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Book ReviewsRainbow Boys |
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Book: Rainbow Boys
Written by: Alex Sanchez |
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Average Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5
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Amazing
Rating:
5 / 5
I think this book was great. To be honest it is one the greatest books I've ever read. I'm looking forward to reading Rainbow High, and also the book after that will be coming out. I dont know why, but my favorite character is Jason. I know I'm a girl or whatever but I Feel like I can relate to him.
A Highly Entertaining Read
Rating:
4 / 5
Nelson is the stereotypical gay guy-fashion conscious, obsessed with his hair, and into using queer references every other sentence.
Kyle is Nelson's best friend, the shy swimmer who's good at math. He's also gay, but is scared to come out to his parents.
Jason is the star basketball player with the popular girlfriend. He thinks he might be gay, but is worried about the implications that may have on his life.
Rainbow Boys is the chronicle of three teenagers as they attempt to navigate their way through high school life; in particular, it deals with gay specific issues such as coming out, same-sex relationship dynamics, sex, and HIV.
Much of the appeal of this novel comes primarily from the honest portrayal of gay teenage life by the author. Instead of stepping around sensitive issues such as unprotected sex and HIV in the gay community, Alex Sanchez tackles them through his characters with a refreshing candor.
Another major strength of this book is the narrative style. Sanchez stays in the first person throughout. However, each chapter, he changes between the viewpoints of Nelson, Kyle, and Jason each chapter. This helps to gain an insight into each of the character's heads.
I only had one problem with this book. While I appreciated the wide overview that it gave about gay teenage life, Sanchez sometimes tried too hard to be educational. Yes, it's important to learn how to set up a GSA and how to deal with unprotected sex the morning after, but that's what educational pamphlets and websites are for.
All in all, Rainbow Boys is at its best when it doesn't try to be more than what it is-an engrossing and highly entertaining look at the lives of three gay teenager
Should be mandatory reading for gay teens and their parents
Rating:
5 / 5
When I looked at the cover for this book, I almost wrote it off as fluff. After all, there are three "pretty boys" on the cover, and frankly, that type of cover doesn't shout: "GREAT LITERATURE!" I'm glad I looked at the back of the book because I saw that it was indeed literature to be taken seriously, as it had received some rather impressive accolades. Given that, I decided to give it a shot.
I'm glad I did.
The author achieved something in this book that's difficult for even the most seasoned writers to do: he wrote from three different points-of-view, gave each character a distinctive voice, as well as unique personalities, with different problems and obstacles to overcome.
I thought at first that Kyle and Jason would be very similar people. The back of the book identifies Jason as a "jock" and Kyle as a "swim team star". Those descriptions aren't terribly far apart. However, "jock" carries with it a different stigma than does "swim team star", and Jason and Kyle are definitely very different people.
The author made an excellent choice starting the book from Jason's perspective. Kyle and Nelson were vastly more comfortable with their sexuality, so to start the book from one of their perspectives would have been to begin the story with little to no tension. In order to hook a reader, an author needs to introduce tension immediately. Jason was the most conflicted of the three, so he was the logical and perfect choice.
The author also did a tremendous job in that first chapter introducing us to all of the main players and probably plot lines. Beginning with Jason walking around the block three times while contemplating entering the brownstone where the "gay" meeting would take place, he then stepped back briefly and showed us the thought process that brought Jason to that point. He had called a gay hotline for youths three times, and we aren't privy to those conversations, unfortunately. Personally, I would have liked to know the type of questions Jason was asking. However, we are immediately introduced to Jason's thought processes, so it's easy to surmise what he may have asked. He imagined a room of "queers", with him in it, trying to imagine himself fitting into that group. The immediate picture he had was that of Nelson, who was the so-called type of homosexual that even a blind and deaf dog would know is gay. He knew that he wasn't like Nelson, he thought about his girlfriend of two years, but couldn't understand why he had intense dreams of naked men. Finally he decides to enter the brownstone, where the meeting is being held, and finds two other boys from his high school: Nelson and Kyle. Nelson was no surprise to him, but Kyle was. Kyle was not your so-called typical "queer", easily recognizable. Kyle seemed "normal". This threw Jason for a loop. So, to cut to the chase, a few things happened, and Jason went running from the room.
Nelson and Kyle both came to life in this chapter with very strong presences. Nelson was exactly as Jason expected - a flaming queen - and Kyle demonstrated sweet, kind gentleness, and we learn immediately in the next chapter that he had been infatuated with Jason for quite some time. (That's the only slightly unbelievable part of the book - that the guy Kyle's completely bonkers for walks into the meeting, and then they...well...read the book.)
I spent a lot of time talking about that first chapter because it's probably the most important chapter in the book. Everything is laid out very neatly. We know what to expect from Jason, Nelson, and Kyle.
What transpires throughout the rest of the book is touching and extraordinary. Kyle is in love with Jason. Nelson may or may not be in love with Kyle. Jason is in love with Debra, but he can't shake his interest in men and, especially, his blossoming interest in Kyle.
As with any book that deals with gay teenage issues, there are coming out scenes. It certainly isn't necessary in the case of Nelson, as I suspect he came out to his Mom when he was born. Kyle comes out to his parents, with mixed but very believable results. His mother went through very typical responses, his father was typically distant (although sometimes it's the reverse...every situation is different). Jason's family is very dissimilar to Kyle's. He has an alcoholic father and an enabling mother, and the father reacted violently when Jason came out. That was one of my favorite scenes in the book. I won't say why, in case someone is reading this and hasn't read the book.
I don't like to go through plot descriptions in reviews, because too often, even if you're careful, you give things away that could ruin it for the reader. So I'll leave it at this: Rainbow Boys is an exceptional book with believable, unique characters, all of whom are sympathetic. It's difficult to imagine someone reading this - gay or straight (if they're straight and have an open mind) - and not enjoying this book, both for the wonderful intricate story, and the author's laudable telling of the story through three distinct voices.
And if you're a gay teenager, this book should shine bright rays of hope into your life. I certainly hope that it does, because the highest percentage of teens who commit suicide are gay teens. This is exactly the type of book that should be mandatory reading for any gay teen.
As a matter of fact, it wouldn't hurt parents of gay teens to read this book either. Frankly, as I think about it, it should be mandatory reading for them as well. This book does an excellent job of displaying different "levels" of homosexuality (yes, specifically male homosexuality, but it's easy to make the references to lesbians).
Also laudable are information and references in the back of the book for: Organizing a Peer Group; Violence and Hate Crimes against Gays and Lesbians; Human Rights Campaign; Teen Sexuality, Advocates for Youth; Gay and Lesbian Teen Suicides; Gay and Lesbian Teen Services on the Internet; Youth Advocacy; and Youth Activism.
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