Customer Reviews

Always Have, Always Will (Queer as Folk)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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As you might be able to tell from some of my other reviews - I'm a big Queer As Folk fan. I enjoy the show and its characters, its depiction of gay life and the gay community.

It should therefore be no surprise that I was happy when it was announced that there would be a series of books based on Queer As Folk. This bok is the third in that series of novels. "Every Nine Seconds" being the first and "Never Tear Us Apart" being the second (you can read my reviews of those books here at amazon).

As with the previous novels, I enjoyed this story and plot. Its not a difficult read and the author again succeeds in capturing the "voices" of most of the shows defined characters (In this novel, we are introduced to Melanie and Ted, rounding out the gang as we first met them in Season One of QAF).

The best part of reading this book, again as with the others, is that the story incorporates existing storylines of the television series, referencing events and foreshadowing character development. This gives the reader a bit of the "We're In On It" feel. I like that.

This book begins with a bit of a time gap jump. "Never Tear Us Apart" is now three years in the past. Thats a pretty big jump and honestly I wish they'd have taken some time to delve into the issues that had to have happened in that span. For one thing, Michael has dropped out of college and little attention is paid to very monumental event in his life.

We begin this novel at Brian's college graduation, with our hero about to begin his career life in the big bad world of advertising. Michael is working at the Big Q, and Debbie is helping Uncle Vic with his health issues. Emmett is back, as well as is Lindsay (for those looking or waiting for the big sex scene with Brian and Lindsay, we are spared).

The introduction of Melanie and Ted doesn't seem as "easy" as the introduction of other characters in the previous novels, and we're asked to rely on what we know of their characters from the show a great deal.

As presented here - Ted is the shy puppy dog and Melanie, well, I'm rather disappointed in her portrayal here. She's uncharacteristically boring.

My main problem with this novel is that the author hasn't seemed to capture Melanie and Lindsay as we know them. The others are very well defined and you can easily make the connection from these early years to the people they've become on the television show - this is not true of Mel and Lindz. Shout-outs to Michelle Clunie and Thea Gill for taking their characters on the show to a higher plane with not much screen time, but unfortunately their acting talent is not visible here. Make no mistake though, it's the actresses, and our knowledge of them, that is the only thing that works in this book with regards to their "characters".

Ted has come a long way on the show, and this is him in a very immature place in his life. He's an interesting character and is introduced here via Melanie. We are persented with his early infatuation with Michael (remember season one?) and it is accurate and on the money. I'm interested in seeing him progress in the novels to the character we know now.

Emmett's storyline here is sort of out of the blue. He's returned from Los Angeles with worries and secrets of his own.

Brian, perhaps the most complex Queer As Folk character, is written very well.

All in all, the story and the characters are what we are here for and this book delivers for the most part (4 stars only because of my disappointment in girlz story/characters).

This book is fun to read. It's a great beach book, easy to pick up and fall right into.

I recommend this book, as I do the first two novels, as a fun and easy read for the Queer As Folk fan. Its entertaining and thats what counts.

If you're a fan, you'll like the book. Thats basically what it comes down to.

I have read all 3 of the QAF novels, and "Always Have, Always Will" is the best of the three. Sadly, that isn't saying much. "QAF" is, above all, a highly visual show. Absent its good looking cast, thumpa thumpa soundtrack, and witty one liners there isn't much to go on.

However, this one works because, at last, the gang (sans Justin) is together. Melanie and Ted are introduced as college friends who meet the rest of the gang at Woody's. Melanie is soon smitten with Lindsay, and Ted with Michael, so the gang of six is formed. Various plots ensue. The best are Emmett's comical foray into the workworld and Mel and Lindz's romance. The author is good at setting the scene in Pittsburgh, although this is ironic since the show itself doesn't do a very good job of disguising Toronto (where it's filmed) for Pittsburgh.

