Customer Reviews

Metes and Bounds: A Novel (Southern Tier)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Whether you are planning a summer retreat to the beach or just dreaming of one, Metes and Bounds by Jay Quinn would be an excellent cabana companion.

The summer before his graduation, Matt, a cute country boy in North Carolina, reconnects with Tiger, his uncle just eight years older, at Matt's grandma's death. Tiger's mystique has haunted Matt for the ten years since Tiger left-since the time Matt spied him making out at the movies with a handsome Air Force officer. With adolescence, and a particularly strong attraction to his friend Jeep, a football player, there are things Matt wants to talk about, and he's pretty sure his uncle is the one he can confide in.

Matt tells his story, and his voice has the authentic ring of coming from the heart with all the contradictions, emotions, and enthusiasms of an eighteen year-old. After Matt graduates, his father, wanting to help his gay son find his place in life, arranges for him to live with Tiger at Nag's Head, where his uncle teaches him surveying. Off work, Tiger introduces him to beach life and surfing, which becomes his passion. It's a laid-back life, and with his uncle and uncle's lover Mark as mentors, Matt-with considerable trial and error-takes the measure of his own metes and bounds and, discovering his own emotional parameters, becomes the man he has to be.

Metes and Bounds has no intricate plot or mystery; it's episodic-and that is not a fault, because it isn't about the story, it's about the young man telling it, a coming of age biographical novel. Though not propelled by surprises, it is filled with self-revelations about Matt's relationships to family, friends, and lovers. He's a real young man with dangerous and powerful lusts he gives himself up to, described in some of the most erotic scenes in contemporary gay literature. But he's a sweet kid too. Quinn draws his character skillfully, showing Matt's vulnerable and innocent nature in scenes when others use him and in situations when his fundamental goodness proves the quality of his character. Matt is neither saint nor sinner, but a wholly believable young guy whose jealousy, spite, curiosity, love, and compassion-indeed, the full range of human emotions-are what real boys are made of. The storms that rage within him are in stark contrast to the idyllic sun, sand, and surf of the novel's coastal setting.

Living with Tiger and Mark provides a stable and wholesome gay family environment where Matt is protected, understood, and valued. His ventures outside that matrix are not always any of those things, but they are the experiences through which a young man finds his way in the world. The contrast between the two worlds he moves in provides him just enough ballast to find his balance. With each mistake he becomes more sure-footed. Even romance, to his wondrous surprise, at last works out for Matt, and the promising happy ending is a perfect note on which to top your beach blanket holiday.

Matt, the narrator of this wonderful, heart wrenching book, is trying to find his way as a gay teenager in homophobic surroundings: his religious mother think's he's sinful; even his boyfriend, Chris, just thinks of him as his pretty boy. When Chris goes off to college, Matt, who cannot afford to do so, goes to live at the beach with Tiger (his 'black sheep' relative) and Mark, his lover. Tall, slender, and beautiful, Matt learns the surveying business (terms from which the book's title is derived) and how to surf, as he searches for sex and love. Mr. Quinn has a natural, easy ear for the soft southern dialect of North Carolina, and that of teenagers. His descriptions are cinematic, and there is much poetry, wisdom, and warmth tucked away in his magical, down-to-earth tale.

Matt's surfing becomes a metaphor for his life: he takes of lot of hits in learning the ropes but, once he finds his balance, it is a real high. Still, he is reminded that he must respect its power to destroy as well. He maintains, despite some battering and life-induced skepticism, his innocent dream of security and warmth, aided by the watchful Tiger and Mark. The strength and power of their union is a beacon. A new family takes shape as Mark and Tiger take in two more 'strays' to care for. When Matt finds Jeep, he learns that love has the power to heal, not just hurt. And the reader is treated to some of the sexiest, and most tender, love making in literature.

Metes and Bounds is ultimately about families. Not the kind church and state preach, but those formed by acts of love.

There's a lot of coming-of-age stories being written today but many of them are not told in a very positive light. Most are told in a negative way with suffering, lost of friends & family, and rejection by peers. The young gay person finds himself usually moving to the big city, where he can find acceptance with other urban gay men. He no longer feels wanted in his small hometown. I was excited about Jay Quinn's debut novel because it tells the story of a young man, Matt, discovery he is gay and being accepted in an intelligent & positive way by the people who have always loved him before his coming out. More and more young people today are discovering their sexually at a younger age than ever before. It would be nice if all young people could be accepted like Matt is in this story.

Matt, the story's narrator, is an 18 year old from a small town by the coast in North Carolina. He's just graduated from High School and is not too sure what he's going to make of his life yet. So he goes to live with his gay Uncle Tiger and his lover, Mark, a pilot, at their house by the shore. He plans to work for Uncle Tiger's surveying business for a year and earn some money for his college education. Mark's son, Shane, who is straight, also lives with them. Matt finds total acceptance in his new all male family. He learns how to surf & finds great pleasure in his new sport. He goes to his first gay bar and has his first sexual experiences. All of his sexual experiences are written in a beautiful, exciting, loving & intensely erotic way.

