Peter [Paperback]

Kate Walker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 2001

Pressured by his peers and society to conform to the stereotyped macho image, fifteen-year-old Peter feels both confused and repelled. His confusion and his horror increase when he finds himself attracted to his brother’s best friend, David, who is gay. Here is a daring, exceptionally honest novel about sexuality and the need to be true to oneself. Peter shares his every muddle and perception with us, and his candor just might help us find our own way.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Reminiscent of Diana Wieler's Bad Boy , this initiation novel set in Australia convincingly describes a boy's confusion about sexuality and manhood. In order to be accepted by his peers--including a group of rough bikers--Peter, an honor student interested in photography, hides his sensitivity and his reluctance to have sex with a girl he does not love. The discomfort he feels playing the role of tough guy turns to panic when Peter finds himself drawn to David, a gay friend of his older brother. Matters become even more complicated when classmates start calling Peter a "poof" for refusing to break rules set by his mother. Many readers may be surprised by the chauvinistic attitude of Australian society as presented in this novel, and will have no trouble empathizing with Peter's emotional turmoil and ultimate victimization. Walker remains notably objective in her depiction of homosexuality, stressing that each person's attitudes and needs are different. At the end of this sensitively wrought book, Peter is still struggling with his identity; he has, however, learned to accept and respect himself as a growing individual. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up-- When readers first meet Peter Dawson, 15, his ambitions are simple: finish school, get a road license for his dirt bike, and find a job with cameras. But then he meets his older brother's friend David, and suddenly nothing is simple any longer. For David is gay and Peter gradually realizes that his strong attraction to the college student means that he, himself, might be gay. Set in Australia, Peter is a powerful and memorably universal novel of an adolescent's struggle to discover his sexual identity. In the land Down Under, as everywhere, it's an agonizing process. The society he inhabits defines sexuality only in terms of ignorant and mean-spirited stereotypes. If being gay is to be a "poof" (as his friends contemptuously put it) and a social outcast, being straight and socially acceptable means repeatedly engaging in dangerous feats of derring-do on your dirt bike and in urgent, impersonal sex with girls you hardly know. Fortunately for Peter, he finds, in David, not a stereotype, but a warm, caring individual. He also discovers that sexual identity is one of the most complexly ambiguous aspects of being human. Indeed, at the book's end Peter is still uncertain about his own sexuality, and at David's suggestion, he is prepared to give himself more time to make his own discoveries. In this first novel, Walker has created a wonderfully rich work of fiction filled with incidents that illuminate the difficult choices of her sympathetic and multidimensional characters. Not every troubled adolescent will have the good fortune of meeting a friend like David, but, with luck, many of them will find self-understanding and self-respect through reading wise and compassionate novels like this one. --Michael Cart, formerly at Beverly Hills Public Library
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper; None edition (April 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618111301
• ISBN-13: 978-0618111305
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #32 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Teens > Literature & Fiction > General

More About the Author

Hi, I'm Kate Walker.

I live in Australia and write books for Children & Young Adults. I've been writing since 1977 and I LOVE IT! Writing is the only thing I want to do when I get up in the morning. And I'd write all day long if I could. But sometimes you have to stop and cook a meal, scrub your socks, put out the garbage, that sort of thing.

I write all sorts of books. Picture books. Chapter books. Novels. Silly poetry. Deep & meaningful short stories. Non-fiction educational books. Call me fickle but I hate doing the same thing twice. I love the excitement of a totally new venture.

I never go looking for stories, they find me. Usually I'm reading something - the newspaper or someone else's story - and a single idea or a line of dialogue suddenly grabs me. Something about it resonates with something inside me. It's like my stories are asleep deep within, and as soon as I hear a line that's even faintly like one in a story of my own, the 'beast' begins to stir. Then slowly, ever so slowly, it wakes.

It's a good thing I like writing so much. I'm one of the slowest writers on the planet. It takes me an AGE to write anything. So it goes. Maybe as I get older, I'll get faster.

Though to watch me at work you wouldn't think I was speeding up. After 30+ years of writing I've found that the most important thing I can do, the most helpful practice I can observe when writing, is to start by sitting doing nothing for at least half an hour. In other words I meditate. I wouldn't think of writing a word without meditating first. If I didn't meditate, I couldn't write. Simple as that.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book, April 10, 2001

By 

Toby Sanders (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Peter (Paperback)

I was glad to see that "Peter" was back in print. When I first read it, I was very impressed. It explores coming out without sentimentality, gay bashing without getting too violent, and feelings without getting maudlin.

