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Summary: What an AMAZING Story of Love that was meant to be!!!
Review: Ronald Donaghe has created a book that incompases both the love two people can have for each other and the incrediable obsticles they must overcome to be together. Once from adn accepting family of love, and one from a strict religious family that is heavily controlled by an unforgiving, unloving, and non-understanding father that happens to be the preacher in the local church in Common, New Mexico.This book grips you from the first page and lets you feel EVERYTHING both Joel and Tom experience from the moment they see each other until..... well I will not ruin the story for you. I throughly enjoyed this book, and upon finishing it, found out it was the first in a series of what will be 4 books. I have already ordered the second and third books ("The blind Season: Common Threads of Life", and "The Salvation Mongers". Unfortunately the 4th and final book in this series, "The Gathering" will not be released until 2002. Like they say.. good things come to those who wait. I would NOT wait, hoever, to read this book! I am sure you will love it as much as I did!!!
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Summary: A Terrific Tale of Universal Struggle
Review: The first fiction book I ever read about homosexuality was THE FRONT RUNNER, Patricia Nell Warren's ground-breaking 1974 novel. Even though it's been 19 years since I read it, I still remember Harlan Brown and Billy Sive quite clearly. 19 years from now, I suspect I will still remember Joel Reece and Tom Allen, too. Many of the events in COMMON SONS, set in Common, New Mexico, are played out on a daily basis in every small town across the U.S. Two young men begin their voyage of discovery about themselves, their sexual orientations and identities, and neither of them, nor their families or town, will ever be the same. What I liked best about this book was that neither boy is a stereotype, and there are no easy answers to the conflicts that arise. Joel is a popular junior, a talented boxer, who won a state title the previous school year. He's not sure, but he thinks he would like to follow in his father's footsteps and be a farmer. Tom is the new kid in town, a preacher's son, and he's a senior. He's handsome enough that many of the girls are interested in him. But he only has eyes for Joel. The fact that gay and lesbian kids across the country manage to find one another and build relationships and community is a testament to the strength and perseverance we all possess. Despite almost no resources, few open-hearted adults, and a whole lot of religious condemnation, Tom and Joel fall in love and determine to stay together, through thick and thin. This is not to say that they don't face terrible barriers, not the least of which is the enmity of small-minded and homophobic individuals in their town. Still, the courage Tom and Joe display is remarkable. It is a tribute to them that they open their own hearts to others, too. I can already see that they will, in their own ways, make a huge impact on the Common community. Ron Donaghe has written a book full of heart and hope. His style is clear and clean, and every scene is finely crafted by a writer of great talent. I very much look forward to starting the next book in the series, THE BLIND SEASON.
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Summary: Thankful For "Common Sons"
Review: The first time I read this book was over a Thanksgivingweekend. And I have read it twice more since. It is the kind of story that pulls at the heart. Every time I have picked it up, I am unable to put it down. The story keeps you wanting to flip the pages. Not only is this a gay story, but a story of life. It had a deep impact on the way I look at life around me. I have also passed this book onto several people, who have also enjoyed reading it. I strongly recomend this book to anyone who is coming out of the closet, or has a friend or family member that is coming out. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be thankful that this story has become part of you life.
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Summary: Common Sons back in print! Along with two more books.
Review: The third edition of Common Sons will be forthcoming July/August 2000. With the advent of iUniverse.com and its program to bring out-of-print books back into print FOREVER, Common Sons will soon be available once again. In addition Common Sons has become a series. Long promised sequels will include The Blind Season, The Salvation Mongers, and The Gathering, in a series entitled "Common Threads in the Life." Please look for the additional titles here at Amazon within the next few months. The Salvation Mongers will be available within a couple of months, followed quickly by The Blind Season. This series of books has been in the works for almost 10 years and readers who have enjoyed Common Sons will soon be able to read more about Tom Allen and Joel Reece, along with some new characters. In addition to the books in this series, another book of the author's own experience with the issue of gays in the military will be forthcoming by August 2000, entitled My Year of Living Heterosexually, about being openly gay in the military. Watch for it.
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Summary: One of the Best
Review: This book has to be one of the best books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. My only wish is that the Author would write a sequal to it.
