Take a photo of a barcode or cover
michaelontheplanet 's review for:
Invisible Boys
by Holden Sheppard
Baggage reclaim: the antiheroes of Holden Sheppard’s Bildungsroman (possibly) - Zeke the Geek, Charlie Roth aka Charlie Goth, and Cade Hammersmith the school jock inevitably known as Hammer, plus farm boy Matt, a paid up Okker with wildly protruding teeth - struggle with sexuality, mental health, coming out, conservative parents, a religious school, small town attitudes in a remote corner of Queensland that seems about as far from Sydney’s Oxford Street, let alone Soho or the Castro, as the moon.
Invisible Boys is raw, funny, heartfelt and angry, coming across as equal parts Heartstopper without so much of the happy ever after, a post-AIDS It’s A Sin, and the gay man version of Heathers. Nominally a young adult book, it works for most thanks to energetic pacing, an economy of dialogue and description that conveys a lot in a few words, and some very choice swearing. It’s a touching not love but lust story encapsulating all the rage, energy, excitement and futility of high school life in a prolonged argument for how the system fails so many of us ‘others’.
Mr Sheppard is clearly a major new talent and now I’m thirsty for more.
Invisible Boys is raw, funny, heartfelt and angry, coming across as equal parts Heartstopper without so much of the happy ever after, a post-AIDS It’s A Sin, and the gay man version of Heathers. Nominally a young adult book, it works for most thanks to energetic pacing, an economy of dialogue and description that conveys a lot in a few words, and some very choice swearing. It’s a touching not love but lust story encapsulating all the rage, energy, excitement and futility of high school life in a prolonged argument for how the system fails so many of us ‘others’.
Mr Sheppard is clearly a major new talent and now I’m thirsty for more.