Rating: 
Summary: Addictive
Review: Well the book was very addicitve. I couldnt put it down i took it to work and evrything. At school walkinmg. its was justs uch a good book. The only reason im not giving it a 5 is towards the end it got slow. Like it takes them forever to go in this suposedly haunted house. and tehn nathan gets raped hes the amin chracter. Then the chapters start being oner paged ones about how he eventually got up. from being so soar it took huim days to move it just says how hes feeling. But th eending was kinda good though. Youll have to see what happens.
Rating:
Summary: Dare to Dream
Review: During the time of Brown vs. the Board of Education, parts of the United States-especially the Deep South-were in utter peril. Hate-filled dusty streets ran busily through various towns in Alabama, and fed their prejudice like tributaries into the north. Change was something the country needed, whether its inhabitants wanted it or not. The years that followed were filled with adaptations of human thinking, pros and cons, right and wrong. This is the time period which Jim Grimsley chose his characters to inhabit in his latest novel, Dream Boy. But Grimsley's two main characters hold a very unique quality. Roy is a Senior high school baseball player; athletically built and a part of the school's "in" crowd, and an outstanding citizen in Potter's Lake. Typically, he eats lunch with his friends and afterward they gather outside for a cigarette, talking about the past weekend, or what's happening for the next. Nathan's family moves around quite a bit as a result of their lifestyle. His past is littered with sexual abuse by his father and when others become curious about their family's situation, Nathan and his family pack up and leave; his mother passively accepting another life forced upon her. Only a sophomore in high school, Nathan does nothing to combat his family's way of life. Upon their latest move, this time to Potter's Lake, Nathan finds himself living in the house next to Roy. Two high school boys, each with their own individual past, are brought together during a time of extreme oppression. African Americans are beginning to enter the school systems and domestic life is becoming less domesticated in an area where religion is of utmost importance. There is one exception, however. Nathan and Roy are homosexual. The reader is taken through the journey of a first love between two adolescent boys during a time of moral disintegration, this is how Dream Boy begins, as Grimsley sets very lofty stakes. Roy drives the bus that takes the Potter's Lake children to school each day. This is seemingly where the seeds of their relationship are planted. Nathan watches the back of Roy's head as he drives, wondering if similar thoughts are moving about in his mind. A relationship begins to grow along with their interaction until Roy, more familiar with Potter's Lake, takes Nathan to a graveyard where they share their first experience. Both boys are nervous and afterward, Roy pleads with Nathan to keep it between only them. Because of the time spent with Roy, Nathan's absence around his disruptive house begins to grow. He often spends the days revisiting the graveyard thinking about Roy, only returning for lunch and dinner to avoid the ominous figure of his father. Nathan's addition to Roy's group of friends is odd at first, the other boys not quite understanding Roy and Nathan's intentions. The reader sees the story from Nathan's perspective and the second half is dedicated to a camping trip taken by Roy, his friends, and Nathan. They hike for two days, Roy leading them to an abandoned plantation house overflowing with history. After entering the house, Dream Boy explodes with action and emotion. Grimsley rewards the close reader superfluously, especially during these following scenes, tackling some of the main issues homosexuals were forced to deal with then and now.
