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transparent_tea 's review for:
The Higher Education of Matt Griffith
by Jack Chandler
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thanks, NetGalley, for providing an e-copy of this book.
I'm at a loss for words. At the start, I assumed this book was going to be a random "glow up", I'm not at home, so I can be gay and proud stories. However, this book felt like a warm hug from Mom Debbie, one of the characters Matt Griffith encounters when he first sets foot into MCU, without his parents' help.
What we got is a year-long story of a gay teenager, Matthew "Mustang" Griffith, trying to find his own truth in life, after getting sexually assaulted by a young pastor and being victim-blamed by his father that he brought it upon himself. Trying to hide his true sexuality from his parents and not being able to uphold the abstract standards his father placed on him, the freshman orientation opened a rainbow-painted door, allowing him to understand what he's been missing from his life, thanks to his fairy godmother.
While the story is filled with sex scenes, how can one discover oneself without sex? It does paint a realistic picture (pre-online connections and pre-Grindr) of how people tried to figure things out while maintaining some balance of living in the real world and living in the gay world. (In fact, with my own personal experience pre-Grindr, it was difficult to find people whom I could confide in based on the low visibility and/or interest. Very night and day from me being a first year and being a fourth year.)
In addition, we also see Matt play martyr, trying to make the college course-correct on issues that other first years probably wouldn't care about. Yes, it's a little over the top, him playing the hero and trying to find himself, but the way the story sets this up, it's like he's discovering that he can be the hero while finding out more about himself.
I'm at a loss for words. At the start, I assumed this book was going to be a random "glow up", I'm not at home, so I can be gay and proud stories. However, this book felt like a warm hug from Mom Debbie, one of the characters Matt Griffith encounters when he first sets foot into MCU, without his parents' help.
What we got is a year-long story of a gay teenager, Matthew "Mustang" Griffith, trying to find his own truth in life, after getting sexually assaulted by a young pastor and being victim-blamed by his father that he brought it upon himself. Trying to hide his true sexuality from his parents and not being able to uphold the abstract standards his father placed on him, the freshman orientation opened a rainbow-painted door, allowing him to understand what he's been missing from his life, thanks to his fairy godmother.
While the story is filled with sex scenes, how can one discover oneself without sex? It does paint a realistic picture (pre-online connections and pre-Grindr) of how people tried to figure things out while maintaining some balance of living in the real world and living in the gay world. (In fact, with my own personal experience pre-Grindr, it was difficult to find people whom I could confide in based on the low visibility and/or interest. Very night and day from me being a first year and being a fourth year.)
In addition, we also see Matt play martyr, trying to make the college course-correct on issues that other first years probably wouldn't care about. Yes, it's a little over the top, him playing the hero and trying to find himself, but the way the story sets this up, it's like he's discovering that he can be the hero while finding out more about himself.