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A review by nickoliver
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-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
4.5
Second read August 2021:
I found the audiobook at my library and spontaneously decided to listen to it while I was cleaning my room. Highly recommend it, it was a lot of fun! It actually made me like the book even more; a lot of the scenes I found a bit drawn-out and weird the first time didn't bother me this time around.
Original review July 2020:
This had got to be one of the most spontaneous buys and reads I ever did! I'd heard about this book from Chaima (@proyearner) on Twitter. The things they said about it sounded very appealing to me, and on top of that, they provided a lot of screenshots of scenes they liked, and I fell immediately in love and just needed to read that story, too. So I did something I really, really rarely do (and by "really, really rarely", I mean this has been the third time in like, almost three years, and the only time with a book that was over 1€) and bought the ebook full-prize on Amazon. And then proceeded to sit on my couch and read the entire thing in one sitting.
And it was the absolute best.
My favourite thing about it were definitely the characters, especially the main character Luc. Now, Luc was someone who was extremely relatable to me personally. He had very low self-esteem and dignity and respect for himself and didn't think that anyone could love him enough to actually wanna stay with him forever. So many things he said or thought resonated with me so hard that it kinda started to hurt a bit, but in a good way? Like, part of me really loved being seen in a book like that.
I found the audiobook at my library and spontaneously decided to listen to it while I was cleaning my room. Highly recommend it, it was a lot of fun! It actually made me like the book even more; a lot of the scenes I found a bit drawn-out and weird the first time didn't bother me this time around.
Original review July 2020:
This had got to be one of the most spontaneous buys and reads I ever did! I'd heard about this book from Chaima (@proyearner) on Twitter. The things they said about it sounded very appealing to me, and on top of that, they provided a lot of screenshots of scenes they liked, and I fell immediately in love and just needed to read that story, too. So I did something I really, really rarely do (and by "really, really rarely", I mean this has been the third time in like, almost three years, and the only time with a book that was over 1€) and bought the ebook full-prize on Amazon. And then proceeded to sit on my couch and read the entire thing in one sitting.
And it was the absolute best.
My favourite thing about it were definitely the characters, especially the main character Luc. Now, Luc was someone who was extremely relatable to me personally. He had very low self-esteem and dignity and respect for himself and didn't think that anyone could love him enough to actually wanna stay with him forever. So many things he said or thought resonated with me so hard that it kinda started to hurt a bit, but in a good way? Like, part of me really loved being seen in a book like that.
"Truth to be told, I’d never been the best at self-care. Self-recrimination, I had down. Self-loathing, I could do in my sleep, and often did. So here I was, a twenty-eight-year-old man suddenly feeling an overwhelming need to call his mother because he was sad."
Luc was also extremely funny and made me laugh out loud several times, especially in some of the conversations he had with other people, be it Oliver, his friends, his mother, or his co-workers. I'm usually not someone who actively laughs at things that happen in books - I usually just snort or laugh in my head -, so the fact that this book did almost have me rolling on the floor really says something about how much I enjoyed the humour.
"The conversation hadn’t so much died on us as been taken out back and shot in the head. And I knew I should be playing paramedic but I couldn’t quite bring myself to or work out how."
There were a few scenes, especially where Luc's co-worker (and friend?) Alex was involved, where it almost got a bit too much. For example, there was a scene where Alex, who grew up in the rich, snobbish parts of England, took Luc and Oliver to the club with him (not "club" as in "nightclub", more "club" as in "place where rich people, especially rich men, like to hang out"). And that entire scene just felt like it was ON CRACK. Alex, who was a very forgetful man who took everything a bit too literally and was impossible to really conspire with sometimes, went from "kind of amusing character" to "caricature", and I just couldn't laugh at some of the things that happened in that scene? Not because it was problematic or hurtful, but just because after a while, I didn't particularly enjoy that special brand of humour that Hall tried to conjure up with Alex anymore. He was a bit too much at times.
The romance was definitely a highlight of mine. Luc and Oliver definitely had a huge amount of chemistry. They teased each other a lot (especially Luc>Oliver), but overall respected and accepted each other, and while they weren't always the best at working through problems in a healthy way - or any way at all -, you could still understand why they did what they did most of the time. It's also not instalove but rather a bit on the slow-moving side, which I appreciated. This book might also be for you if you're not much into smut, because there's not really much and definitely nothing extremely explicit.
