Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, touching story weaves its way into your heart!!!
Review: I thought that "My Father's Scar" was beautifully written and portrayed the relationship of a young gay man growing up in a prejudiced community extremely well. I also found the writing to be exquisitely charasmatic, as well as believeable (which, I feel is important) in that the entire novel isn't purely composed of homoerotica. A must-read, "My Father's Scar" is deeply uplifting and encouraging for anyone who has ever felt alone. I especially recommend this book for any young gay men who are on the verge of coming out, this book is for you!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I wanted this to be a great novel, I really did. Michael Cart is well known in YA lit circles, especially for writing for and about gay teens. However, this novel perpetuates many of the myths concerning homosexuals that Cart rails against--gay boys as bookish, gay youth as isolated, gay men as identifiable because they are more sensitive, gays coming from alcoholic/abusive homes, and the list goes on and on. The story is compelling and well written. It is just too rife with stereotypes for me to recommend to any teen struggling with sexual identity.
Rating:
Summary: My Father's Scar
Review: I've read it twice! The experience of this novel had me wanting more and in order to do this a second reading was needed. Everyone says they could relate to Andy Logan and this is because Logan is seemingly a real person and we, as readers, relate through the human experience. I learned a little more about myself through reading this novel and how my childhood affected me as an adult and the way our childhood experiences sometimes come back to revisit even without our permission. The book was a wonderful experience and I look forward to the third reading.
Rating:
Summary: A touching coming-of-age story.
Review: It's novels like "My Father's Scar" that are the most moving to me. In reading from front to back in a single day, I found myself captivated by its masterful storytelling, its heightened yet subtle suspense, and the ways in which it works its reader with its sudden twists and turns, while never losing focus on the themes and lessons of life that it embodies in its main protagonist. Andy Logan is a freshman in college plagued by memories of his childhood and development into a man; some of these memories are painful, while others provide him a glimpse into happier times that shaped his life in a positive manner. There are memories of his father and grandmother, both tyrannical and unrelenting, his mother, who has no choice but to side with his father, his uncle, whose vast interest in books sparks an interest in young Andy's mind, and Evan, the sole homosexual to come out in the entire town, but not the sole homosexual to reside there. Evan becomes a pinnacle of fascination for Andy, which seques into feelings of love and wanting once Andy realizes what these feelings are. There experiences Evan goes through will shape his and Andy's life, and Andy will come to realize, right up to the novel's poignant ending, that there is a fine line between love and hate that sometimes goes unseen. I valued the many nuances of this novel not for its simplicity, but for its ability to tell a story in such an involving way. Author Michael Cart uses present participles to tell the present-day sections of the story, while the memories of Andy's childhood and teenage years are told using past participles, enhancing the fact that these are experiences that have already happened as opposed to going on at that moment. This brings us more into Andy's mind as he takes his own, sometimes unavoidable, trips down memory lane. And simple the novel is not, by no means. The writing may seem a step down from the throes of Hawthorne and Shakespeare, but it certainly does not take on a juvenile feel. The phrases and the syntactical elements used by Cart are marvelous in their underlining of the feelings Andy goes through during his childhood. Cart especially pays close attention to the feelings of the boy, as well as the relationships, be it friendship or boyhood love, with such devotion to the feelings and emotions that anyone, gay or straight, can relate to. Cart must also be praised for his ability to hide the identity of the ending, keeping us at bay as to whether or not it will end on a high or low note. There are small hints which lead us to believe that either avenue is possible, and these will continue until the very last pages, leading us to an ending that (without giving it away) remains true to the rest of the material and is completely satisfying. For me to be able to read this book as fast as I did is the mark of a truly interesting and satisfying read for me. I loved the characters of this novel and could relate to them on so many different levels. I wanted Andy to find the love he had been wishing for; I wanted to see him taken away from the oppression of his childhood, and while he was able to escape it physically, the novel examines the fact that, emotionally, there is no escape from our past. "My Father's Scar" is a novel that has the look and feel of a teenage romance and coming-of-age story, but underneath everything, there is a powerful and complex message which rings true for people of all genders and orientations. The themes are well-presented and easily understood, while the characters are people we can care about and identify with in different ways. I loved this novel!
Rating:
Summary: A touching coming-of-age story.
Review: It's novels like "My Father's Scar" that are the most moving to me. In reading from front to back in a single day, I found myself captivated by its masterful storytelling, its heightened yet subtle suspense, and the ways in which it works its reader with its sudden twists and turns, while never losing focus on the themes and lessons of life that it embodies in its main protagonist. Andy Logan is a freshman in college plagued by memories of his childhood and development into a man; some of these memories are painful, while others provide him a glimpse into happier times that shaped his life in a positive manner. There are memories of his father and grandmother, both tyrannical and unrelenting, his mother, who has no choice but to side with his father, his uncle, whose vast interest in books sparks an interest in young Andy's mind, and Evan, the sole homosexual to come out in the entire town, but not the sole homosexual to reside there. Evan becomes a pinnacle of fascination for Andy, which seques into feelings of love and wanting once Andy realizes what these feelings are. There experiences Evan goes through will shape his and Andy's life, and Andy will come to realize, right up to the novel's poignant ending, that there is a fine line between love and hate that sometimes goes unseen. I valued the many nuances of this novel not for its simplicity, but for its ability to tell a story in such an involving way. Author Michael Cart uses present participles to tell the present-day sections of the story, while the memories of Andy's childhood and teenage years are told using past participles, enhancing the fact that these are experiences that have already happened as opposed to going on at that moment. This brings us more into Andy's mind as he takes his own, sometimes unavoidable, trips down memory lane. And simple the novel is not, by no means. The writing may seem a step down from the throes of Hawthorne and Shakespeare, but it certainly does not take on a juvenile feel. The phrases and the syntactical elements used by Cart are marvelous in their underlining of the feelings Andy goes through during his childhood. Cart especially pays close attention to the feelings of the boy, as well as the relationships, be it friendship or boyhood love, with such devotion to the feelings and emotions that anyone, gay or straight, can relate to. Cart must also be praised for his ability to hide the identity of the ending, keeping us at bay as to whether or not it will end on a high or low note. There are small hints which lead us to believe that either avenue is possible, and these will continue until the very last pages, leading us to an ending that (without giving it away) remains true to the rest of the material and is completely satisfying. For me to be able to read this book as fast as I did is the mark of a truly interesting and satisfying read for me. I loved the characters of this novel and could relate to them on so many different levels. I wanted Andy to find the love he had been wishing for; I wanted to see him taken away from the oppression of his childhood, and while he was able to escape it physically, the novel examines the fact that, emotionally, there is no escape from our past. "My Father's Scar" is a novel that has the look and feel of a teenage romance and coming-of-age story, but underneath everything, there is a powerful and complex message which rings true for people of all genders and orientations. The themes are well-presented and easily understood, while the characters are people we can care about and identify with in different ways. I loved this novel!
