Customer Reviews

Rainbow Boys

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the best book I've read all year. Mr. Sanchez is truly a gifted writer and proved it with this debut work. I immediately fell in love with all three of his characters (okay, I mostly fell in love with Jason). The drama that Sanchez so beautifully built into this story had me teary-eyed at just about every other chapter. That's the kind of story I love the most: one that can make me feel exactly what the characters are feeling. What an amazing love story he portrayed, what with Jason struggling to come out, with Kyle trying his best to get Jason to love him, and Nelson trying to get Kyle to understand that he loves him. I'm so glad everything turned out on a positive note. In addition to the storyline, I really like Sanchez's writing style: the use of concise phrases, and some very witty ones as well, to convey a lot of information was right on target. I can't wait to read something else by this author.

Sanchez's novel chronicles three gay high school boys. One is out, proud, and totally a flamer. One, his best friend, is still in the closet. Another, with a steady girlfriend, has just come to the realization and is trying his best to understand - and hide, in a way, this new discovery.

Nelson is the flamer. With a trillion earrings, crazy hair, and a love for fashion, he sees no need to keep his secret. He's been out and has many friends and people who like him despite this. And why isn't he likeable? He's a loyal friend, a wonderful listener, and can provide his best friend, Kyle, with good advice and a shoulder to cry on.

Kyle is gay but has yet to announce it to the world. Nonetheless, he's known the truth since an early age. People do expect he is a homosexual because he always hangs around with Nelson. Their friendship is incredibly strong. Kyle's parents are loving and supportive - at first only his mother seems to be, but his father does eventually come around once Kyle gives them the news. Nelson wants to be more than just friends but Kyle only has eyes for Jason.

Jason is a jock with a beautiful girlfriend named Debra. They've been going steady for two years and even have had sex. So he can't be gay, can he? Well...he tries, like some may, to deny and supress the thought, tries to dismiss it from his mind. But when he makes love to Debra, he pictures men. He dreams of naked men. He thinks of Kyle. With an alcoholic father who constantly calls him weak, home life is sometimes an obstacle. It is difficult for Jason to muster the courage to tell Debra but when he does, her reaction is normal. After all, she does love him.

Sanchez's novel is real. When the two boys finally come out of the closet, family and friend reactions are totally understandable, apt to happen in those situations. Sanchez's ability to convey character depth and meaning are incredible and make this novel what it is. You'll enjoy this book whether you happen to be straight, gay, or bisexual. And, to be frank, it really opened my eyes. Although I choose to be straight, it helped me realize that love between same sexes can be just as real, just as true. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.

Sanchez's debut novel features three guys in high school as each deals with being gay, coming out, and other personal problems. Nelson is totally out at school and is often targeted for harassment from some of the students. His mom is in PFLAG, so his home life is okay, but Nelson can't tell his best friend Kyle how he truly feels for him. Kyle is slowly coming out of the closet, but the process is forced to speed up after his mom finds a porn magazine in his room. Luckily, his parents work toward being supportive of him. Kyle has always had a crush on Jason, one of the popular jocks at school. Jason has been dating the same girl for two years, and yet he's had these feelings for other guys. When he enlists Kyle to help him with schoolwork, Jason struggles to deal with what he's feeling for another guy, as well as dealing with an alcoholic father at home. This book is entirely filled with sappy and wish-fulfilling events and interactions that lend it an almost overly-sweet feel. Yet it's also entirely delightful. Reading "Rainbow Boys" is like looking back on high school and imagining the things that could have happened, all through rose-colored glasses. While the characters and the story do lack a certain depth, the book overall entertains and gives a hopeful glimpse into the future of high schools.

When I looked at the cover for this book, I almost wrote it off as fluff. After all, there are three "pretty boys" on the cover, and frankly, that type of cover doesn't shout: "GREAT LITERATURE!" I'm glad I looked at the back of the book because I saw that it was indeed literature to be taken seriously, as it had received some rather impressive accolades. Given that, I decided to give it a shot.

I'm glad I did.

The author achieved something in this book that's difficult for even the most seasoned writers to do: he wrote from three different points-of-view, gave each character a distinctive voice, as well as unique personalities, with different problems and obstacles to overcome.

I thought at first that Kyle and Jason would be very similar people. The back of the book identifies Jason as a "jock" and Kyle as a "swim team star". Those descriptions aren't terribly far apart. However, "jock" carries with it a different stigma than does "swim team star", and Jason and Kyle are definitely very different people.

