Rating: 
Summary: Chee Rocks....
Review: This book is one of the best books I've read in a long time. I have to say, though, that the first review by Publishers Weekly should not be included here. The reviewer got several major details of the book wrong (Fee's absent father was also a child molester? His father was not absent, nor a child molester!) and seemed not to have actually read the book. Unbelievable.Anyway, I was deeply touched by this novel. I felt that Chee was not afraid to get to the heart of things, and because he had the courage to enter where no one should enter, I also had courage to follow him. I love how the prose is internal, no chit-chat, just the hard, dark lines of the inside of the mind. It's as if Chee was so committed to his characters, the integrity of his characters, that he allows them to live and speak for themselves and create their own narratives. I forgot that I was reading a novel, I forgot that I was reading something crafted. I was inside the tunnel of Fee's (and Warden's) mind and saw glimpses of my own soul. I wept several times during this read. I will read everything this man has ever written...
Rating:
Summary: Chee Rocks....
Review: This book is one of the best books I've read in a long time. I have to say, though, that the first review by Publishers Weekly should not be included here. The reviewer got several major details of the book wrong (Fee's absent father was also a child molester? His father was not absent, nor a child molester!) and seemed not to have actually read the book. Unbelievable. Anyway, I was deeply touched by this novel. I felt that Chee was not afraid to get to the heart of things, and because he had the courage to enter where no one should enter, I also had courage to follow him. I love how the prose is internal, no chit-chat, just the hard, dark lines of the inside of the mind. It's as if Chee was so committed to his characters, the integrity of his characters, that he allows them to live and speak for themselves and create their own narratives. I forgot that I was reading a novel, I forgot that I was reading something crafted. I was inside the tunnel of Fee's (and Warden's) mind and saw glimpses of my own soul. I wept several times during this read. I will read everything this man has ever written...
Rating:
Summary: A difficult review to write
Review: This is a wonderful, very intense novel, that left me quite stunned at the end of it, which is why this could be a difficult review to write. Chee's writing is not always the easiest to read, but it has great power and truth. He hauntingly conveys the horror of Fee's situation both as it occurs, and the residual impact on the next twenty years of his life. Chee introduces characters sparingly, and nobody appears for no good reason. This is not a light book, understandably, but if you have been interested enough by what you have read above to be reading this, then I recommend this novel to you. Go ahead and take the risk, Edinburgh will reward your efforts. Finally, the above review from Publishers Weekly is incorrect, as it is not Fee who "embarks on a bizarre journey to find his identity, exploring his bisexuality while dabbling in drugs until he finally learns that his own absent father is also an imprisoned pedophile." It is another very important character that goes on that journey.
Rating: 
Summary: Pedophilia & Homosexuality from the First Person Perspective
Review: This was a difficult book to read, not only because of the oppressive subject matter, but because of the lyrical, poetic, sometimes disjointed writing style. When I was 20 or 30 pages into the book, I kept asking myself, "Do I really want to know more about this pedophile and how his victims coped with the abuse?" But I plodded on anyway because the book is only 224 pages, and was ultimately rewarded for my patience. The story begins when Aphias Zhe, nicknamed Fee, a 12-year old part-Korean boy, is accepted into a prestigious boys choir. It is soon obvious to Fee that the choir director preys upon his choir members, but they're all too terrified or embarrassed to do anything about it. The book lurches from scene to scene with thankfully much of the sordid details left to one's imagination, but some of the prose is so ambiguous, with incomplete sentences and dangling thoughts, that my reaction was sometimes "Huh? What did he mean?" Eventually, the choir director is revealed, convicted of 12 counts of pedophilia and sentenced to a long term in prison. His imprisonment, however, does not end the torture of some of his victims. Two of Fee's friends eventually committed suicide, and Fee is tormented with memories, nightmares and the realization that he is also gay. He acts out in bizarre ways, rebels, and experiments with drugs and casual sex. Fee does eventually settle into a relationship with Bridey, and they move together to Maine to allow Fee to take a temporary teaching job as a swim coach at a small private school where coincidentally, Warden, the son of the convicted pedophile is a student. Warden develops a crush on Fee and it's starting to look like the pattern will repeat itself. In spite of the sordid plot, it is easy to empathize with the angst and soul-searching Fee endures in his quest to find his place in the world. The ending of the book was a satisfying conclusion to what was ultimately a very sad story.
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