Rating: 
Summary: Four Times Through and ready for more!
Review: Even after the fourth time through I still find subtle nuances which I missed. The smooth and flowing writing style of Jim Grimsley only pleases. I can not wait for the next Grimsley work.
Rating:
Summary: Astounding Work of Poetic Art to Race to Your Heart
Review: Expecting something more along the lines of a giddy dose of lust, I was surprised when I came to discover more about this novel. While a story of love between these two boys flows onto the pages, the book rises to be much more than that. The author's ability to clench his hands on your attention and never let go until the heart racing end is quite powerful. What got me most was the fact that I was getting an interesting read along with a Good read. The story will drag you to the center! I am amazed with this book. I am amazed with this author. I have since bought everything I could find by him. Dream Boys has flown to the highest place in my heart; being one of the most poetic works of art I have met. Truly haunting, tragic, and mesmerizing. You WILL be proud of your discovery.
Rating:
Summary: You'll wish you could thank the author personally!
Review: After the last book I bought from Amazon.com, (Boy Culture, Matthew Rettenmund) I was a little skeptical when I double-clicked the order button. But now that I have read this book, I would have paid double! This book, from Page One until the very end, is touching and interesting. All of the characters are intriguing - even the ones you don't like who bother the protagonists, but are also vital to the plot. Even the abusive father is shown - albeit briefly - to be a human being, when on a good day he finds the son in the kitchen and invites him into the living room so they can watch a Western movie together. The two main characters, Roy and Nathan, are likable and believable, even when you want to smack them for having so much to learn about life and love - which they do learn. Of all the books I've bought from Amazon.com, this is my favorite. My only hope is that the author will keep his pen busy and entertain us with many more books in the future!
Rating:
Summary: Basic theme reminder and blunt symbolism
Review: This book traces the teen-life of the central character Nathan, a boy trapped in his own past of sexual abuse. He finds comfort in his neighbor, another young boy. Together they find love in each other's strengths and weaknesses--meanwhile keeping their love secret from everyone. Until... The two boys, along with two other schoolmates, go camping. This is where Nathan must confront the protagonist and antagonist men in his life--INCLUDING HIMSELF. The book ends in a message of facing your own demons, moving on, and remembering that love is the only thing that matters. Be prepared for a coming-of-age epiphany, and a good cry.
Rating:
Summary: Touching, powerful, and wonderfully written
Review: Jim Grinsley's book just came out in Hebrew. A friend who liked Winter Birds asked me to buy him this book as a present. Before I gave him the present I started to read the first chapter to see if I like it. I put the book down when I finished the last page. It is hard to say what is so enchanting in this book. It is not a sophisticated novel; it does not use literary "tricks" to create subtle meanings. And yet, there is something very powerful in the way it is told; a lyrical undertone that you feel as if you read a poetry; and a living characters that one can easily identify with, even if he or she lived in a very different culture and society.When I finished the book I had tears in my eyes. I am not sure if it was tears of joys, due to the possibility of two persons to find each other and create a special tie between them -- the word love might not be enough to convey the depth of their relations -- and to help each other find his inner self; his salvation. Or were these ties of sorrow, because their love was doomed to be destroyed by evil forces of homophobic society and wicked men (significantly, men and not women). Grimsley is also unique in his treatment of the wicked characters in the novel -- Nathan's father and Burke (due to the Hebrew translation, it's hard to know if this is how the name is spelled in English). Undoubtedly, he does not condone them. But nor does he simply castigate them either. In his unique lyric and parsimonious, almost childlike, prose, Grimsley makes them also victims of cruel and hopeless poverty and of homophobic society -- a society which does not let its men to provide for their children on one hand (as in Winter Birds) and to express their feelings when they fail to do it on the other hand. A society that condemns such revelation of tenderness and compassion to be a secret, as when Nathan and Roy establish their unusual relations. Some readers too easily condemn Nathan's mother too, for not stopping her abusive husband. I think that Grimsley would like us rather to understand why so many women find it impossible to act otherwise. In a strange way I think that Grimsley makes us sympathize will all characters, even with those we would like to hate. And finally there are all those allusions to the New Testament; not something that a Jewish man like me knows much about it. But obviously, religion and faith are crucial in this novel, both as a symbol of hypocritical society -- which applauds good virtues but condones evil -- and as a source of real hope and salvation. These are the reasons that this seemingly simple book should turn into a classic, a book to be recommended and studied i schools and colleges.
Rating: 
Summary: hmmm...
Review: I read this book wanting to love it. Hours later, I find myself wishing for more, but not in the best of ways. Though it is written oddly beautifully, the character development and plot don't progress satisfyingly. I feel attatched to the characters but I'm not sure why and I'm left with an unsure, haunting essence rather than a story of any sort.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding contribution to gay fiction.
Review: A lovely, lyrical novella. Beautifully written, almost a prose poem. Roy and Nathan are wonderfully drawn. I simply could not put the book down. The ending was faintly reminiscent of Forster's "greenwood." What a find! What a talent!
Rating:
Summary: One of the most powerful romances I have ever read
Review: Dream Boy, for what controversy it may evoke, is one of the most powerful romances I have ever read. Grimsley's writing is vivid and intense- slightly reminiscent of Toni Morrison's Paradise. The relationship that developed between the two boys, Roy and Nathan, had me at the edge of my seat throughout the entire book. Oddly enough, even for his younger age, Nathan is mature beyond his years in both his interactions with other characters and in his relationship with Roy. I sincerely recommend it for anyone looking for a beautiful romance novel mixed with the trials that all adolescents face as a part of growing up in American society.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best book I have ever read!
Review: Jim Grimsley is a powerful and poet author who uses his talent to create a story that is based on the narratives that are silenced in society. This dark and extremely moving novel about abuse, ignorance, and love will immediately catch your attention within reading the first page. You will not put this book down until you have read it from cover to cover. This is J i m G r i m s l e y ' s best work yet.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful Teenage Love Story
Review: I first discovered Grimsley in the form of a book called "Winter Birds" in the bargain bin at a local bookstore. I began reading it and was very upset to find that it had been written in second person (a viewpoint I loathe greatly, and feel should only be used for cookbooks). I immidiately through it across the room and returned to the bookstore. Also in the bargain bin a few weeks later I found "Dream Boy." After checking at the store to make sure it was not written in second person (it wasn't) I decided to give Grimsely another chance. I am very glad I did. This story is beautifully written and touching throughout. It greatly reminded me of my first love (which is not that far back, as I am only 15). I felt deep attatchments to both main characters, particulary the POV character. I read this book a chapter at a time right before bed (spending the daytime reading horror mostly) and would end up crying myself to sleep, and feeling impressed that the author caputered this book so well. The one criticism I have concerning this book is the ending. Grimsley applied a very supernatural ending--which would be fine if the supernatural played a more important roll throughout the book--and left things very unresolved. I left this book with a sense of disclosure, and longed to know more of what really happened (and Mr. Practical-Sensible--who had not been turned off during this book because of the reality of it until the end--simply refused to believe the ending provided). All in all, this book is very worth reading, but if you like your books to end with any closure and truness to the story, you may want to pass on this one.
|