Rating:
Summary: A Call for Compassion
Review: Dream Boy, by Jim Grimsley, is a novel that asks its readers for their utmost sensitivity and empathy for a boy struggling with growing up as a homosexual. Imagine that because of an inherent personal characteristic, of which you had no choice, others completely justify treating you as less than human. This is the unfortunate situation that defines the life of Dream Boy's protagonist, Nathan. Nathan's first love with his boyfriend, Roy, should be as any other first love, pure, sweet, and fulfilling. But, because of the homophobia represented by the people in the rural town of this novel, Nathan's love must be kept a secret for fear of brutal retaliation. Nathan drifts through his life like a "dream boy" forced to conceal what defines him, which is absolutely heartbreaking. Dream Boy reads, as its title implies, as a novel written in languid dreamy prose to emphasize its ghost story plot. Nathan and Roy hang out in cemeteries, tell ghost stories, and camp out in the woods near a haunted house. However, the truly haunting aspect of the story is the abuse suffered by Nathan because of his homosexuality and that a graveyard feels more comforting than Nathan's own home. But, does Nathan's life have to resemble a ghost story? Would Nathan and all homosexuals benefit from people being more compassionate? Is he any different as a human being because of his sexual orientation? Does he deserve to be treated the way in which his community and his own family treats him? I certainly do not think that Nathan deserves the cruelty, when he wants nothing more than love, acceptance, and safety, which are perfectly "normal" comforts to want in life. The most interesting thing stylistically about this novel is the duality of time presented as realism. It is as if time and reality exist, but not in a linear fashion. Several times in the novel, time splits, and foreshadows events later in the novel. So then, the reader can choose to see Nathan's fate from a multitude of angles and decide for him/herself what really happens (with the potential that all options are possible simultaneously). There are thematic implications for this I find fascinating, but so will you, when you read the book. Many, if not all of us, know someone who is a homosexual. But, do you really know what it is like to face a world that does not accept an integral part of your lifestyle? I think that this book can help all of us to become closer to understanding the pain of being discriminated against because of sexual orientation and the unfairness of this judgment. After reading this book you may want to recommend it to someone who has a hard time with accepting homosexuals for whatever reason. I don't expect miracles to happen, but it may open the door for new ideas. After all, what is literature for if not to open minds to the ideas and lives of others for the betterment of all who read it?
Rating:
Summary: Dream Boy is not just another story
Review: This novel is in my top ten favorite books list because of the strength it has and the power it exudes. I have just read it a third time and each time I find deeper meaning within this moving and inspirational novel. Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley is a gripping tale of homosexual teenage love and the unaccepting society in which they live. Grimsley captures love and fear beautifully in this ghostly story set in the antebellum South shortly after integration. We are brought to walk aside Nathan and Roy, the main characters, and follow them into a world that brings with it many oppositions. The beginning of the book introduces a family history Nathan can not avoid: a drunken preachy father, a detached, oblivious mother, incestual sexual violations and lost innocence. The terror Nathan has experienced is acknowledged at the start of the novel but is not truly evident until the end at an abandoned plantation home Roy and Nathan find. Speaking of the end, it is complex but without pretension and is layered with reward for the reader who appreciates literature. Dramatically, the ending is the most remarkable of all. Dream Boy's ending questions all of what society has believed and religion has instilled in the South. It defines how we as readers see the world and it actively asks the reader to think about homosexuality and Nathan's impact in this ghost story. The story's measured prose is beautifully dream-like with carefully chosen language and perfectly constructed descriptions. Grimsley does a great job of creating a world of a ghostly state that is convincing and unquestionable. Readers are lulled into cemeteries that are not seen as beautiful until Grimsley describes them. Perhaps the cemeteries are only seen as beautiful because somehow Nathan finds solace there among the dead. Grimsley shows brilliance in his construction of illuminating moments of vulnerability, when a first kiss might take place or when a wrong word might create distance. He brings to life an alternative love affair with a vivid and ghostly end (or is it?). This book of two young boys in love on their journey for acceptance and freedom is magnificent and inspirational. It is a truly rewarding book for those who reward Nathan for his bravery and Roy for his subtle courage. Every time I put this book down after reading it, I can not wait to read it again. Readers will find a true friendship with Nathan, they will cry at the ending (is it a sad ending? or happy?, you decide) and they'll look forward to meeting him again. This book asks for special care and for attention. Give this story just that and you'll be pleased with your findings. Dream Boy is a book I highly recommend. It is a quick read, one that you could do on a flight, a road trip, or a rainy Saturday afternoon. Definitely try this book. Grimsley has accomplished a lot in this novel and you will too by reading it.
