Donorboy : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: A *MUST* read! I happened to pick it up on its release day by some miracle while strolling through the bookstore! It's an extremely fresh voice! Its all told through email, IM, text messaging, etc. It is about a 14 year old girl whose two lesbian moms were killed in a car accident. Her "father" fights for custody and wins. The story is about the struggles they go through in the early stages of their relationship. Its extremely funny, but extremely heartbreaking at the same time. Its an amazing read, and I couldn't put it down. I read it in about a 7 day span, 3 of which I was sick and didn't pick it up.

Rating:
Summary: Roller Coaster
Review: I loved this book and read it from cover to cover in one sitting. The presentation of the book made it easy to relate to all the characters, not just one. Those who think e-mail is an impersonal form of communication will quickly change their minds. It showed the complexity of human emotion in a time of grief and change. The characters pain was very real but was nicely balanced with humor. This book reminded me of the best roller coaster I'd ever been on: lots of ups and downs, twists and turns, scary and exciting at the same time. I was disappointed when it ended, and it left me waiting for Halpin's next novel.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: I read this book today and I loved it! The whole book is written as a collection of emails, diary excerpts, notes and text messages. The basis of the story is really sad, but Brendan Halpin tells it in a way that is both humorous and touching. I could not believe how accurately he was able to describe the feelings that you have when it is in the middle of the night and you are worrying about where your teenage daughter really is. I also love the support team that the father has - the teacher/coach buddy, the lesbian "aunt", and the stoner dad. I remember a while back, I read a book by Wally Lamb called "She's Come Undone", and when I finished it, I kept thinking that it just didn't seem possible for a man to be able to know so much about how it felt to be a woman. Well, this was another book like that - I just couldn't imagine how Brendan Halpin could be so good at understanding the inner workings of a teenage girl's mind. Wow!

Rating:
Summary: Not bad
Review: I started to read this on my lunch hour and was so into it i was late. The relationship between father, donor, and the daughter is somewhat uncanny but it is a good read. If you would like an insight into what your teenager is thinking or feeling read this story, it reminds me of me about two years ago.

Rating:
Summary: Halpin Captures Teen Cyberspeak in a Powerful Tale
Review: In Donorboy, writer and teacher Brendan Halpin does a remarkable job in capturing the ways of adolescent communication in this online world.

The basis of Donorboy is the union of an orphaned girl, Rosalind, and Sean Cassidy, the man who donated the sperm that resulted in her conception. When Rosalind's lesbian Mom dies, custody falls to Sean, a totally unprepared, poorly domesticated, never married, thirtysomething lawyer. The union is heart wrenching and comical by turns.

Rosalind spends her first months of mourning writing an online Grief journal which is deeply sad, extremely angry, and hysterically funny all at the same time. A great deal of her journal rage is directed at Sean, who is a safe bet since its "not right to be angry at her mom" and since Sean is an unknown quanity whom she has been forced to live with. So he makes for the object of a pretty safe scapegoat -- especially since he doesn't get to read what she is writing.

The story is initially told in the adolescent voice of Rosalind in the language that kids use to write online. In that respect, it is somewhat awkward to catch its rhythm right at the start, unless one speaks (and reads) Adolescent as a Second Language.

Through the story, we come to admire these two strong characters as they attempt to come to some truce and a common ground on which to create a relationship and an amicable life together.

Sean recognizes that speaking directly to Rosalind is only met with stoney silences. So he takes to e-mailing her and to that extent the entire book is really a series of online and e-mail entries that document the union of these two characters.

Despite her anger and her tremendous sense of loss, Rosalind eventually opens up to Sean and they find themselves bonding.

Halpin has done a remarkable job of truly capturing the teen voice and in expressing the profound loss and the anger of a teen who loses a parent. The story is comical, touching, sad and full of hope for better times.

In the last four years Brendan Halpin has become a fresh new voice on the scene. He draws much from his own life experiences and does a remarkable, and often enough, humorous job in whatever story he is telling.

Highly recommended -- especially for a teen who may be struggling with loss.

Daniel J. Maloney
Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

Rating:
Summary: Fresh and engaging
Review: Not many people try their hand at epistlatory novels, and fewer still succeed (The last one I read was Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith.) In Donorboy, Halpin gives his a modern twist through e-mails, voice recordings, instant messaging, and a "grief journal." This was a wonderful book, with a dead-on feel for how a teenager sounds and an even deeper sense of how humans connect and fail each other. I've also read and would recommend his two non-fiction books, It Takes a Worried Man, which perversely offered me comfort when my father was dying, as well as Losing My Faculties.

Rating:
Summary: Not even a good doorstop
Review: Sometimes I think it's my lot in life to read crappy books and tell you about them so you won't make the same mistake in picking up the pieces of dreck that I do.

That's the sacrifice I'm willing to make for you. I hope you appreciate it.

"Donorboy" by Brendan Halpin is about a single guy, and sperm donor who is suddenly saddled with the teenage girl he fathered after her two mommies die in a freak accident involving foodstuffs. Frozen tofurkey. Yes, you read that right. Her mothers are killed by frozen tofurkey.

I picked it up because I'm slightly interested in the subject matter, if you must know....the sperm donor part, not the tofurkey part.

Anyway, what I didn't notice at the bottom, on the back cover of the book was that this book is told entirely in e-mails, IMs, etc.

Good God I'm sick of this gimmick. This is now the third book I've read that has tried this. One (and only one) sorta worked, Kluger's "Almost Like Being in Love." The other "Andrew and Joey" was terrible. Note to authors: if you are completely lazy and can't even set a table, not to mention setting a scene, feel free to use this tired and lazy way of writing a book. For those authors out there that actually want to try their hand at the craft of writing, please avoid this gimmick.

The only thing I can say good about "Donorboy" was that it was just the right size to cover up the blinding LED display of my bedside clock. What is it with alarm clocks? Why do they have such bright displays? Even the ones with dimmers on the displays are still far too dark.

Anyway, back to this appalling book.

Completely predictable. Don't believe me? Well, here's a few multiple choice questions:

The teenage girl is a) completely well adjusted, b) a troubled child, or c) a space alien

By the end of the book the girl has a) shot and killed her donor, b) made peace with him and they all live happily ever after, or c) returned to Alpha Centuri.

You guessed B and B didn't you? See? You don't even have to waste the money on the book. As I said...completely predictable. If you answered C to either of the questions, believe me, you're expecting a much more interesting book than you'll find between those covers. There is precious little decent gay fiction out there, don't waste your time on this.

Rating:
Summary: Please Please Please read
Review: This will never be James Joyce, but it does not try to be, nor does it lead you to believe that, but still, Halpin captures the syntax of cyber dialogue and is able to convey the widest range of emotion without ever manipulating the reader. There was not one moment where I felt cheated or lead down the proverbial "garden path". The story was unusual, and initially, I thought, somewhat incredulous, but the writing, in all its simplicity, told a simple story of a relationship between 2 people, and the relationships that they individually long for.

Please please please read. The simplicity of the writing style belies an insightful and captivating story.