Rating: 
Summary: Finished in one sitting
Review: Granted that this is a very short book, it still read remarkably quickly. John Fox paints what appears to be a very clear picture of what life was like for a gay Catholic school teenager in 1968. At the very end of his novella, Fox hints at the horrible danger of being gay in that time, but he mostly highlights the struggle to accept oneself and the blossoming of first love. Though that story line is hackneyed, Fox creates a very, very personal and touching rendition within the historical context of a fascinating and chaotic time. The cover says that Boys on The Rock is a novel, but the work feels non-fictional. Learning more about the life of protagonist Billy Connors in a sequel would be most rewarding.
Rating:
Summary: Finished in one sitting
Review: Granted that this is a very short book, it still read remarkably quickly. John Fox paints what appears to be a very clear picture of what life was like for a gay Catholic school teenager in 1968. At the very end of his novella, Fox hints at the horrible danger of being gay in that time, but he mostly highlights the struggle to accept oneself and the blossoming of first love. Though that story line is hackneyed, Fox creates a very, very personal and touching rendition within the historical context of a fascinating and chaotic time. The cover says that Boys on The Rock is a novel, but the work feels non-fictional. Learning more about the life of protagonist Billy Connors in a sequel would be most rewarding.
Rating:
Summary: A Sweet, Short, Sixties Coming-of-Age Story
Review: How sad to hear this author passed away; I believe this is his only book in print. If so, what a nice legacy to leave for us. While an enjoyable and touching read for all, I suspect this book will have greatest impact on those wrestling with, or in the process of, coming out. Fox captures the frustration and insanity of dealing with such a process while still in high school. In the 1960s, no less, which, while certainly more tolerant than previous decades, still had a ways to go on gay awareness & acceptance. (By the way, we still have a ways to go even now, in this post-millenium decade). Framing the book around RFK's asassination heightens the drama. Cleverly, it also draws in those who are old enough to recall that dark day, because that is a time we don't forget easily. I don't want to comment further on plot, as this is a short book, and I don't want to give anything else away; suffice to say this is an enjoyable, well-written book, and if you like coming of age, coming out stories, this is a great one to choose.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best gay coming-of-age novels ever
Review: I don't claim to be an expert on gay literature, but I am very widely read, and having especially read a lot of fiction on the gay male experience (since coming out myself six years ago at age 30), I would attest that this is one of the most luminous, beautiful, heartbreaking, and honest coming-of-age novels (gay or otherwise) ever written. It also has some potent nostalgia value, set in the Bronx in the spring and summer of 1968 when the Vietnam War was raging and Gene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy were running for president. For any of you other gay guys who might need an incentive to read it, let it be said that this tale of first love between high school swimmer Billy and college-student political volunteer Al has some stunningly (and graphically) erotic passages. But the sex is just a natural (and inevitable) outgrowth of a ruthlessly honest (and often laugh-out-loud hilarious) look at a teenage boy's life. The book is so intensely sexy for the same reasons that it's so intensely funny, and so intensely sad in places that you want to cry. Written in Billy's head-long first-person stream of consciousness prose (with some artful leaps back and forth in time), it is one of those rare novels that make this sort of style work. And it does so very economically at only 146pp, though it seems to cover more range than books three times that length. You really HEAR Billy's Bronx accent and FEEL every rollercoaster turn of his emotions. It accomplishes that supremely difficult feat that separates out the truly gifted novelist: to tell life simply as it is, and make you feel you are LIVING the storyteller's life, and thus capture life's comedy, sadness, and aching beauty. Comparisons to "The Catcher in the Rye" are inevitable, and it exceeds the best one could expect of a "gay version" of Salinger's novel. It belongs on a short shelf with such gay coming-of-age classics as E.M. Forster's "Maurice" or (sub rosa) Henry James's short novel "The Pupil." I don't mean to diss Edmund White (a brilliant writer whom I admire) but it is puzzling that White's "A Boy's Own Story" is so much more famous and widely read (even by hetero presidential candidates like Bill Bradley to show their sensitivity to gay culture), when Fox's novel is demonstrably SO MUCH better, more powerful, and more lyrically written. I understand that Fox died of AIDS without ever completing another novel; yet another reason to weep at what that epidemic has cost.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Story
Review: I'm not sure how I missed this short novel (146 pages in the hardback edition) when it was published in 1984. I've never read a better story about a gay teenager. The narrator is Billy Connors, a sophomore in high school in the Bronx. He volunteers to work in the Eugene McCarthy presidential campaign because (1) he does not want to go to Vietnam and McCarthy was the peace candidate and (2) he has a crush on Al, the college student in charge of the local volunteer office. The novel is set in 1968 around the time when Robert Kennedy was killed, a horrible time in our nation's history. Though small in size, this novel-- novella, long short story, whatever-- will knock you off your feet. (I read it straight through.) Billy is a fantastic character, grappling with all the craziness associated with being a teenager as well as dealing-- very well-- with his emerging feelings for other boys. THE BOYS ON THE ROCK ought to be required reading in high school for all students, both straight and gay.