Rating:
Summary: An Enriching Coming of Age Story
Review: Michael Cart has written a beautifully crafted novel about the trials and tribulations of growing up gay. We follow the main character Andy through his awkward childhood to his equally awkward first year at college. All the while Andy dreams of the one person that he can truly love. Written with a young adult audience in mind,(Click on the hardcover edition to see the really nice cover artwork for the school and library edition)that dosen't prevent any adult fom enjoying or relating to Andy's story. I wish I had this book when I was growing up!
Rating:
Summary: The Wings Make This Book Fly
Review: My Father's Scar is a wonderful dive into the mind of Andy Logan. He reaccounts his past, which is a mix of subtle humor, fear, confusion, and love, and his present life, which has many of the same qualities. I feel that if I get into too much detail that it will give the book away, but this one is one that everybody needs to read.
Rating:
Summary: weepy, wonderful, and absolutely, positively amazing!!!!!!!!
Review: My Father's Scar is the story of Andy Logan, a gay young man, who survives an abusive father and a homophobic community. The main character should be the most sympathetic person in the world and yet over and over again I found that he came across as self-righteous and mean-spirited. For one thing, there is the portrayal of his family. Andy's grandmother and father seem one dimensional. They're the kind of characters that are so over the top that if there was a flower growing in the sidewalk they would go out of their way to stomp it out. The over the top level of their bullying and the fact that neither have even one redeeming quality makes them seem cartoonish. Andy's sympathetic great uncle is seen as saint-like with no negative qualities. Again, a cartoonish portrait (albeit a positive one) that is not very illuminating. Andy also seems self righteous in his downtrodden state and mean spirited. He consistently takes pot shots at a man who is dominated by his wife and who also has a speech impediment and makes mean spirited remarks about the man's daughter who is less than a perfect beauty. Andy also is involved in some questionable relationships and handles them in a questionable manner yet is never shown in an ironic or negative light. When Andy is cruel it is justifiable when someone else is they are a goose-stepping evil villain with darkness in their core. This blunts a book which seems to be about looking beyond surfaces and finding common humanity. The book's one sidedness is its downfall which is too bad because in other ways it is competently written. The chapters alternate between Andy's abused past and his confused present create a nice rhythm of atmosphere and suspense. Ultimately though the book feels unsatisfying. A much better book on a similar subject is Todd D. Brown's Entries from a Hot Pink Notebook, an excellent, unpretentious, and humane work of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Earnest but disappointing
Review: My Father's Scar is the story of Andy Logan, a gay young man, who survives an abusive father and a homophobic community. The main character should be the most sympathetic person in the world and yet over and over again I found that he came across as self-righteous and mean-spirited. For one thing, there is the portrayal of his family. Andy's grandmother and father seem one dimensional. They're the kind of characters that are so over the top that if there was a flower growing in the sidewalk they would go out of their way to stomp it out. The over the top level of their bullying and the fact that neither have even one redeeming quality makes them seem cartoonish. Andy's sympathetic great uncle is seen as saint-like with no negative qualities. Again, a cartoonish portrait (albeit a positive one) that is not very illuminating. Andy also seems self righteous in his downtrodden state and mean spirited. He consistently takes pot shots at a man who is dominated by his wife and who also has a speech impediment and makes mean spirited remarks about the man's daughter who is less than a perfect beauty. Andy also is involved in some questionable relationships and handles them in a questionable manner yet is never shown in an ironic or negative light. When Andy is cruel it is justifiable when someone else is they are a goose-stepping evil villain with darkness in their core. This blunts a book which seems to be about looking beyond surfaces and finding common humanity. The book's one sidedness is its downfall which is too bad because in other ways it is competently written. The chapters alternate between Andy's abused past and his confused present create a nice rhythm of atmosphere and suspense. Ultimately though the book feels unsatisfying. A much better book on a similar subject is Todd D. Brown's Entries from a Hot Pink Notebook, an excellent, unpretentious, and humane work of fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Predictable, but solid YA novel
Review: The thing that most bothers me about most YA-gay-coming-of-age-novels is the fact that the adults tend to be cardboard cutouts of archetypes. The alcoholic father. The ineffectual mother. The sympathetic (ambiguously gay) uncle. This novel is no exception to this sad state of affairs. While this book was gripping, you could see the events coming down the street with all the subtlety of a Mardi Gras float. It's still one of the best-of-the-bunch as far as gay coming of age novels goes (which is entirely too populated with inter-generational fantasies by middle-aged men)
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