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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gay teen love story, April 18, 2005
Mike is buff. Mike makes All-State in fast-pitch. When the gorgeous redhead, Xanadu shows up in the tiny Kansas town, Mike falls madly in love with her. But Mike -- aka Mary-Elizabeth -- Szabo is a girl.
Whether you're straight or gay, first love is painful. And Mike falls hard for the exotic beauty from the Denver suburbs with a troubled past. A friendship sparks between them immediately but Xanadu is straight. When she falls for Bailey, one of the local cowboys, Mike's emotions are turned inside out.
Dealing with her strong feelings for Xanadu stirs up emotions that Mike has buried for two years. Growing up, her dad filled her head with a big dream of a softball scholarship to college. But her dream died when he committed suicide. Mike watches her best friend, Jamie find romance with Shane and latches onto the new dream that her love for Xanadu will change her.
Meanwhile, her coach, Mrs. Kinneson, also the school principal, revives her big dream by tempting her with the promise of a slot at fast-pitch camp. But Mike doesn't have the money and she doesn't accept charity. When the townspeople take up a collection to send her to camp, Mike comes to terms with her own self worth.
Her dreams collide when Xanadu comes running to her when she falls out with Bailey. Mike believes this is her dream that's meant to come true.
"Far from Xanadu" is a witty and sensitive portrayal of a gay teen that cuts through all the differences between us to the single life experience that unites us -- first love.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Book, December 22, 2005
Mike is instantly lovable and heartbreakingly realistic. Her inner dialogs are not only believable, I couldn't get them out of my head. It was so refreshing to read a book about a gay teen that didn't have to worry about being teased and abused by peers as Mike and Jamie are both accepted and loved in thier home town Coalton. (although, a little too convinient)
There are many other things going on in this book besides Mike's love/angst for Xanadu. She is dealing with her morbidly obese mother who ignores her, her emotionally distant older brother, the lost family business, being the town softball champ, her father's suicide, and her friend Jamie's new cyber love. IMHO, the author tackles all of these issues well.
There is an internal element in this book that is often missing in teen literature, adding depth and feeling that made the book stay with me.
The down-to-earth ending resolves much for Mike, but leaves some of her relationships up in the air, astonishingly like real life.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A novel about unrequited love and self-acceptance, June 8, 2005
Mighty Mike Szabo is a softball champion growing up in a small Kansas town. Mike works for the feed store, drives a truck, lifts weights, and when the beautiful and exotic Xanadu moves into town, Mike falls in love with her. The only problem is that Mike is a girl and Xanadu likes boys.
Julie Anne Peters, the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels for young people, has made her reputation writing about young people struggling with sex and gender identity. FAR FROM XANADU features the life and struggles of Mike Szabo, the only lesbian in a small Kansas town.
Contrary to the popular portrayal of small towns in the Midwest, Mike's neighbors have no problem with her sexual identity. They are a highly supportive, if somewhat traditional, community who are deeply committed to Mike and her future. It is Mike, herself, who struggles with what it means to be the only lesbian in town and in love with a girl who does not return her feelings.
Peters, a Denver author, has a deft touch with the Midwestern dialect. She writes about Coalton and its inhabitants with a deep knowledge and affection for the Midwest. Her descriptions and characterizations ring true. So does her refusal to simplify FAR FROM XANADU into a simple, issue-driven, teen novel.
At its simplest FAR FROM XANADU is about unrequited love and what happens when a person falls in love with someone just slightly out of reach. While Mike's sexual identity is a big part of the story, it is not the book's exclusive focus. The best parts of the novel feature Mike's friendships with her flamboyantly gay best friend Jamie, and with the devastating Xanadu. Instead of dwelling exclusively on the external pressures Mike faces, Peters writes about Mike's internal battle for self-acceptance. As Mike says, "I just wanted to get past wishing I'd been born different, to accepting that I was. Finding the joy in that."
--- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood
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