Rating: 
Summary: Could not believe how I devoured this book
Review: Usually, I am not one to read a book cover to cover within such a small span of time. I have a pattern of reading, stopping, and coming back. However, this novel is quite an emotional, sensory, joy ride. Images are written on the page as if Jim Grimsley were painting them onto a canvas. I can understand why a few of the reviewers felt as though there was little plot or character development. I must say though that this was actually a refreshing change. The focus of this book is on images, many of which were more powerful than many action-filled plots that I have read. The present tense used by the author grounds the reader in the moment. We are not merely reading a fictional account of past events. We are living the moments with the characters. Character development? I felt the characters, understood them. Some I wanted to hold in my arms and protect. A few I wanted to beat to death with a blunt object. I would have loved to change what happened toward the end. I wanted to change what happened to the main character throughout his life. But I couldn't change them... nor could I stop reading the book. This is a very unusual love story. Pain and elation, love and fear, lust and anger, are interlaced with the haunting images. This is one of the best novels I've yet to read and it is best "gay" novel I have ever read. The ending felt like a dream, but left me stunned that the story could dare to end there. Although I had issues with the ending (I wanted more... I was shocked that the last page had come and gone) I have to give this one five stars.
Rating:
Summary: "Two Day Sugar Coma on a Second Hand Couch"
Review: I've never been the "reading" type, especially when it comes to modern gay literature. Being a young gay man I have too easily put down many gay themed books for being typically sarcastic, venomous, too political, or just plain boring. Luckily, this book made its way into my life by chance and I am forever grateful. From the minute I flipped open the front cover (hesitantly, mind you) I found myself smirking in anticipation, reading further in shock, and sighing with inevitable delight.A select few may share the opinion that this book is "underdeveloped", for whatever "their" reason. But, that is where its beauty thrives. This is a simple story about the most basic of human emotion, and the wants and needs that surround...a love story. Jim Grimsley is so amazingly clever with words. An innocent walk through a field, a first kiss, or even a scattering of dinner plates becomes a grand event unto itself. Quite the dream. I could ramble on about the wonders within this book, but read it for yourself, and relive your teen years...they way the could have been. Thanks Jim. "Amen" :-)
Rating:
Summary: Haunting, yet truly wonderful
Review: Dream Boy was read in two days. I did not want the book to end, however, I wanted to read more of Roy's and Nathan's emerging love for one another. I read the book with the original score of Disturbing Behavior in the background, fitting, if you're familiar with Mark Snow's work. Do not read this book to compare it to another. Expect the unexpected. Read of an emerging love between two young adults whose paths cross at an ackward moment, maybe the right moment, in their lives. Find yourself in this story, walking through the woods, feeling the warm hand of the characters pressed against your own, but be prepared to feel some pain and sorrow along the way. Dream Boy truly touched me in ways you must experience for yourself, regardless of the reader's sexuality.
Rating:
Summary: Very Unique Story!!
Review: This is not your usual boy meets boy, boy falls in love with boy, and they live happily every after. Although the characeters are also not the usual "couple", they do fall in love and that love is very gratifying to both young men - and to the reader. Further, there is no suicide of one of the young lovers, nor does "family" tear them apart from each other. They do end up together, but the way the author does it will really surprise and delight you. It sure did me.
Rating:
Summary: Pentecostal hyms,boy next to boy, dark haunts ...PERFECT
Review: "Just As I Am" rang through the moon bathed church yard, a reminder that these boys were "just as they am" and struck by a power from somewhere devine.Each step the author takes moves like silken fog, even when Roy knees in front of Nathan ,younger and haunted by the ghost of what his father took form him,Roy's pleasure is only briefly sketched and the magic of ones mind takes over.The shallow minded who have no passion and must all be spoonfed will have trouble with the eding....really not an eding at all but the birth of all who are "Washed In The Blood of The Lamb".All people who have know the pure love that ignites the flesh and insist you become one with "Blessed Assurance" will understand.Why is it that the south is supersaturated with such harsh and beautiful charms, and authors like this one? I think I'll have some more chilled burbon down by the backwater under the moss and think about that.
Rating:
Summary: Best book I ever read.
Review: This book has heart and soul. I have never been so pulled into a book as much as I have been with this one. I felt I was there during each moment of Nathen and Roys lives. The book is supurbly written. All of my emotions came out reading this book. The is a MUST read for anyone. You get to know the characters in a personal sense. I rejoiced at the wonderful ending. Kudos to the author for an honest and frank view of gay life, and for portraying such wonderful and insightful ways of life. Will be reading this one again and again.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting and Lyrical
Review: A friend of mine handed me a copy of this book and told me to read it right away. I'm glad I listened to him, as "Dream Boy" is one of the most brutal and beautiful books I have ever read. Jim Grimsley manages to restore faith in the power of love and language. His lyrical prose and beautifully woven characters had me engrossed from start to finish. Nathan and Roy manage to haunt you long after the novel is finished. I couldn't wait to turn each page to find out what was coming next, yet never wanted the book to end. There are sentences so small and so affecting, that I was wracked with sobs for most of the book. Grimsley's novel is one of great beauty and portent; a gay love story that transcends that label to become a universal truth. His writing makes me both envious of his talent and glad to be a writer myself, and I have not been so shaken, moved, and unsettled by a novel in a long time. Superb.
Rating:
Summary: Modern Southern Gothic Romance - Dynamite!
Review: I live in Atlanta, where the author lives, and I really hope to meet Grimsley one of these days. To actually meet a modern-day Wordsworth or Hemingway! Dream Boy left me feeling drained and yet full at the same time. Sure the book has a dream-like quality to it, but it doesn't sacrifice even the slightest bit on necessary detail and character believability. These are real boys. They face real emotions and quite frankly, I could rattle off about fifty people I knew growing up who were like them. Most importantly, I believe Dream Boy will one day be taught in colleges. It is a literary work, not a hack novel. No, Grimsley didn't spell out the ending for the intelligence impaired. It frustrated me to no end, but then that is exactly what was supposed to happen. We, the reader, are forced to draw our own conclusions and use our own imagination. Thanks, Mr. Grimsley, for a wonderful novel.
Rating:
Summary: Transported, sings, troubles, moving
Review: Dear Mr. Grimsley: Just finished reading your novel for the second time -- something I never do. Your use of language transported me. The first three chapters sing. I've read passages to all my friends. The ending troubles me and leaves me with questions -- too many to fit into the 190-character limit of this web response form. Thank you for giving such moving form to gay love. What can I say? I guess this is fan mail (something else I never do).
Rating: 
Summary: good
Review: goo
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