Peter Dawson is a typical boy. He likes dirt-biking, fast cars, and photography. (He has his own darkroom.) Then one day he notices that he is very attracted to his older brother's best friend. Only, his brother's best friend is gay. He begins to wonder what this says about him. He tries to get advice from a youth hotline. When he finds that there is no straight answer forthcoming, he tests himself by looking at pictures in a gay magazine. In short, he does everything that a boy, alone, without suport, can do to find out about himself. The only thing of which he is really sure is that he can't share his doubts with his parents or his friends.

The story is told with sensitivity and compassion. Kate Walker must have had a friend go through all of this. She captures the picture almost perfectly.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still great, a decade after its first publication, July 2, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Peter (Paperback)

One of the glories of Kate Walker's "Peter" is the distinctive, realistic voice of its 15-year-old narrator. Peter is every bit the teenaged firecracker, making the kind of observations that anyone who has ever been that age can relate to. There is humor and poignancy in his musings about others and their perceptions of him. It doesn't matter if you're from Australia, the U.S., or elsewhere -- this kid has the same wariness of adults, tussles with his older brother, and struggles over friendship, sex, and love. Those struggles come powerfully to the forefront as Peter gets to know David, the charismatic 20-year-old gay friend of his older brother.

American readers will have to adjust a bit to the Aussie references and lingo, but Walker's writing is such that even without firsthand experience with the particulars you know what she's referring to. Similarly with all the descriptions of dirtbike riding -- Walker's prose lets you smell the smoky exhaust and hear the high-pitched buzz of the engines as they strain to climb a steep hill. You don't need to be a rider yourself to get drawn into this well-imagined world.

The most important part of the book, of course, is the story it tells of Peter and his reaction to David. What starts as curiosity about what it means to be gay gradually grows into fascination and finally a keen, trembling infatuation. Peter's toughguy friends seem to sense that something is going on with him (or maybe he's just imagining that they do?), and his attempts to cope with all the confusion lead Peter into some awkward encounters with girls. Eventually he is on the outs with his longtime best friend and contemplating every kind of escape -- Should he become a priest? Run away? He attempts to disguise his vulnerability with posturing and fist-fights, but as he begins to accept at least the possibility that he and David might have something in common, he slowly comes to grips with who he is.

The last section of the book, where Peter tries to take control of the situation and approaches David to act on his attraction to him, packs a tremendous emotional wallop. By this point, events in the story have created dramatic tension on levels aside from the merely sexual. Wisely, rather than turn the scene into one based solely on physical desire, Walker makes it about what matters even more -- Peter's confusion, his sense of isolation, his desperate need for compassion, love, and understanding. His ultimate emotional breakthrough and David's reaction are very moving.

The resolution of the story has nothing to do with sexual goings-on, so a reader looking for that kind of payoff is going to be disappointed. I think that the ending is just what it needs to be. Peter's story is about self-discovery. He learns that he must accept who he is before he can have a truly meaningful connection with another person. The final pages of the book leave you knowing that what he shared with David has made them closer. David will remain in his life, for now only as a mentor, but we also realize that Peter hasn't given up entirely. He still might pursue something more when he has come of age.

Characterizations in the book are vivid all around -- Peter himself; his wanna-be toughie friends; his older brother Vince; his open-minded mom and close-minded dad; his best friend Tony and Tony's sister Sophie; and Mrs. Minslow, the family housekeeper whose nosey nature ultimately pushes events to the brink.

This book was originally published in 1991, yet is still timely. Like all good literature, it holds its own outside of time and geography. Very, very highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Touching and unique coming of age story, March 19, 2005

By 

Jonathan Appleseed - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Peter (Paperback)

Peter is a very well written book, is blunt, honest - almost painfully so - and NOT rife with typical stereotypes. It's not written in a high school setting where hormones are hopping out of everyone's garments. Instead, it takes place in the street, in the homes of the main characters, on the bike paths, and in Peter's head.

There was definitely a language barrier given the Aussie lingo. But it wasn't much of a holdup. You got the idea.

I did think that Peter's realizations about himself - after learning that his brother's friend David was a "poof" - came a bit too quickly. However, everyone comes to grips with their sexuality at their own pace. Sometimes the revelations don't even occur to a person until they're in their 20s, sometimes people know from birth. So it is entirely believable that Peter had absolutely no thoughts about boys whatsoever until he met David. Still, this is dubious, because let's face it, hormones are flying at an incomprehensible rate, so who was he fantasizing about? That topic is rarely discussed in gay teen literature. Perhaps it's thought of as too taboo.

However, once he started making the connection, his process was extremely believable. I particularly enjoyed the double dates he went on, and his rejection of Gloria. Walker's description of Gloria, for what it's worth, was spot on. David's support, when he hugged and held him, was truly a touching scene.

I loved that this book contained very, very few stereotypes. There was a slight overemphasis on the "masculinity" of bike riding and cars, but aside from that, I could find little fault.