelope, it’s constant vulgarity and page filled
jock-shock just doesn’t work. It’s like if a friend rarely curses and then
shouts out – Oh for FxxK’s SAKE – you pay attention but the friend that can’t say
a sentence without some expletive you ignore. A little less in this book would
have been better.
It is so important to question violence and homophobia and
to initiate debate but I don’t think this book should be the starting point.
This book is loosely based on the real story of Larry Fobes King who was
shot in school after asking his crush to go to Valentines with him so either his
story, that of Matthew Shepard or in Ireland the story of Declan Flynn would be
a better starting point to start a debate.
For those who don’t know who Declan Flynn was check HERE https://gcn.ie/murder-created-dublin-pride/
A quote from the original article reads - “Bonfires were lit and street parties were held in
celebration in Fairview as the five murderers returned home to heroes’
welcomes”
33 years later, people laid flowers at the bench Declan sat
at before he was murdered on the day Ireland voted YES for Marriage Equality.
There are moments in the book where there are cracks in
Jude’s armour, in his fantasy World and there are moments of gentleness,
protectiveness and reality which are really important. However, the
overpowering style of the book stops you seeing these important moments. For
this reason I give it a 7 out of 10 planets.
Other
LGBT books I have reviewed are
Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan HERE
Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde HERE
Noah Can't Even by Simon James Green HERE
Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli HERE
John the Captain Ryan
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