The romance was definitely a highlight of mine. Luc and Oliver definitely had a huge amount of chemistry. They teased each other a lot (especially Luc>Oliver), but overall respected and accepted each other, and while they weren't always the best at working through problems in a healthy way - or any way at all -, you could still understand why they did what they did most of the time. It's also not instalove but rather a bit on the slow-moving side, which I appreciated. This book might also be for you if you're not much into smut, because there's not really much and definitely nothing extremely explicit.
"Anyway," Oliver went on, "you didn’t let me finish."
"And I’m usually so considerate in that regard."
Up went that brow of his. "Good to know."
And, for some reason, I blushed."
Another great thing about the book were the friendships. Luc had this almost exclusively queer friend group (with the one token straight friend), and not only were they all really good friends, they were also fucking hilarious.
There was Bridget, who had been trying to set Luc and Oliver up with each other for years. She was the token straight friend, was consistently always late, and had constantly emergencies at her work place that made her worry she was going to get fired (spoiler alert: She never did). She was very supportive of Luc but never hesitated to (metaphorically) kick him in the butt if he needed motivation to keep going. What I also loved was that Luc didn't hesitate to call Bridget out if her relentless attempts to bring him and Oliver together started to feel uncomfortable. (You know, when she went from "straight" to "Straight™").
There was Bridget, who had been trying to set Luc and Oliver up with each other for years. She was the token straight friend, was consistently always late, and had constantly emergencies at her work place that made her worry she was going to get fired (spoiler alert: She never did). She was very supportive of Luc but never hesitated to (metaphorically) kick him in the butt if he needed motivation to keep going. What I also loved was that Luc didn't hesitate to call Bridget out if her relentless attempts to bring him and Oliver together started to feel uncomfortable. (You know, when she went from "straight" to "Straight™").
"Look. Can you come to terms with the idea that you know two gay people who wouldn’t be good together?"
"I would, except" – her voice lifted plaintively – "you'd be sooo good together.’"
"Okay, I know you can’t see it, but I’m holding up the fetishization card."
"What does that card even look like?"
"It looks like two adorable men in sweaters holding hands under a rainbow."
"I thought you wanted to hold hands with an adorable man under a rainbow."
"I do, but the fact you want it almost as much as I do is what makes it creepy."
I really appreciated that he did that, because she did, in fact, sometimes make me uncomfortable with her insistence that Luc and Oliver were perfect for each other, seeing as they were the only two single gay men she knew. Just because you know two gay people who are attracted to the same sex doesn't mean that they'd be good for each other. We have types too, you know. So I loved that Luc told Bridget these things.
Friends number two and three were the two James Royce-Royce - two men named James Royce who married each other and decided to hyphenate their name. One of them was very campy, the other one was described as looking like "a Russian hit man". I really liked that Hall showed that there wasn't just one way "to look gay", and that you couldn't always tell if someone was gay or not (as some Straight People seem to think). The only problem I had with these characters was that I never knew which James was talking, so the joke about them having the same name was a bit impractical sometimes.
Then there was Priya, a tiny lesbian with a truck and an older girlfriend. She wasn't as in the picture as the other friends until almost the end, but I did like how she never took anyone's shit but still tried to be there for Luc. She felt a bit like "grumpy on the outside, sunshine on the inside." She was also a welder, which felt like a very typical lesbian profession, though I would not be able to tell you why.
The last friend was Tom, the only bisexual in the group. He had gone on a date or two with Luc but then ended up falling for Bridget and dated her now. What I appreciated was that this wasn't contributed to him being bi - you know, it didn't perpetuate stereotypes of bi people a) not being able to choose and b) being cheaters -, and throughout the story, Luc also never invalidated his bisexuality. So that was great!
So, those were all of Luc's friend. I loved how tight-knit and supportive of each other they were, but that they were also always willing to call each other out on their bullshit. I should also mention that their group chat always had a pun in the name, which I loved way more than I probably should have. They were definitely a highlight for me. Plus, the group chats themselves often had spelling errors (especially from Bridget), which I found a nice detail! I found they really fit Bridget's character, so for me, they enhanced my experience a bit.
Oliver's friends, as a stark contrast, were all straight couples. They weren't quite as present in the story as Luc's friends (which makes sense, seeing as the story is told exclusively from Luc's perspective), but they were also very entertaining. I found it interesting to see these two different friend groups - one almost completely queer, the other one straight -, and the way they still acted pretty similar.
