There are some who say we are
awash in "Coming Out" novels; to them, I
say, "Baloney!" There will never be too many coming out stories, in my
opinion. This novel is a perfect example of why I feel this
way. For
every Gay and Lesbian boy or girl, there is a story that should be told
and read by all.
The novel follows three totally different boys through their own
struggle in coming to terms with themselves. Actually, one has
already
come out, the other two haven't. The boys are Nelson, Kyle, and
Jason. Nelson has been out for some time.
Nelson is very effeminate and has been called a sissy and a faggot
since he was in kindergarten. This affects his formative years,
as it
would us all. One would think that because he came out he'd be
comfortable with himself, but this is not the case. He has all
the
insecurities that the others have, and perhaps more.
Nelson has an obsessive type of personality and gets himself in trouble
with someone on-line. Boy, how I know how that can be a
problem. He
finally meets someone at the weekly Rainbow Youth Meetings, a very
cute, yet HIV+, young man two years older than himself. One can
sense
his life opening up at this point
Kyle doesn't look gay, but he is. He's rather close to
Nelson. He
discovers competitive swimming and does quite well at it. He's
also
pretty good in school. He has a very good home life. His parents
accept his friendship with Nelson. Kyle decides that he should
come
out to his parents, but when, how?
"When" is the morning after he went to bed reading, and the "how" is
the Honcho magazine that Nelson gave him. Mother was, in a word,
shocked. She wakes him up the next day only to find it on the
floor,
next to the bed. He had been reading it when he went to sleep.
Kyle also is in major love with Jason, but Jason, of course, doesn't
know it.
Jason is a basketball player and quite the jock…only with deep
homosexual feelings. Jason comes from a rather tough home
life. His
mother is a kind, loving person. His little sister, Melissa, the
one
he calls "Monkey," is a real love. His father is an
alcoholic. To
make matters worse, his father is abusive, both mentally and
physically, and extremely homophobic. Jason ends up standing up
against him, not afraid.
Jason has what he thinks are very strange feelings when he's with
Kyle. Jason is having trouble in school with some of his
classes. He
needs help with Algebra; if he doesn't pass he may lose any chance for
a scholarship. Kyle, being nice, offers to help him (having a
very big
crush on him doesn't hurt in his desire to help either).
Kyle does help and Jason does better for his efforts. He also
notices
that he feels "good" when he's with Kyle, like he doesn't have to be
something he's not. This causes much confusion for Jason.
This
confusion is even greater because he's had a steady girlfriend for
almost two years and they've been rather sexually active. He
rationalizes it to himself. How could I be gay? I like girls…But does
he?
Nelson's mother has known her son is gay for some time and actually
goes to PFLAG meetings.
Nelson and Kyle want to start a gay alliance group in school. They have
the help of the art teacher, and both Nelson and Kyle are very fond of
her. They are successful; they have the unanimous vote of the
school
board, no less.
This book was a very easy and much enjoyed read. It flowed
smoothly
although I think the characters could have been developed just a little
bit more. This is only a minor downer in my opinion; I enjoyed it
very
much. I’m sure there'll be another book, if there's not already,
as
there were a lot of things that were left hanging.
I sure wish I had the ability to start something like this when I was
young and in high school. Sure, there were a few kids who were
rather
out in school, but most weren't. I wonder which ones of my
classmates
were gay? At my last reunion, there were only two gay people
there
that I knew, my lover Tim and me.
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Rainbow
Boys
by Alex Sanchez
Simon & Schuster
ISBN 0-689-84100-0
Editor's note: There is a sequel
to Rainbow Boys, and it is reviewed by Andrew Barriger in this
issue of The Independent Gay Writer, here.
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