Rating: 
Summary: Haunting, daunting....EXCELLENT
Review: Simply one of the best books I have ever read. The book starts out pretty "yeah, right"-ish, but develops in such a way it truly shows you what real love is supposed to be. For all the heartship Nathan goes through, I can't help but envy him for his frame of mind and the love he shares with Roy.
Rating: 
Summary: two young men in a search of self discovery...
Review: that plops them directly in the path of one another. this story in itself is a great one where nathan, a young man raised in a HORRIBLE home where father rules with a bible in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other, all the time, harboring a lust for his son that is sickening at times. the fact that nathans WEAK mother abides with lowered eyes, not protecting nathan, but in fact allowing such things to be done without even a harsh word for the evil she beds with is even worse! the solace that nathan finds in his "buddy" roy is one that the reader hopes for for this young man. this is a wonderful story about love, friendship, calm and still betray. i did not like the ending of this one however. the reader is left with many unanswered quesitons in what seems to be the authors lack of care in finishing the novel. its as though he tired of writing it and wrapped it up as quickly and unneatly as possible. nevertheless, up until the end, i was glued to the book, reading it in one sitting.
Rating:
Summary: An emotional tornado of highs and lows
Review: This book absolutely blew me away. It has all the ingredients gay fiction has been missing. It speaks of love between boys as an emotional hunger feed through the intimacy of one another, and the respect of physical and emotional boundaries. The story is told with such heart and emotion that you will surely read this in one sitting. It is the story of two teenage boys who discover themselves, each other, and the hardships of youth caused by their "difference". The story is told with a real authority of what it is really like to want something so purely while at the same time in such fear of its origin and consequences.
Rating:
Summary: A voice worth hearing.
Review: The most beautiful thing about Jim Grimsley's inspired novel about two young men involved in a forbidden romance, is the narrative "voice" of the story, which breathes a delicate life into the characters and events that unfold. Focusing on a relationship that is both rocky and sound, the novel delves into the world of introverted Nathan, who loves and worships Roy; and extroverted Roy, who loves and *covets* Nathan. The two quickly (almost too quickly, I'd say) become lovers, and Roy demands that this be kept a secret. Moreover, he demands that Nathan never have such intimate relations with another male. What Roy doesn't know is that Nathan harbors a painful secret pertaining to exactly such circumstances, and this haunts him - and, by extension, Roy - until the very end of the book. Nathan is developed into an intricate character, but most of the others, including Roy, are less substantial. However, this is fitting, as the novel, though written in third-person narrative format, may as well have been in first-person. The "voice" of the book, as mentioned, is what makes it so potent: it tells its tale without flinching or breaking down into sentimental ego-stroking. The finale is a bit disappointing, as are the building number of cliches and stereotypes that enter the story--this novel is terribly predictable from start to finish. Still, it's so well-written and engaging, that, though I'd seen this all before, I don't think I'd ever seen this so well done until I read "Dream Boy."
Rating:
Summary: Not quite up to COMMON SONS
Review: While Grimsley's DREAM BOY is "beautifully" written and has correctly been identified as a work of "art", the themes and setting are similar to Donaghe's COMMON SONS, which to me was much more satisfying and accessible. If you enjoyed DREAM BOY, I highly recommend COMMON SONS.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning
Review: I read this book over a few days only because of other obligations at the time, but it would have been a one-sitting read otherwise. I found the book to be a wild ride which starts off slow and innocent, then gradually gaining momentum, until you're taken to heights which I did not expect. I was surprised at the strong feelings and emotions I had experienced as I turned the last page. I laid awake thinking about the book for a while afterwards, mostly thinking about the ending. It's a story of love told in a seemingly tranquil and beautiful, and yet at the same time, painfully honest, manner. I had no expectations of Dream Boy beforehand, and afterwards, it has become one of my favorite all-time books.
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