Rating: 
Summary: Bart Yates must write more books!!
Review: I was unable to put this book down even to eat. I did actually have to sleep, but I picked it up the next morning and finished it by the next afternoon. Now I am desperate for more from this author. Give me a book about Noah and JD having gone to college and either continuing with their relationship or let us know if you want them move on to new college love, but please go easy on the break up. It could also just be easier to keep them together. This is just a fabulous must read.
Rating:
Summary: A PAGE TURNER!!
Review: I've never had such an easy time getting into a book as with this one. I just opened it up, and it spoke to me. This book talks about two guys, Noah and JD. They both are "straight", but they find out that they have something in common, niether of them are. They also find out throughout the book that they have more in common than they first expected. They find themselves in eachother, and learn about how differences can actually tie people closer than similarites. It's an excellent book, and I hope that the author writes more, because I'm surley a reader of his for life!!!
Rating:
Summary: A PAGE TURNER!!
Review: I've never had such an easy time getting into a book as with this one. I just opened it up, and it spoke to me. This book talks about two guys, Noah and JD. They both are "straight", but they find out that they have something in common, niether of them are. They also find out throughout the book that they have more in common than they first expected. They find themselves in eachother, and learn about how differences can actually tie people closer than similarites. It's an excellent book, and I hope that the author writes more, because I'm surley a reader of his for life!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Coming of Age in 2000
Review: Leave Myself Behind is a book that has many good qualities. It is well written and is a fast paced read. It tells the story of two young men coming to terms with their sexuality. The story is told through the point of view of Noah, a young man who embraces his individuality. His father recently passed away and Noah and his mother move to a small New Hampshire college town to begin a new life. Noah meets J.D., a neighbor, and a quirky friendship begins that develops into first love. The plot has a number of twists and turns, as the characters face many tragic and difficult events. Discussing the many of the details of the book in a review would be a disservice to a potential reader.Bart Yates is a gifted writer, and this novel is an impressive debut. The book's chief strength is the character of Noah. To the reader he is both complex and likeable, and the reader easily connects with this character. People in the novel are not quite sure what to make of Noah, which I believe makes him realistic. I am not certain if I believe that J.D. is developed well enough, but since the story is from the point of view of Noah, and the time span in the novel is relatively short (about four months), this give the novel a somewhat realistic flair. The flaws of the novel are the subplots, namely the events involving Noah and his mother Virginia and J.D. and his dysfunctional family. Too much is going on here and at times it is difficult to follow. Also, too much gets resolved in a short time. One bit of advice for the potential buyer-Do not expect the book to be true to the jacket summary. After reading the summary, I ordered the book expecting to read a book similar to A Boy's Own Story (Edmund White) or The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger).Though the book is of a simialir genre, I am not sure whether this book falls in the same category as far as greatness, though Bart Yates may write such a book in the future. While it is true that Noah is as honest as the main characters in these two great works, I am not certain he will have the same crossover appeal and universal recognition that readers both gay and straight find with the Salinger and White works. If I had purchased the book without reading the jacket flap, my expectations would have been different
Rating:
Summary: This Is Just A Terrific Coming of Age Novel. Wow!
