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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Low Key but Well Written Story, November 30, 2008
This review is from: The Boomerang Kid: A Novel (Hardcover)
I am used to heavy drama in gay and straight novels. To read a story where both parents (although separated for many years), not only still love each other, but offer unconditional love to their bipolar son whose life is difficult at the best of times.
At the worst of times, Kai, comes home to his loving and supportive mother. They have a wonderful relationship. She accepts he is gay even though Kai doesn't.
Kai's mother has a boyfriend who also supports Kai. Maura's boss, supports Kai and wants to help him through a bleak period.
All in all the story unfolds, very neatly, very steadily with no drama, no outbursts. Just understanding and love for a young man who needs emotional help with his addiction and disease and to see his way through to the love of his life Robin.
A gentle heartwarming story of love. Love between separated parents, love between a mother and boyfriend, love of a mother and son, a man and his lover.
Not something I read intentionally, but a nice surprise and well written. A nice light, gay book to curl up with.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Boom and the Bust, November 15, 2008
This review is from: The Boomerang Kid: A Novel (Hardcover)
The other reviewers have provided a synopsis of the characters and the plot, especially Mr. Leonard who practically reproduces the entire novel, so I won't repeat all of that.
I am a big fan of Jay Quinn and have read all of his work. He is a skilled writer who makes you emotionally attached to his characters, even those with flaws. He also includes realistic references to the South Florida locale where his stories are set. The Boomerang Kid is no exception and is a beautiful story which you are sure to enjoy.
My minor quibbles are that there is a great deal of introspection on the part of the main character, Kai (great name, by the way), as well as almost too much information about bi-polar meds and painkillers, where the story would have been better served if there were more action and things happening. Kai also smokes an average of three cigarettes per page and this gets old fast. Incredibly, between a Friday evening and a Sunday afternoon, Kai manages to pack and move into a new house and paint and frame eleven portraits! (Maybe it's all that nicotine.) Typical of Quinn, although there is a sexual angle to the story, there is almost no sex.
I pre-ordered this book the moment I learned it was coming out. I'll do the same for Mr. Quinn's next novel.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not your typical "family," but love and perseverence makes it work., November 10, 2008
This review is from: The Boomerang Kid: A Novel (Hardcover)
Kai Ostryder is a 27 year old with bipolar disorder, functioning well enough on medication to find work as a custom trim carpenter. As the story opens, Kai leaves his boyfriend's home in the Outer Bank beach area of North Carolina, to return to his mother's home in Southern Florida, in order to deal with multiple issues, including a growing addiction to Oxycontin (which he obtained illegally from a girl he was seeing), general uncertainty about his life, and to reconcile the fact that, contrary to his earlier denials, his attachment to Robin would seem to indicate that he was indeed gay.
His mother, Maura, is a 51 year old advertising executive, who had Kai as a single parent, fathered by an immature surfer-hippie in North Carolina. She is trying to build a new life with her current live in boyfriend, Matt, a divorcee, who fathered the baby she is now carrying. When her ex calls to tell her Kai is heading down to her home, she has to deal with the conflicting feelings of motherly concern for her son as well as the fear that he could upset the direction she was taking her life without him. Kai is off his bipolar meds, causing severe mood swings between manic behavior and severe depression, and she has doubts as to whether she can help him get his life together, or if he will even allow her to do so. Ultimately, it is up to Kai, to set his priorities and direct his life in the path he wants it to follow.
Quinn is a master storyteller who creates dynamic, emotionally-rich characters who drive his stories, and this is no exception. His insight into the challenges facing bipolar individuals is extraordinary, as he takes us through Kai's mindset as he juggles his prescribed medications while weaning himself off his painkillers. Maura's reflections on Kai's situation are also revealing, as she carries a certain amount of guilt about Kai's genetic condition, and secretly worries that it might also afflict the baby she now carries. While the character studies were great, I did find the overall story a bit simplistic and predictable. Still, it is recommended, with four clearheaded stars out of five.
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