Out of Bounds

Rating:
Summary: A great novel on a hot topic
Review: Mike Seabrook is a writer of exceptional talent. The style is comfortable - the kind you want to keep reading because he takes you up into the story.
This novel takes on a very hot-button issue in the U.S. today as it appears to be also in the U.K. A boy of seventeen falls in love with a teacher at his school, and it is important to note that the boy is the aggressor. The love that developes is real but unacceptable and dangerous. The primary question raised is how love can ever be unacceptable. Graham, the older man, realizes the danger to Stephen and to himself. Actually, he is much more concerned with the prospect of losing his job or going to prison. They, that is Graham, decides to separate for a while. For young Stephen it is seen as temporary, but for Graham it is permanent. They fall into the clutches of a terribly psychotic former lover of Graham's who cannot accept the fact that Graham left him. He decides to blackmail Graham.
We see the issue of love and sex between a teacher and a minor from every possible angle. The teammates on the cricket team, representative of society, seem to have varying opions of the affair. No one really likes it, but some are accepting and others not so accepting, but none seems unduly concerned. For the most part they are willing to live and let live. The head master is trying to avoid a scandal and will do what it takes to avoid it. Except for the psychotic lover and Stephen's parents the affair could have continued. The parents are so deeply religious that they would rather destroy their son than have one that is homosexual.
A small problem is that there is a fair amount of description of cricket matches which mean little to Americans. I just skimmed through them. It appears Mr. Seabrook is quite knowledgeable about the sport. Graham and Stephen are both excellent players and it is another level at which they are bound to each other.
At times the novel is heart wrenching. To see what people of good intention will do to a young man makes any reasonable person want to scream out. Read this novel only if you are prepared to take a roller coaster ride of emotions, and be forced to deal with a complex issue. You will be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: A great novel on a hot topic
Review: Mike Seabrook is a writer of exceptional talent. The style is comfortable - the kind you want to keep reading because he takes you up into the story.
This novel takes on a very hot-button issue in the U.S. today as it appears to be also in the U.K. A boy of seventeen falls in love with a teacher at his school, and it is important to note that the boy is the aggressor. The love that developes is real but unacceptable and dangerous. The primary question raised is how love can ever be unacceptable. Graham, the older man, realizes the danger to Stephen and to himself. Actually, he is much more concerned with the prospect of losing his job or going to prison. They, that is Graham, decides to separate for a while. For young Stephen it is seen as temporary, but for Graham it is permanent. They fall into the clutches of a terribly psychotic former lover of Graham's who cannot accept the fact that Graham left him. He decides to blackmail Graham.
We see the issue of love and sex between a teacher and a minor from every possible angle. The teammates on the cricket team, representative of society, seem to have varying opions of the affair. No one really likes it, but some are accepting and others not so accepting, but none seems unduly concerned. For the most part they are willing to live and let live. The head master is trying to avoid a scandal and will do what it takes to avoid it. Except for the psychotic lover and Stephen's parents the affair could have continued. The parents are so deeply religious that they would rather destroy their son than have one that is homosexual.
A small problem is that there is a fair amount of description of cricket matches which mean little to Americans. I just skimmed through them. It appears Mr. Seabrook is quite knowledgeable about the sport. Graham and Stephen are both excellent players and it is another level at which they are bound to each other.
At times the novel is heart wrenching. To see what people of good intention will do to a young man makes any reasonable person want to scream out. Read this novel only if you are prepared to take a roller coaster ride of emotions, and be forced to deal with a complex issue. You will be glad you did.