About this title: For Nathan first love is not easy. But in a climate of domestic violence, it might be the only thing to save him from the attentions of a drunken father. In the rural South filled with hatred and meanness, Nathan has to hide his secret and love from his friends, church and family.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Very Good. 0684829924 Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light curve to the spine / light reading creases to the covers. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9781565121065ISBN:1565121066
Description: Fine in very good dust jacket. Very light wear, no tears, to intact glossy jacket; no remainder mark; no writing in book; binding straight, tight, pages bright, odor-free; will pack securely, ship promptly with Delivery Confirmation. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 204 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Scribner, Publisher
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780684829920ISBN:0684829924
Description: Fine. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Lt. shelf wear. Pages fine. Jim Grimsley has written a novel about the love affair between two adolescent boys in the American South--one of them the son of an abusive father. The affair with the boy next door reawakens buried memories of his painful childhood. 195 pages. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, NC
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9781565121065ISBN:1565121066
Description: FINE. First printing. Purple and black hardcover in dust jacket. LIKE NEW. **We provide professional service and individual attention to your order, daily shipments, and sturdy packaging. FREE TRACKING ON ALL SHIPMENTS WITHIN USA. read more
Edition: 1st ed.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N. C.
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9781565121065ISBN:1565121066
Description: Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. Small ink mark on bottom edge, Else Fine. First printing. (hardcover) 195 p. ; 21 cm. read more
Edition: First Edition; First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9781565121065ISBN:1565121066
Description: Fine in Fine dust jacket. 1565121066. A review copy with publisher's material laid in. Struggling with sexual abuse from his father and his mother's denial of the situation, Roy dreams of a life free from his family while fantasizing about a relationship with the young man next door, whose home represents a safe haven to Roy. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Touchstone Books
Date Published: 1997-01-30
ISBN-13:9780684829920ISBN:0684829924
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780684829920. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Touchstone
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780684829920ISBN:0684829924
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9781565121065ISBN:1565121066
Description: Fine in fine dust jacket. Stated 1st Ed w/full No. Line: spine straight, binding tight, appears unused, no reader/remainder/library marks, covers/pgs flat w/sharp corners, very slight shelf wear. 195 numbered pgs., Audience: General/trade. Photos/other info available by e-mail. Daily(M-F)orders/e-mail responses. E-mail confirmation of shipment. Books stored in smoke-free, climate controlled environment. Check our feedback. read more
Edition: F
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Algonquin
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9782864244653ISBN:2864244659
Description: Fine. No Jacket. First Edition (first printing). An Uncorrected Proof Copy of the second book by the author of WINTER BIRDS. Fine in wraps as issued. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9781565121065ISBN:1565121066
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. Signed by Author Brief INSCRIPTION by author on title page: "For Debbie/with best wishes/Jim Grimsley". Author of Winter Birds. read more
"Dream Boy is one of those books that really makes me wonder why so many people love a sad story. No, 'sad story' isn't even the right words, because I enjoy a good drama, where certain things go wrong, but they always get better. Or perhaps they don't get better, but you know that things will be okay anyway, that life will go on, that there will be survival. Dream Boy is not one of those stories. Dream Boy is Shakespearean in its tragedy, one of those stories that you finish and don't even know how you are going to go on, let alone any of the characters you've grown so attached to. I don't know. Some people like this sort of thing. Me? Not so much. I like to read for inspiration, for hope, for a reason to keep doing this silly thing called life. The blurb for this book says it is "an amazing tale of boundless hope -- and ultimate tragedy." They got one half of that (the last half) right, but this is no Pandora's box, there isn't a shred of hope in this novel, and when you finish it, the only hope you've got left is that Jim Grimsley went to fresh woods and pastures new for his next book.
Because here's the thing: this book is incredible. I found out, accidentally, early on in the novel about its tragic ending, and I was half-tempted then to push it aside (because as I said, I am not one for a tragedy). But Jim Grimsley's incredible style kept me going, unable to put the book down. His sentences are very short, simple in the grammatical sense of the word, and pointed. They are crisp and they are clear. He writes in the present tense, which makes everything all the more imperative and important and now, and his point-of-view bounces between characters like a poltergeist. Every now and then, Grimsley will choose a word that makes you gasp audibly and say, Perfect!, like when he describes a moonlit scene as "bathed in milk."
The point of so sparse a style is simple: from the very beginning, Grimsley wants to control your every emotion as you read the book, and he does it expertly. I don't feel bad in the slightest for giving away "spoilers" in my first paragraph, saying it is a tragedy, because Grimsley crafts the book in such a way that you know from the first few pages that this is not going to end happily. From the start, as you read through the 200-pages, you feel like you're watching the spark burn along the fuse of a bomb, and you can't do anything to stop it but you can't turn away, either. It's claustrophobic, and it's cloying, and it almost hurts. There are temporary respites, passages that aren't quite as inevitably tragic, and I suppose these are what the blurb talks about with "boundless hope," but even these sections are tainted. You can hear the fuse burning in the background, even if you can't see it. So there's this over-arching sense of doom hanging over the entire thing, and through that Grimsley takes you through various other emotions and feelings and reactions, and the thing is he knows what he's doing every step of the way. Your reactions are entirely in his hands, and he plays you as easily as a harpist plucks her strings. It's incredible to read, actually, and as a writer, rather inspiring. I'd actually like to read this again, slower and with more attention to how he does what he does and less attention to what he's doing.
The plot, as I already said, is very cliché. It's actually got just about every overdone trope you'd expect to see in a tragic story about gay love set in the rural South. You've got your tragedy, your sexual abuse, your bashing, your awkward sex, your haunted mansion, your creepy graveyard, your slave story. But you realize quickly that you're not reading this for plot, you're reading this for style and reaction, so you forgive him, by the end, for using a plot generated by the Plot-O-Matic. I finished it quite a few minutes ago, and I'm still very disturbed and uncomfortable and just icky feeling. Again, I don't know why people actually like to read things like this, and why people actually want to write things like this, but hey, whatever floats your boat, I guess. But me, personally? As a writer, I am definitely sticking to my light fluff, and as a reader, I can appreciate and honor this book for how amazingly it is crafted, but I can't ever say I I liked it."
"A haunting story made a bit uncomfortable by the inclusion of sexual abuse. But I feel like the author succeeded in making an impact, choosing the words and triggers to induce the reactions he wanted in the reader.
The story deals with, among other things: first loves, homosexuality in a small town, and sexual abuse.
The boys' relationship is typical of teenagers: hot and cold, subject to the influence of their peers. It feels real.
The conclusion is a bit of a surprise, taking a somewhat obvious and prophesied outcome and turning it into a surreal and open-to-interpretation ending."
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