The story had a subplot about Luc's father Jon, who was dying of cancer and wanted to get to know his son more now. While I was less interested in that subplot than in the romance, I still found it interesting, because I'm in a similar situation to Luc (in the way that I have a non-existent relationship with my father, not because my father's a rock star who abandoned me as a baby), so many of his emotions and thoughts resonated heavily with me. I got a bit emotional at times, not gonna lie.
That subplot also showed Luc's relationship with his mother, Odile, really well, and I loved seeing it! Odile lived a bit secluded with her best friend Judy, and all they did all day was watch Netflix. I'm pretty sure they were in kind of a queer platonic relationship, and honestly, they were kinda goals for me; I, too, would like to live alone with another girl away from other people and do nothing but do things I like doing.
Odile did say some things that rubbed me the wrong way - for example, she kept using "gay" as a noun, and I can't explain why, but I just really hated that (Luc did call her out on it, but she still kept using it). But overall, her relationship with Luc was really sweet, and all she wanted was for him to be happy.
Towards the end, the story did drag a bit on in my opinion, to the point where I got a bit frustrated. I understood why Oliver was so reluctant, I really did, but I still wish they had gotten together a bit sooner; that constant back-and-forth felt a bit drawn out and I lost a bit of interest in the story, to be honest. And I don't know, Luc's friends were a bit annoying with their constant interrupting and hooting and shouting in the background. It should have been a bit shorter, just a few pages less.
Overall, though, I absolutely adored this, and I definitely want to check out more by this author!
Friends number two and three were the two James Royce-Royce - two men named James Royce who married each other and decided to hyphenate their name. One of them was very campy, the other one was described as looking like "a Russian hit man". I really liked that Hall showed that there wasn't just one way "to look gay", and that you couldn't always tell if someone was gay or not (as some Straight People seem to think). The only problem I had with these characters was that I never knew which James was talking, so the joke about them having the same name was a bit impractical sometimes.
Then there was Priya, a tiny lesbian with a truck and an older girlfriend. She wasn't as in the picture as the other friends until almost the end, but I did like how she never took anyone's shit but still tried to be there for Luc. She felt a bit like "grumpy on the outside, sunshine on the inside." She was also a welder, which felt like a very typical lesbian profession, though I would not be able to tell you why.
The last friend was Tom, the only bisexual in the group. He had gone on a date or two with Luc but then ended up falling for Bridget and dated her now. What I appreciated was that this wasn't contributed to him being bi - you know, it didn't perpetuate stereotypes of bi people a) not being able to choose and b) being cheaters -, and throughout the story, Luc also never invalidated his bisexuality. So that was great!
So, those were all of Luc's friend. I loved how tight-knit and supportive of each other they were, but that they were also always willing to call each other out on their bullshit. I should also mention that their group chat always had a pun in the name, which I loved way more than I probably should have. They were definitely a highlight for me. Plus, the group chats themselves often had spelling errors (especially from Bridget), which I found a nice detail! I found they really fit Bridget's character, so for me, they enhanced my experience a bit.
Oliver's friends, as a stark contrast, were all straight couples. They weren't quite as present in the story as Luc's friends (which makes sense, seeing as the story is told exclusively from Luc's perspective), but they were also very entertaining. I found it interesting to see these two different friend groups - one almost completely queer, the other one straight -, and the way they still acted pretty similar.
The story had a subplot about Luc's father Jon, who was dying of cancer and wanted to get to know his son more now. While I was less interested in that subplot than in the romance, I still found it interesting, because I'm in a similar situation to Luc (in the way that I have a non-existent relationship with my father, not because my father's a rock star who abandoned me as a baby), so many of his emotions and thoughts resonated heavily with me. I got a bit emotional at times, not gonna lie.
That subplot also showed Luc's relationship with his mother, Odile, really well, and I loved seeing it! Odile lived a bit secluded with her best friend Judy, and all they did all day was watch Netflix. I'm pretty sure they were in kind of a queer platonic relationship, and honestly, they were kinda goals for me; I, too, would like to live alone with another girl away from other people and do nothing but do things I like doing.
Odile did say some things that rubbed me the wrong way - for example, she kept using "gay" as a noun, and I can't explain why, but I just really hated that (Luc did call her out on it, but she still kept using it). But overall, her relationship with Luc was really sweet, and all she wanted was for him to be happy.
Towards the end, the story did drag a bit on in my opinion, to the point where I got a bit frustrated.
Overall, though, I absolutely adored this, and I definitely want to check out more by this author!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment
Moderate: Body shaming and Homophobia
Minor: Eating disorder and Alcohol