Green Eyes

Rating:
Summary: Heartbreaking!
Review: A story about two young men falling in love in Ireland and all the heartache and prejudice they face. This is one of the few booksI have actually cried at. when the part happens near 3/4 of the way through, i put the book down and could not believe it. A book never has done that to me before. these two people are so much in love and it broke my heart by what happened. the very end of the book was a bit draggy but overall this was a good book with a heartwrenching turn.

Rating:
Summary: Wanted to like it, but...
Review: I really wanted to like this book! I picked it up in a bookstore in San Diego and was excited to begin reading. The two main characters, Shaun and Harry, are very likable, and the setting (Northern Ireland) provides a fascinating backdrop. It starts off at a quick pace which hooked me in quickly. Unfortunately, the dialogue is so corny and unbelievable, that after 150 pages, I just couldn't take it any more! The constant "playful bantering" between all the characters made it feel like a bad tv sitcom, and prevents the reader from ever really getting to know any of them. In addition, Shaun and Harry constantly profess their love and adoration of each other when alone together. People in love (teenagers or otherwise) just don't act like this! Some of the situations and plot points are also a bit farfetched. (Not to give anything away, but the scene where Shaun's father helps him shower, and Harry's secret regarding his brother were two that I had trouble believing.) I also wanted to learn more about life and growing up in Ireland. Basically, all the reader gets to learn is that Protestants and Catholics still don't get along. (I knew that.) It seems a bit of a waste of such a great setting! When reading a good novel, you are drawn in so completely that you forget you are reading a book. That just wasn't the case for me with this book unfortunately. Real people just don't talk and act like this! I skimmed the second 150 pages and I must say that there are a lot of really good story ideas there. But the writing, and some of the plot twists designed seemingly just to titillate, prevented me from really enjoying this novel.

Rating:
Summary: Unrealistic & Superficial
Review: Like the other reviewer, I was excited to buy this book. Unfortunately, the plotting is simplistic & the character development lacking. Shaun & Harry, the two main characters, are one-dimensional and smarmy. About the only tension is provided by the Shaun's mother, who is a one-dimensional shrew. Because I didn't see any depth in the characters, I didn't believe in them. The story goes nowhere.

Rating:
Summary: Lovable, to say the least...
Review: Literature is NOT a portrait of life. Fiction is fiction, life is life. So I didn't realy care if the caracters in this book were true to life or not, and if the situations were real or weren't. Than again, who cares if people actually say "I love you" to their loved one whenever they are alone? I do say "I love you" to my beloved when we are alone, so... Shaun and Harry are heartwarming young men and anyone who has loved and lost can relate to their story. Shaun's Dad is sweet and, again, it's easy to understand how he feels. And in the end it's a great story about how prejudice (in whatever form it comes) can only bring misery, pain and death, and about how God's name cannot be an excuse to hurt and wound others.
It actualy made me cry, just like "Romeo and Juliet" or "Amor de Perdição" (sorry, most of you won't know it, it's a beautiful portuguese romantic novel and I don't know if it's ever been translated...).
Do read it, it will warm your hearts, even if it makes you cry...

Rating:
Summary: Politics (Ireland) and Passion (Two Boys)
Review: Two Northern Irish teenage boys fall in love but Shaun is Catholic, Harry Protestant, and in Northern Island, such things matter--religion as well as sexuality. Shades of Romeo and Juliet? More like the clear child of two other famous gay novels. The genealogical footprints are clear.

We have the politics of Jamie O'Neill's trenchant At Swim, Two Boys--during the 1917 Irish rebellion. And the passion of Gordon Merrick's treacly soft-soapy corn-porn romantic novels with Peter and Charlie, The Lord Won't Mind especially plus the others.

Politics are incisively present. A typical instance: grandmother says, "Get ye both out of here. Go to Australia like your dad should have done. It's not just that the pair of you are like what he and Samus were, but it's the fact that you are from opposite sides in this God-forsaken land. They will never let you get away with it..." This oppression happens, realistically, every 15 pages or so.

We also have the passion of Merrick's moonery. A typical statement: "Dear, dearest Harry. I love you. I thank you. I adore you. You are my life, my God, my breath, my heart, I am yours till all time ends." This intimacy happens, routinely, every 3 pages or so. (Right after which the two fugitive lads then walk the talk and re-cement their relationship, full-fillingly...)

So if you like a three-ingredient dish you may like this one. Solid nourishing stew of Irish local color and history. Spiced with tart social-political realism. But served also with a sweet-and-sweet sauce of Romance on the side. To spoon on.