Rating: 
Summary: "BlueLawn"
Review: All I want to say is this is one "helluva" a good book. I liked the style in which it was written and I believe anyone who buys it won't be disappointed. The author has treated the subject of homosexuality in a very touching and sensitive manner. It's a great story.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: David and Theo are best friends. In fact, they care about each other so much that Theo's grandmother begins to wonder if their friendship may be something more.First love can be sweet, but it can also be confusing and a bit painful. This is especially true when the adults around start trying to help to make things better. As much as this story is about a teenage romance, it is also about how adults do not only choose the best thing to do even when they are trying to be supportive. It is also about how the emotions of our children are as powerful, as real, and as true as are our own. It is refreshing to find a teenage romance in which romance actually takes the front seat. There should be more books like this.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: David and Theo are best friends. In fact, they care about each other so much that Theo's grandmother begins to wonder if their friendship may be something more. First love can be sweet, but it can also be confusing and a bit painful. This is especially true when the adults around start trying to help to make things better. As much as this story is about a teenage romance, it is also about how adults do not only choose the best thing to do even when they are trying to be supportive. It is also about how the emotions of our children are as powerful, as real, and as true as are our own. It is refreshing to find a teenage romance in which romance actually takes the front seat. There should be more books like this.
Rating: 
Summary: Making the Untold Ordinary
Review: David is the star of his school's rugby team and he is famous throughout his New Zealand community for being so. But gradually he's discovered that rugby isn't something he's really interested and as is natural he needs to painfully pull himself out of that role in the community. At the same time he is doing this he meets Theo, a mysterious newcomer to the community. There is an unspoken bond between the boys from when they meet and a gradual friendship is created. Theo is extroverted, rebellious against adults and blunt in trying to bring issues to the forefront whilst concealing aspects of his identity and feelings he finds hard to vocalize. Green-thumbed David is the opposite, a good boy who always does as he should and gets along with adults, but who is able to insist on what he needs to make him happy. It's interesting the ways these boys are shown to come together from different parts of society to form a romantic relationship that neither of them fully understand. It is a relationship which proves through various tests to be a lasting one. This novel is beautifully written. It never fully tells what the boys relationship is because it is in a slow process of formation. It isn't a representation of a typical coming out story or gay discovery, but a unique discovery of new sexual feelings for two sharply drawn individuals. It seems strange at times that for hormonal boys of their age there is no realisation throughout the narrative of their sexual feelings, but this is explained to be because they literally don't know what to do yet. The presence of Theo's grandmother sometimes distracts from the main story of the boy's budding relationship, though she is an interesting enough character that seems to be crying for a story in her own right. This is a very lovingly told, nice tale that explores how "normal" boys adjust to new aspects of their identity.
Rating:
Summary: Excellently written covering a sensitive subject
Review: I found the bok to be well researched and beautifully written. It allowed the characters to explore their feelings and understanding of their sexual awareness without it being overtly obvious to the reader. I feel the author has portrayed the boys human relationship in a positive and touching manner and one that many a young adolescent young man could easily relate to. I say well done to the author for having the "guts" to write on such a sensitive and often tabu subject that effects societies worldwide. A GREAT READ and congratulations to William Taylor
Rating:
Summary: Good Idea...
Review: I liked the idea of the book. For the most part, the book was written well. But, things that normally take time to adjust to took up only a few sentences; David and Theo's lives seemed like fantasy... And I know it is just a book, but it was just way to unbelievable. I would have liked it to be more realistic. But, good job.
Rating: 
Summary: Left Empty
Review: I read this book in one sitting. It was a good book no doubt and quite true to life, there was just not enough meat (# of pages) in the story. A longer story would have made it worth the money. It belongs in a short story compilation and not in a book of it's own. Please don't misread this review the book was well written and was very good, just too short. Good Job William Tayor write more!
Rating:
Summary: Left Empty
Review: I read this book in one sitting. It was a good book no doubt and quite true to life, there was just not enough meat (# of pages) in the story. A longer story would have made it worth the money. It belongs in a short story compilation and not in a book of it's own. Please don't misread this review the book was well written and was very good, just too short. Good Job William Tayor write more!
Rating:
Summary: An accurate portrayal of small town New Zealand life
Review: I've read and reread William Taylor's book a number of times. Every time I am impressed with the way he manages to invoke the realities of life in small town New Zealand and especially the pressures faced by adolescent males in a society which holds rugby stars and good keen men tantamount to deities. This fact of New Zealand life needs to be kept in mind when reading The Blue Lawn - much of the inherent value is lost without reference to Kiwi culture. Taylor's characters are credible and authentic. I tend to agree with comments that the allusion to the Holocaust (in Theo's grandmother) is perhaps unnecessary, but I can understand Taylor's motives in using the motif in the book. I disagree with those who feel The Blue Lawn lacks more about rugby - this is not a sports book, it is about two boys who happen to play rugby (as most boys in New Zealand do at some stage) and their nascent relationship, emotional and sexual. All in all this book is a great read and I'd recommend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: An accurate portrayal of small town New Zealand life
Review: I've read and reread William Taylor's book a number of times. Every time I am impressed with the way he manages to invoke the realities of life in small town New Zealand and especially the pressures faced by adolescent males in a society which holds rugby stars and good keen men tantamount to deities. This fact of New Zealand life needs to be kept in mind when reading The Blue Lawn - much of the inherent value is lost without reference to Kiwi culture. Taylor's characters are credible and authentic. I tend to agree with comments that the allusion to the Holocaust (in Theo's grandmother) is perhaps unnecessary, but I can understand Taylor's motives in using the motif in the book. I disagree with those who feel The Blue Lawn lacks more about rugby - this is not a sports book, it is about two boys who happen to play rugby (as most boys in New Zealand do at some stage) and their nascent relationship, emotional and sexual. All in all this book is a great read and I'd recommend it to anyone.
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