The books titled Pictures
of You and You Are Not Me are the
first two entries in the 90’s Coming of
Age series written by Leta Blake. The story, set in the early 90’s, follows
young Peter as he falls in love with a boy for the first time, and gets
introduced to the perils of love, and introduced to gay culture in the 90’s.
Originally, I was going to review Pictures of You once I had finished it, but when I had read the
last word on the last page, I accidently slid my thumb on my Kindle, and found
that a second book in the series had already been published. So I immediately downloaded
it and gobbled it up within a week. Hence the double review.
Characters
The main protagonist is Peter. His physical description is a
bit murky. In some instances, he’s called a twink, where in others he seems to
be more of a nerdish gangly sort of guy, where in others he just seems like an
average kid that no one would glance twice at. His dominant description is a
twink though, so we’ll go with that. He’s awkward, and he’s stubborn. He, like
so many of us in real life, has blinders on when it comes to love. He trips and
stumbles in social interactions, and in the second book, he realizes that he
wants to create a circle of gay friends and become part of that community more,
and stumbles in what is the right way to behave within that community.
I felt Peter’s personality and social awkwardness were very
realistic and well written. I felt the author grasped what so many of us baby
gays go through as we stumble into the gay culture for the first time, thinking
we find love when really, we’re being used (even if we’re told its love). Add
in the setting of the 90’s, and the nuances and the behaviors fit perfectly.
The other main characters would be Adam and Daniel, Peter’s
love interests. I don’t really want to spend much time on Adam, as he brings up
a lot of bad memories of a certain ex of mine, but needless to say that Adam is
the perfect example of a closeted gay boy who wants his cake and gets to eat it
too. Daniel is too perfect. Think Aiden compared to Mr. Big. Actually, that’s
the perfect comparison between the two. Aiden was too good for Carrie. Mr. Big
was just okay for Carrie. Daniel is too good for Peter for most of the story.
But again, both characters are well written.
Story
Oh the setting is perfect for this story. Set in the
backdrop of the still relevant AIDS crisis, and before even gay marriage really
became an issue, you have young love trying to flourish and not know if it even
can or what it should look like. Peter thinks it’s okay for Adam to be in love
with him and be in love with a girl, and to not even tell the girl. He doesn’t
know any better. He doesn’t have the generation before him to show him that it’s
okay to be out and proud, because the generation before him is dying. Even when
he does finally have people around him telling him that it’s not okay what is
happening, he doesn’t believe it, or he doesn’t want to because Adam has made
him feel important for once in his life. And for a little baby gay who has been
beaten up most of his life for people thinking he was gay, that’s damn
important. It doesn’t matter if Adam is a dick.
The story progresses nicely, though the time flow in the
first book seems to move a lot faster than in the second. The first book takes
place during a whole school year whereas the second book takes place within one
summer. It makes sense though since the first book is about first love, and
what a ride that could be, and I think the second book is more about finding
yourself, and that’s a journey that may be short, but can feel long.
Least Favorite Part
Okay. Two least favorite parts this go around. One is that
Peter’s reasoning for staying with Adam makes little to no sense. Yes, I tried
to look at it through the view point of someone who hasn’t read countless gay
romances and coming of age novels, viewed countless gay romance and coming of
age films, and experienced a few of those moments myself. I tried viewing it as
someone coming out and coming of age in 1992 rather than 2016. Still. Made no
sense. I felt the author could have tried better to have the readers understand
Peter’s reasoning more.
Second least favorite part: The ending of the second novel.
I get it. She needed to set up the third novel. She needed to make the readers
want more. BUT DAMN IT! And that’s all I’ll say as I like to keep my reviews as
spoiler free as possible.
Favorite Part
I feel the setting of the story was my favorite part. It
gave the story a feeling that helped drive the emotions, thoughts, and reasoning
of the characters. The 90’s were the perfect choice as if the author chose the
80’s, you would’ve been full blown into the AIDS crisis, and if she had chosen
the mid-to-late 90’s, you would’ve had less and less concern about other people’s
thinking. Sure, it would’ve still been there, but the early 90’s had that
perfect blend of being afraid but being proud.
Overall
Overall, I gave each book a four-star rating on Goodreads.
Each was enjoyable to read, and I am looking forward to a third book in the
series. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good coming of age
story.
Links on Goodreads for Synopsis:
No comments:
Post a Comment