Bobby Framingham is the star quarterback at Durango High School. He is popular. He is waiting for the right call of offers from colleges. He has loving parents. He has supportive team players. And the school thinks that he and beautiful Carrie are a great couple. It should have been a perfect life for him, except that he is battling confusion in him. He likes guys. He has dreams of Todd, another athletic in the school who plays baseball.
It is not easy for him to consider what right track he should pursue - to come clean on his sexual orientation or to suppress it. It does not make it any easier when he notices a guy his age, Bryan, is eying him at the games.
When he comes out to his best friend, Austin, one drama leads to another, and suddenly Bobby finds himself in a greater spotlight. It does not help Bobby either that his father tells him that his father has cancer.
I love reading a good book. It's like watching a good movie, where when it ends, it leaves nothing but a great smile on the face. Or a sigh, hoping for a little bit more although the heart is satisfied with the way the book or the movie turns out. After reading Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy and has a great satisfaction from it, I was surprised that I read another good book so soon.
Bill Konigsberg produced a great gay character and a storyline that I would definitely be talking about often enough when I have the chance to. Bobby Framingham is a good boy. He is a likable boy. He does not take advantages of girls. He does not sleep with them to keep a pretentious straight image. It is just that he does not tell people of the actual gender he likes.
So, his whole dilemma deals with the desire in his heart for guys and he wants to come clean with his friends. He carries his worries too long on his own and he wants someone to know. It starts with his friend, and then friends and eventually, more come to know of his situation.
To be honest, I thought Bobby had it easy. It is not impossible to find someone gay who has good supports from people around. However, I think it is not often enough to find someone so lucky, to have supportive team players and parents who stick with him through thick and thin. Sure, Bobby had a bad time with his games and dealt with the possibility of losing his father, who turned out to be quite charming with Bobby's gay situation. Still, the storyline is believable.
This book won the Lambda Literary Award. Bravo. :)
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