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| Home > Reads > "Back Where He Started: A Novel" by Jay Quinn |
| "Back Where He Started: A Novel" by Jay Quinn | | Date Created: Apr 29, 2005, 09:34 AM |
So ... imagine that you're a 40-something gay man who just spent the last 22 years raising your partner's kids. You just get the last one off to college and your husband suddenly announces that he's running off to marry his (female) secretary. You have no job and basically no job skills except changing diapers and cleaning scraped knees.
Interesting premise for a book, no? (And notice there isn't one crystal snorting LA screenwriter to be found! Woo Hoo!) The main character, Chris Thayer attempts to rebuild his life after having his house and home snatched away from him by his husband's midlife crisis. He buys a beach house (with the palimony agreement his former husband sets up), buys some furniture, gets a job, a new church, a new dog, and a new, younger boyfriend. All that within a year or so.
Back Where He Started, is what I would call a "beach read." These are books that I consider not necessarily bad, but are just shallow enough to be enjoyed while baking in the sun, listening to your iPod, and admiring the scenery at a Lake Michigan beach.
The premise is indeed interesting, but the characters and the execution are all a little unbelieveable. The book is set in North Carolina, and though I don't know very much about the state, I know this: that's where Jessie Helms is from. How is it then that everyone, from his employer, to his priest, to the entire extended family of his new boyfriend absolutely love this man? Other than two annoying kids who spraypaint his house, he seems to have the perfect life, and sets it up in under a year.
After 22 years of marriage, he simply starts over. Quickly. Oh, and he gets to have mindblowing sex (every time) with some young fisherman, who turns into his new boyfriend.
The book does have a few points to make about being a real individual inside of a marriage and how we define and decide our roles within those marriages. But for the most part, it's just a light book that you might enjoy while sunning yourself over in Saugatuck, P-Town, or whatever beach you frequent. |
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