No lesser writers than Edmund White, Richard Price and Russell Banks praised this book. Mr. Banks' prophecy has come true when he predicted that this novel "may well turn out to be a classic."
Sadly, this novel will have to be Mr. Fox's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD since he is deceased, having been stricken down in the first wave of AIDS cases.
Rating: 
Summary: too average
Review: It was good, but for me the plot line was too much of a classic gay coming of age story. The end really left me hanging. I wanted to know what happened to him after the story. Where did he go to college? Did he ever fall in love again? Other than that though, the book was very well written and constructed. I would recommend reading it if it is your first gay coming of age story. If it isn't though, read something else.
Rating:
Summary: Very Engaging, Well Told
Review: It's a pity John Fox died several years ago. This book showed promise for one of the bright stars of lit. Yes, it's a short book, but its brevity is poetic compared to sprawling over-written books in the same genre, or any other genre.The story is compelling, touching, sexy, heart-breaking, and painfully truthful. An absolute must-have for gay fiction readers. Perfect for 14 and up, yet sweet for older readers, too.
Rating:
Summary: A relatively unsung classic
Review: On the surface this seems to be a simple story, but once you get into the book you realize this is a case where it is the journey itself that matters most. The main character, Billy, narrates the book in his own voice. At first the conversational style might throw you off a bit -- there are some run-on sentences and odd punctuation, and Billy often addresses you, the reader, directly. Once you settle in for a few pages, though, Billy's words are easier to follow and the occasional odd rhythms only add to his charm. There is plenty of humor and drama, and some the best-written dialog I've encountered. There are some sexy scenes, too, and Billy's enthusiasm for these (well, at least in the ones with the boys!) comes across quite vividly as well.
What also impresses me is how John Fox uses the literary device of the unreliable narrator as a way of depicting Billy's transformation over the course of the book. Billy at first tells a few tall tales about his sexual exploits with girls. We don't know he's misleading us at the time, of course, since like all teenaged boys he is quite skilled at boasting. It is only as he proceeds further into his story -- presumably starting to trust that you, the reader, are going to stay with him despite all the very personal details that he's revealed so far -- that Billy finally starts to own up to what is untrue. One by one he sheepishly admits his lies, until eventually he reaches a point where he promises that he will stop lying completely. On the part of the reader it results in a strange sensation, as if a character in a book is somehow interacting with you, even benefitting from the fact that you have proven so loyal and unjudgmental. Since the matter at hand is that of sexual orientation, it is a technique that carries deep resonance. Essentially, the reader becomes much like a friend who is helping Billy to accept who he is. I can't recall any other book that manages to accomplish this in the same way. I imagine also that a confused youth who is struggling with the same issues as Billy would experience this stylistic device with an added degree of intensity.
This novel was originally published about 20 years ago. Even at that time the setting of the story was in the past, during the Kennedy-McCarthy Presidential Primary campaign, so it is no less pertinent a book today than it was when it first appeared. Quibbles about its setting being out of date are therefore entirely beside the point. (Part of me does wonder, though, if the author chose that particular era to avoid having to deal with the spectre of AIDS, which at the time of the book's first publication had become so much a part of gay literature.) This book is primarily about transformation and self-acceptance -- timeless literary themes -- and succeeds tremendously on that count.
The ending of the story is somewhat jarring but does serve as a reminder that gay youth hesitate to come out for many reasons, amongst them family pressures, career aspirations, and fear of bodily harm. It takes courage to step forward and proclaim who you are, whether you live in today's world or Billy's. Still, despite the air of sadness that permeates the final pages, there is also a sense of hope for Billy and the friend who is with him at the end. The continued journey may not be as easy but you feel that they will have one another.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent slice-of-life coming of age story!
Review: Set in the Bronx during the 1960s, Boys on the Rock is a wonderful slice-of-life, coming of age story. John Fox's conversational style makes for a very engaging read. He captures the rhythms of speech common among teenagers beautifully. The book is plotted nicely and does an excellent job of depicting the angst and uncertainty of adolesence. The author does a wonderful job of creating a sense of the atmosphere and tension in the Bronx during the 1960s with amazing accuracy. This is a classic of gay literature for good reason. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely a good read.
Review: This is more a novella than a novel. It is one of the best gay coming-of-age stories I have read. The slang seems a bit forced at times, but that is a minor complaint. It is a book that delivers. Unfortunately, some of its observations are all too accurate.
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