If you're not from the South it may take a little while to get use to some of the Southern manners of speech. I believe this makes the story more authentic and totally realistic. It's great to read a book from a Southern gay perspective for a change. I think Jay Quinn with this debut novel, "Metes and Bounds" has proven himself to be one of the best new talented & engaging writers out there today. I certainly enjoyed his other two books, "The Mentor", a memoir and "Rebel Yell", a collection of stories by various Southern authors. I eagerly await his future endeavors. Make sure this book is on the top of your "To be Read list." A truly enjoyable read!

I have rarely been one to read books about subjects that don't outright interest me. I had heard this book had a lot to do with surfing, so being an inlander (mid-MO), I was neither familiar with or interested in surfing.

But I read it anyway. I'm always willing to give things at least one try.

What I found was a moving and remarkably honest story about a young gay man named Matt. What threw me for a loop was the abundant lack of clichés within the pages. Nothing was romanticized. People made real mistakes and had real successes.

Halfway through, I had expected to give this book 4 stars because some of it feels redundant and some of the chronology is confusing. But I bumped it back up to 5 stars by the time I reached the last page. So much of what Mr. Quinn writes is beautiful and moving. It wasn't one of those tear-jerk novels, either (although it was in some places). Instead, it reached to places that no book I've ever read ever has. I felt what Matt felt and even what others felt.

This book is beautiful, calming, and a wonderful read. I recommend it highly to anyone.

Jay Quinn's novel was superb, I could not put it down. Eventhough I have never surfed in my life, I feel that I can catch a "gnarly wave" now. This is a story about a young man named Matt who is adjusting to his life as a gay male. He is very fortunate because he is living with a role model - a "cousin" Tiger and his lover. Quinn uses the beach and surfing as a backdrop to the young man coming to grips with his homosexuality and who is learning to deal with his wants. Quinn does a masterful job in bringing Matt to places he doesn't want to be but must face in order to grow up and become a mature individual. There are plenty of anolgies and metaphors about life in this novel. Everyone who reads this will learn something. Bravo, Mr. Quinn - I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This book relates a moderately interesting coming-of-age and "coming out" story about a gay teen surfer. Careless proofreading resulted in sometimes distracting typographical errors. The author's decision to follow the currently trendy route of jumping around between different time periods in the story without any transition leads to an occasionally bumpy ride, but by the middle of the book one becomes adjusted to this device and it doesn't get in the way of following the story. Not bad for a first novel, but the author will undoubtedly pick up more polished technique as he writes more.

Jay Quinn should do his homework. He has an AIDS test that comes back very quickly and a doctor handing out AIDS brochures in 1983, two years before the test was approved by the FDA and long before a doctor in a small-town hospital would be knowledgeable about such things. In another scene he has a character play Miles Davis as an incredible example of outstanding jazz: yes, he's got the right artist, but the album mentioned, We Want Miles, did not exist yet, coming soon after his semiretirement from 1986-1991. (Plus it is just about the worst Miles ever recorded.) These two lacunae marred an otherwise entertaining, if only beach-quality, read. In your next book, Jay, abandon the flashback formula. It grates after the second or third time it is used.

I loved this book. How I wished I could have experienced such support dealing with coming out. The parents in this book were wonderful. Tiger was the greatest. I normally hate cold water on the beach, but I enjoyed spending time surfing with these guys. This was an enjoyable read. The explicit sex was exciting and in very good taste. It was put where it belonged to further the story. BUY THIS BOOK!

METES AND BOUNDS is the story of the young Matt who leaves home after high school and goes to live with his uncle Tiger and his lover Mark on the North Carolina shore. Mr. Quinn tells a good tale. In fact, he is a better storyteller than a writer although his prose is certainly adequate. He gets the Southern experience right-- with sweet tea, Pepsi and Aqua Velva; and rows are "hard to hoe." A toboggan is a cap worn in winter, something that few people outside the South have ever heard about; and coffee keeps kids from getting "wormy." Mr. Quinn is dead right-- no pun intended-- in the funeral home scene. Rural Southerners have traditionally been as attracted to funerals as truckers to country music. The author writes about surfing too with complete authority; Matt's surfing accident seems totally believable.

Although I find this story a tad too rosy-- is it possible that two adult men can live together with two male children under the age of 13 in a small coastal area of North Carolina in 1983 and not be run out of the county? Maybe not. I don't know. Certainly Mr. Quinn has a perfect right to see life in any color he chooses and doesn't have to have the dark world view of say a Jim Grimsley or Andrew Holleran. I can see a teenaged gay boy coming across this novel and being blown away. He would find the sex scenes, as Matt would say "totally awesome" and would take comfort in knowing that there is gay life outside the major Eastern cities and that people like him live in the small towns of the "red states." That alone makes this novel worth reading and a welcomed addition to "coming out" stories.

This novel stuck with me far longer than most, and made me shiver with recognition when I was reading it. Jay Quinn crafts characters with great skill and gives us people we can care about. The dialogue is stunning and rings true. For me, the occasional sex scene is entirely appropriate given the fact that the protagonist spends a lot of the time feeling horny. (This is one of the things that made the novel work for me. Maybe some readers are never horny, or have forgotten what it's like, but for some of us it's a pretty big issue! I totally understand how Matt is feeling in those sections.) I don't think the protagonist had it too easy. In my experience, it's realistic to have parents who both care about you AND give you a guilt trip over being gay. It's true that Matt deals with it in a self-assured way, but I view that as an admirable character trait. Even though I don't have a lot of time for reading, I definitely expect to re-read this novel down the road.