Nick is a teenager, struggling to find the right direction for his life. He leaves his home to pursue education in art. Unable to bear with the feeling that he was isolated for being a gay, he moves in to stay with his uncle. And eventually he dumps the school, to work for I Dream of Cleanie where he is hired to clean the apartments and houses when the owners are away.
It is a struggle for Nick to avoid the judgment that he is being irresponsible for his life. He falls for guys who don't give him any love interest in return. He stays with 3 roommates in a small place, just to share the rent. Nick is paying for Kendra's share.. secretly. Roberto, his other straight roommate, is sick, and is secretly in love with him. He loses his job. He avoids his family.
And he misses his family. Especially his twin brother.
But he feels like he can never go back. Not to where he is invisible. Where people don't see him.
I have to confess that the book cover makes it easy for me to decide to buy When You Don't See Me. This is the first book by Timothy James Beck that I have read. And happily owns. :D The story was written beautifully, and some lines were so wittily charming, I could not help to smile.
However, I do think the story is also aimless, where I don't have the patient to run through what Nick does, daily, in and out. And I just got lost in remembering who is who in the book. I thought Faggots by Larry Kramer was bad. When You Don't See Me is a quarter-way there. I just kept reading, not caring who was having conversation or love affair with Nick. Not that there were many love affairs in the book. Make Nick straight, and this book is just another typical written book about any individual who is too lazy to do something better in life.
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