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Summary: A Must Read...Wonderful Book
Review: This book is a must read for anyone who has ever questioned whether true love is strong enough to survive the maliciousness of today's society. Two men in love is beautiful and I loved to see Donaghe develop characters that believed in themselves and their ability to survive in harsh times. I'm anxiously awaiting the delivery of the other three books in their series.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read...Wonderful Book
Review: This book is a must read for anyone who has ever questioned whether true love is strong enough to survive the maliciousness of today's society. Two men in love is beautiful and I loved to see Donaghe develop characters that believed in themselves and their ability to survive in harsh times. I'm anxiously awaiting the delivery of the other three books in their series.
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Summary: Not your "Common" book
Review: This book is an excellent read from cover to cover. Finally, there is a book that captures the true side of being an average homosexual teenager. The main subject characters, from strikingly different backgrounds, are not portrayed as the "typical image" homosexual teen. The author manages to fill the book with realistic conflict that is faced by any teen coming of age and coming out. Tom and Joel make you want to be in love. They also show you how to bond together to face the hypocracy and bigotry of society, even when it's found in your own home. I just finished the book, and will read it again soon. Buy it because you'll love it.
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Summary: TALK ABOUT SURPRISED!
Review: This book was recommended to me by several people over an extended period of time, to the point where I bought a copy and filed it away under "to be read" but never actually could bring myself to pick it up. Frankly, I considered myself likely way too jaded to appreciate another "coming out" story, this one set in the hinderlands of ... New Mexico? for heaven's sake! My reading tastes tending towards the kinds of books I write. I'm talking wise-ass fashion designer Stud Draqual, in my Stud Draqual mystery series (A SLIP TO DIE FOR and THAI DIED). I'm talking hustlers, and surfers, and porno stars, the likes of whom frequent my short-story collections (CALIFORNIA CREAMIN', SUMMER SWEAT). And, as for COMMON SONS' New Mexico setting? Well, I just couldn't help thinking "what's of interest for me 'out there'" (two pimply teenagers struggling with their gayness in out-in-the-boondocks southwest America?), when I prefer the eroticism and exoticism of more mature sexual relationships occurring in the Brazilian jungle (a la my very own SS MANN HUNT). I mean, I'd heard the characters in COMMON SONS actually uttered "that" four-letter word ("love") that most of my world-weary characters wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole (or with whatever). So wasn't I surprised (paint me bowled over, in fact) when the moment came when I actually threw caution to the wind, picked up COMMON SONS, began to read, and couldn't put it down until I'd finished. Having enjoyed this genuinely good book about middle-American gay teenage love and sexual discovery that "rang true" on each and every page. Having been entirely caught up in the struggles of Tom and Joel as they battled against religious and red-neck bigotry, against ingrained prejudices of right from wrong, against social ostracism by their homophobic peers and parents, as they struggled against the whole stockpile of weaponry society has developed, by way of battle-line, to keep just this kind of shall-not-be-mentioned teenage male-male relationship from blossoming not only in New Mexico but anywhere else. Ronald L. Donaghe having as thoroughly drawn me into his world of New Mexico farm boys and rural America as I'll bet he'll draw you in, if you but give him and his book a chance. The author having so great an ability to capture this out-of-the-big-city aspect of teenage gay realization and discovery that I'm thoroughly convinced this book just "has to be" autobiographical, although it's selling as fiction. If the author so well describes farming cotton, irrigating fields, attending Friday night dances ... et al ... as Donaghe does, without having been-there-done-that-got-the-T-shirt, then he's really a great author and COMMON SONS should be read for that reason alone, if for no other. Hey guys, this book is already in its fourth edition, verifying everything I've told you.
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Summary: Honest and needed!
Review: This book will upset people whose childhood included rejection by their parents or their classmates. It will upset people who think everyone should look, think, and act alike. It will even upset people who know the satisfaction of treating everyone with dignity and respect. In other words, this book will disturb countless readers. Why? Because Ronald Donaghe offers such an honest and detailed look at two boys who fall in love with each other in a staunchly anti-gay New Mexico town. Despite the novel's many portrayals of negative and even violent responses to the love between Tom and Joel, Donaghe delivers an ultimately inspiring tale of how two people can overcome the obstacles that could deter their happiness and honesty. This book can give hope to the many gays who still fear being themselves, and it can give hope to the many older gays who worry that their young counterparts will always face nothing but hatred and violence. But its appeal isn't limited to gays; nongays might read it to understand people who are different from themselves, or just because they like reading a well-written and exciting novel.
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