"(PINS) deals realistically with Joey's coming out to his family and dealing with the court, the media, guilt, school and his relationship with Dink. PINS has a lot going for it, not the least of which include a likable protagonist and raging teenage hormones. It's not so much a coming out story, but it is a great gay coming of age story that deserves a space on your bookshelf." --
Drew Wilson, Out Front Colorado"A heartfelt and touching story, unwaveringly authentic and compelling. His characters wrestle with each other, vividly, and also with larger issues of sexuality, faith and family." --
Michael Lowenthal The Same Embrace, Gay Men at the Millennium Editor, Flesh and the Word, Editor"A presciently written novel of athletics in small town America, a grippingly real account and a chilling reminder of how far we still have to travel." --
Felice Picano Like People in History, The Lure, Ambidextrous"In few cultural arenas is the thorny boundary between machismo and homophobia/philia crossed save in the most stereotyped fashion, Jim Provenzano's smart 'Sports Complex' column in the
Bay Area Reporter being one notable journalistic exception." --
Dennis Harvey San Francisco Bay GuardianPINS is a fast-paced and compelling tale focusing on wrestling in Provenzano's words, "the last bastion for boys who cannot stop playing around." --
The Record Courier, Dec. 16, 1999PINSq, stands for 'Person In Need of Supervision.' It's also jock talk, a catchphrase of high school wrestling, the team sport that has Provenzano's teenage boys watching their weight like fashion models. By the end of the book, "pins" means, more grimly, the pins through a young trauma victim's neck, holding it straight.
Holding adolescent bodies together is one of the subtler motifs that play across Provenzano's coming-of-age drama.
Wrestling's the ultimate gay sport. But queer love is complicated, especially for 15-year-old jocks. Not until Joey and Dink's involvement in the beating death of the wrestling team's designated "faggot" can the two boys touch each other in a way that highlights love rather than competition.
Provenzano has a swift and flexible style that cuts against sentiment and reveals, in moments of grace, something like true feeling. He's also funny. He has an ear for teenage banter, and he's tartly lyrical about Jersey towns, Italian families and homemade mix tapes with titles like GRAPPLE and AURGH. Most urgent, he shows how gay bashing is still an outlet for kids who grew up in the so-called gay '90s. -- John Weir, The Advocate, Dec. 6, 1999
Inspired by real incidents of gay bashing in New York in 1992, PINS is a brilliant piece of fiction. The plot is very complex with many layers, each well-developed and passionately expressed. The depiction of the wrestling team and the pecking order of that culture is only one of them.
Dino is the real hero, as he fights hard to protect his first-born son from harm. The layer of Joseph's family life is real and sensitive. There are caricatures of coaches, jocks, reporters, and nosy neighborsall realistic to a fault.
The writing style is fresh and adds to the reader's experience; set up in three parts, with the protagonist's name changing in each part: Joey, Joseph, Joe. Provenzano is clever. In part two, for example, the twentieth chapter, "20/20" is actually a powerful critique of the media.
Readers will be proud of Joey Nicci, of his father Dino and even of Dink. No sensitive reader will make it to the end without giggling, anxiety, joy and tears. You'll be grateful to Jim Provenzano for sharing his novel with us. -- Eric Resnick, Gay People's Chronicle, Dec. 23, 1999
Jim Provenzano's debut novel finds love in an unlikely corner. PINS records a fumbling, tentative passion between 15-year-old Joey "Neech" Nicci and Donald "Dink" Khors, teammates on a wrestling squad in suburban New Jersey. PINS manages to break new ground by exploring the clannish, conflicted homoeroticism of wrestling culture.
Provenzano clearly loves their obsessive, sweaty world. Joey knows he's found a home within the practice room's "warm padded cell, moist, guy-scented, soft on the floor, walls, the last bastion for boys who cannot stop playing around." But his place on the wrestling circuit is far from comfortable or secure. Joey finds himself forced to take part in homophobic attacks on his team's weakest member. The hypocrisy demanded of Joey ultimately lead to devastating consequences.
While PINS does occasionally have the earnest feel of advocacy journalism, it stops short of becoming a public service announcement about gay teens and self-esteem. Provenzano avoids solemnity by tilting gently at the tacky clutter of adolescence. In the end, Joey's no saint; he's just a decent kid who loves his friend and who gets aroused watching "Who's the Boss?" reruns. -- John Perry, San Francisco Chronicle, Jan 14, 2000
With PINS, Provenzano tackles the homophobia in athletics. -- Mansfield News Journal, Dec. 12, 1999
