This novella beings with a heart wrenching scene. Cassian is sitting in a coffee shop when he spots a familiar face walking by. He immediately chases after the man, catches up with him and hugs him tightly. It doesn't take Cassian long to realise he's made an error and he turns away from the man, embarrassed with his actions. Andy has just moved into the city and found an apartment. He decides to sign up for a creative writing class as a way to meet new people and is surprised to discover that his teacher is no other than the man who accosted him in the street a few weeks ago. He's even more surprised to find out that Cassian is his neighbour, leading to misunderstandings followed by a whirlwind romance.The strength of this book lies in the character of Andy, whose point of view we get for almost all of the book, except for that first chapter. He's one of those eminently likeable people: personable, polite, intelligent, confident and, in many ways, quite old for his years. He's secure in his homosexuality, has an eclectic, if old fashioned, taste in music and isn't afraid to ask for help from friends when necessary. I liked him a great deal. I also liked Andy's friend Patrick who almost stole the entire book in a very short scene. I'm hoping he gets his own story.
I also really liked the writing, especially some of the minor incidental details such as Andy's "Best Son" mug which told a whole wealth of information about Andy in a short phrase. The descriptions of Andy's life, his contentment with the way he's at the start of a new path and the love he feels for his hard won independence all shone through in the vivid writing and the characterisation. The story itself surprised me in that I was convinced it was going to turn out one way, but the end was different to how I imagined, which can only be good in my opinion.
The parts that didn't work as well were to do with the romance between Cassian and Andy. Instead of a steady build up of respect and attraction the author relies heavily on tired clichés such as instant inappropriate arousal or that the slightest touch shoots off sparks of attraction. Their relationship moves on very quickly into emotional intensity, a little too quickly for me. The two men have a lot in common, which strengthened the idea of a connection between them, but there are also great differences between them that could have been explored more effectively to make the relationship have a realistic chance of working. The story actually takes place over six weeks, but most of that time is spent 'off page' so we are only told of how the relationship develops rather than seeing it for ourselves. Later in the story there is a 'sudden crisis' which again seemed a bit of a easy way to resolve some of the problems the pair were having at the time.
Despite these problems, I felt that the strength of the prose and the character of Andy lifted this story, hence my grade of 'Very Good'. If you are looking for a short read and don't mind reading about a fast moving relationship, then this book could be for you.
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I read this last week, too, Jen. I agree - it was a really good read, except for some rough/too quick parts about their relationship - I think more showing and less telling would've helped there.
ReplyDeleteI have this one in my TBR, glad to hear it will be worth the time.
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad that most of the six weeks is told off page as it would, for me, make the story seem like insta love. Sounds good though - despite that. Thanks Jen.
ReplyDeleteChris: I think you are right. There was a lot of telling us about what had happened rather than letting us see it for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteTam: Hope you enjoy it :).
ReplyDeleteTracy: I think part of the problem was the short medium of the book. This meant that much of the development in the romance had to be confined to a few pages. It was still a good read though.