Davy is thirteen years old and lives with his grandmother and a Daschund named Fred. When his grandmother dies, Davy is forced to move to NYC with his mother, who is a very selfish person that drinks all the time and constantly accuses Davy and Fred of ruining her life just by being there.

Trisha found this book for me at BEA. It’s an ARC that is actually a re-release of a classic YA GLBT novel from 1969. I’d never heard of this book but was happy to snatch up the opportunity to read one of the rare first GLBT classics!

Unfortunately, my experience wasn’t as great as I hoped. The writing style is very similar to JD Salinger’s, which is not my favorite style. While Davy as a narrator is not much like Holden from Catcher in the Rye, the book reads the same way and I couldn’t help but be bored much of the time. The GLBT parts are very minor and don’t begin until 150 pages into this 200 page book. They are also very downplayed as “something boys just do sometimes.” The first 150 pages mostly focus on Davy’s dog. I am not a dog lover so the constant repetition about the dog bored me. Davy sounded more like eight years old than thirteen.

I persevered through the end because I felt like I should. It’s supposedly the first YA novel to openly discuss GLBT issues and is thus groundbreaking. It was an important novel for me to read. I also understand why the GLBT parts were downplayed and hidden in the time period that it was published. I do think the book was important, but to me, importance doesn’t necessarily make me enjoy the book. It was like reading Don Quixote. Sure, the book’s important as the first book ever written in modern novel style, but oh goodness it was dull to read! I guess if you’re pioneering a new genre, you’re not necessarily going to get it all right the first time.

I wouldn’t recommend this book for fun reading, but for those interested in the history of GLBT literature, I would definitely recommend it. I’m glad it’s being re-released, and I’m glad I had a chance to discover and read it.