There are a few continuity errors. Fans of the show know that Ted has an MBA from Wharton, in Philadelphia, not the University of Pittsburgh, so he wouldn't have been around at this time. Also, Mel and Lindz are established on the show as friends who became lovers, but "AHAW" introduces them as love interests immediately upon meeting. Emmett, on the show, has said that he left Hazelhurst but only got as far as Pittsburgh. In this, we're supposed to believe he lived in LA for two years. All of this makes me wonder who is editing these books.

All in all, I enjoyed "Always Have, Always Will." I think this ends the series and that is a good thing. Unlike the show, which I could watch forever, I have grown tired of this enterprise.

I'll keep this short. If this book were a standalone, no one would buy it because its juvenile. I give this series of books 3 stars only because of the tie-in to the TV series.
I was a fan of the TV series so I enjoyed reading the accounts of how everyone met each other. Visualizing the actors who portrayed these characters made reading the book fun.
I would like to mention that I caught about 12 instances where "Brian" was spelled: "Brain". Was no one spell-checking this before it went to print?

In my "it can't be over" quest for Queer As Folk, I found out there are books written about them, so of course, I go off and read them, but not in order. *laugh* Anyway, this one is right after college - kind of the "back story" to the series, I suppose. It was just "okay". The writing was mediocre, but it was nice to visit with the QAF crew again - if only through a book.

Hmmm... maybe they will write a book for the "after" the show type of thing. The end of the show sucked so bad, surely they want to redeem themselves *laugh*

Okay, back to the book... the oddest part for me was the little run in with Justin and Daphne as 5th graders - just kind of an oddball thing to throw in there.

I dunno... it was good, not great, but nice. Yeah, I know... indecisive much?

If you loved the Showtime series "Queer as Folk," you will enjoy this fun, albeit sophomoric, first-volume prequel to discover how Brian and Mikey became the Dynamic Duo! Emmett and other characters are introduced in the next volume, "Never Tear Us Apart." -- Huge QAF Fan --

I absolutely loved this book! I don't want to spoil too many things. But oh, my god! You absolutely have to read this book. There are of course, many sexed-up paragraphs but there are hilarious ones too... (thanks to the gay and lovable Emmett!) That's all I'm going to say. Ta!

"Always Have, Always Will," seems like a factory product. Is the writer, Quinn Brockton, the brother of Joseph Brockton, the writer of a previous Queer as Folk book? Or was it the company behind the series deciding they didn't like Joseph as a ghost writer name, and just altered it, because Brockton was too good to lose?

The writer's voice is as generic as his name. The tone is intelligent but flat. There's little changes in mood regardless of what happens. As pointed out by another reviewer, there are spelling mistakes, the most intrusive being Brian repeatedly named Brain.

The television show is for adults. Not only because of its sexual content - part of the point, for the writers of the series - but because the characters are forced to make the kind of decisions that adults make. I missed that totally here.

The humour, too, is ridiculously overplayed. Emmett, maybe the liveliest character, is given, finally, a half-decent comic scene to play, a scene ruined by cheap, badly performed narrative tricks. The worst is the fact that he sells a product called Fold-N-Serve, a name the writer can't resist repeating until he's sure we get how witty he is. Yes - life, just like Emmett, is whimsically campy.

Maybe not every book has to be a masterpiece, but the producers of television's Queer as Folk have gone a long way to describe their work as having positive social ramifications, along with moments of lightness, heartbreak and real joy. Though I was at first skeptical of such obvious self-congratulation, the show itself converted me, not least by the conviction of the actors to the crises and celebrations of the characters, the always-improving writing, and the support of long-time gay, Canadian playwright Brad Fraser.

This book sacrifices it all except for the name. What a waste.

If you are a QAF fan, you will enjoy this. I read it through in one sitting, couldn't put it down. As with the previous books of this series, it supplies the much desired background information about the times and occurances that shaped the characters lives prior to the QAF show, and introduces some of the show characters not previously seen. As always, leaves you wanting more.

(...)P>this book was great. read it. along with the two before it.
i wish their were more of these.

someone said that this book is three years before the series, but why is Justin in fifth grade, he wasn't in eighth grade in episode one??

this isn't meant to be a great review, but if I have time, I'll make it one.

<3