Review: Leave Myself Behind is probably the finest book I have read this year. Bart Yates, a first time author has created a remarkably well-written story that deals with a variety of complex issues in one family's life. The narrator, Noah, tells the story of he and his mother moving from the big city to a small town in New Hampshire after his dad dies suddenly. The story deals with Noah's sense of genuine grief over his father's death. His recollections are not at all self-pitying. If anything, Noah is not the self-pity sort of 17 year old. He senses the moments when he most misses his Dad in the "ordinary moments" they used to share together and perhaps comes to treasure his Dad all the more. Noah's Mom, a poet and professor, is clearly much more paralyzed by the loss of her husband and Noah describes the loneliness of two people dealing with a common death they share yet unable to speak about it to one another. In addition to dealing with Dad's death, Noah is becoming clearer and more accepting about his own sexuality, finding himself gay after many attempts at being otherwise. Yates nicely deals with this issue and Noah comes across as a levelheaded normal kind of kid who happens to be gay. He's not a freak. He's not a screaming fairy. He's young man keenly aware that while he may not have chosen it, he's gay and he needs to accept it. Finally, there is the house Noah and his mom move into. It's kind of haunted and it plays into Noah's mother's unresolved problems at childhood. While an unlikely convention, it works remarkably well. Yates uses the house as an incubus that protects Noah and his mom, and eventually Noah's boyfriend, from their loneliness and isolation. It also is a way for the reader to envision the interplay of the family dynamics and the unfolding of the story's events played out again Noah's smart remarks about much of it. Noah is an intelligent, engaging, comical and very likeable character. He speaks his mind and at times he is rollickingly comical and profane. At the same time, he is a loving, honest, even-tempered, and pretty dead on accurate in his take on things as they happen. This was a book I just didn't want to end. Bart Yates is a significant talent. He has created a beautiful character in Noah and his writing style is crisp, comical and very comfortable. This is a story with a hopeful ending and it's a nice contrast to so many of the downer reads that are available these days. Spread the word! This is a must read and an important addition to anyone's favorite coming of age books! Bart Yates is an author I am certain we will hear more and more about. Highly recommended. Daniel J. Maloney
Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
Rating:
Summary: Something left behind
Review: Leave Myself Behind is the story of Noah, a 17 year old boy. Noah and his mother has moved from Chicago to a small town in New Hampshire. The story is told as if Noah has a secret friend which he keeps talking to - like some small children who have ghost friends. The book is good for bedtime reading. We are not troubled by tons of details we have to remember to understand situations later in the story, and we are not troubled by his history except for rose bits about his farther. So you can always pick up the book, and continue reading without having to reread previous parts of it. The book excels at showing us the inability of some adults to take responsibility of their own problems and history --- to not just let other people pay for them. The adults idiosyncrasies is much more in focus than those of the teenagers. The teenagers are bleak, and their personality doesn't always seem coherent nor developing. The first part of the book is (as it most often is the case) definitely the best and the funniest and the most well thought out. It would have been interesting to change the narrator to the mother, as she from then on is the most colorful and active person. Noah becomes very passive in the story, and mostly lets things happen around him. ("Where The Boys Are" uses this trick to get an otherwise boring story to become rather interesting).
Rating:
Summary: A Bromide for the Soul
Review: Lots of secrets in this book, though Noah's is revealed early on. The strength of Yate's writing lies in the use of language even though it means he sometimes gives a more adult vocabulary to teenage Noah than you might expect, even if his mom and dad are academics. (How many 17 year olds know what a "bromide" is?") There is only one Catcher in the Rye, it's true, but Caulfield was not gay, and did not have to suffer the degree of physical and mental abuse experienced here. Being a teenager is hard. Being a closeted gay teenager is harder, and nearly impossible to understand unless you are gay. Yates's Noah does not have it easy, but does find understanding. If you read this book you might find it, too. Yate's great writing makes the experience worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal Book
Review: Not since Joseph Olshan's "The Nightswimmer" have I been so totally and thoroughly engrossed in a gay fiction book. The protagonist in this novel, Noah York, clearly has the voice of the author's life experiences but with the comical and "reality bites" point-of-view of a 17-year old boy. At times funny, at times poignant, and even psychotic, this simple story about a boy and his mom and the twists and turns their lives take after the death of the father/husband is just plain beautiful. As Noah comes to terms with his father's death, his sexuality, his mother's mental illness and the intolerance of his peers, we are treated to his witty and highly insightful interpretations of what it means to be a human being in a complicated world. I cannot recommend this book highly enough - it's well-written, has deep and richly-drawn characters, and a main character that will keep you engaged as he goes on his journey of being a boy yet becoming a man. I'd give it 10 stars if I could.
Rating:
Summary: wow.
Review: the best book i've read in ages, couldn't put it down. beautifully written, gripping, painfully honest. literate and sharp, smart and real... left me breathless, gave me hope. if you read just one book this year, make it LEAVE MYSELF BEHIND. Bart Yates is a god.
Rating:
Summary: A sorrowful ending....
Review: The end actually was as wonderful as every great page of this book. Here's my sorrow: That I have the finished the book and don't have the pleasure to come of reading its pages before I go to bed. This is good writing, a good story and brave characters. It's at the level of Edmund White's early work. Read this book's reviews--it is that good. I await Bart Yates' future work.
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