The author made an excellent choice starting the book from Jason's perspective. Kyle and Nelson were vastly more comfortable with their sexuality, so to start the book from one of their perspectives would have been to begin the story with little to no tension. In order to hook a reader, an author needs to introduce tension immediately. Jason was the most conflicted of the three, so he was the logical and perfect choice.

The author also did a tremendous job in that first chapter introducing us to all of the main players and probably plot lines. Beginning with Jason walking around the block three times while contemplating entering the brownstone where the "gay" meeting would take place, he then stepped back briefly and showed us the thought process that brought Jason to that point. He had called a gay hotline for youths three times, and we aren't privy to those conversations, unfortunately. Personally, I would have liked to know the type of questions Jason was asking. However, we are immediately introduced to Jason's thought processes, so it's easy to surmise what he may have asked. He imagined a room of "queers", with him in it, trying to imagine himself fitting into that group. The immediate picture he had was that of Nelson, who was the so-called type of homosexual that even a blind and deaf dog would know is gay. He knew that he wasn't like Nelson, he thought about his girlfriend of two years, but couldn't understand why he had intense dreams of naked men. Finally he decides to enter the brownstone, where the meeting is being held, and finds two other boys from his high school: Nelson and Kyle. Nelson was no surprise to him, but Kyle was. Kyle was not your so-called typical "queer", easily recognizable. Kyle seemed "normal". This threw Jason for a loop. So, to cut to the chase, a few things happened, and Jason went running from the room.

Nelson and Kyle both came to life in this chapter with very strong presences. Nelson was exactly as Jason expected - a flaming queen - and Kyle demonstrated sweet, kind gentleness, and we learn immediately in the next chapter that he had been infatuated with Jason for quite some time. (That's the only slightly unbelievable part of the book - that the guy Kyle's completely bonkers for walks into the meeting, and then they...well...read the book.)

I spent a lot of time talking about that first chapter because it's probably the most important chapter in the book. Everything is laid out very neatly. We know what to expect from Jason, Nelson, and Kyle.

What transpires throughout the rest of the book is touching and extraordinary. Kyle is in love with Jason. Nelson may or may not be in love with Kyle. Jason is in love with Debra, but he can't shake his interest in men and, especially, his blossoming interest in Kyle.

As with any book that deals with gay teenage issues, there are coming out scenes. It certainly isn't necessary in the case of Nelson, as I suspect he came out to his Mom when he was born. Kyle comes out to his parents, with mixed but very believable results. His mother went through very typical responses, his father was typically distant (although sometimes it's the reverse...every situation is different). Jason's family is very dissimilar to Kyle's. He has an alcoholic father and an enabling mother, and the father reacted violently when Jason came out. That was one of my favorite scenes in the book. I won't say why, in case someone is reading this and hasn't read the book.

I don't like to go through plot descriptions in reviews, because too often, even if you're careful, you give things away that could ruin it for the reader. So I'll leave it at this: Rainbow Boys is an exceptional book with believable, unique characters, all of whom are sympathetic. It's difficult to imagine someone reading this - gay or straight (if they're straight and have an open mind) - and not enjoying this book, both for the wonderful intricate story, and the author's laudable telling of the story through three distinct voices.

And if you're a gay teenager, this book should shine bright rays of hope into your life. I certainly hope that it does, because the highest percentage of teens who commit suicide are gay teens. This is exactly the type of book that should be mandatory reading for any gay teen.

As a matter of fact, it wouldn't hurt parents of gay teens to read this book either. Frankly, as I think about it, it should be mandatory reading for them as well. This book does an excellent job of displaying different "levels" of homosexuality (yes, specifically male homosexuality, but it's easy to make the references to lesbians).

Also laudable are information and references in the back of the book for: Organizing a Peer Group; Violence and Hate Crimes against Gays and Lesbians; Human Rights Campaign; Teen Sexuality, Advocates for Youth; Gay and Lesbian Teen Suicides; Gay and Lesbian Teen Services on the Internet; Youth Advocacy; and Youth Activism.

You will enjoy this book. I read it in one delightful sitting on a rainy evening. The characters came to life, aroused me at times, made me almost cry a couple times as I thought of some of my own really awful experiences coming out in high school, but brought me right back to the triumphs of surviving high school and those experiences.

This reviewer only gives the book 4 stars because the author tries SO hard at times to make the book self-help for teens when it could have just been an absolutely wonderful on its own. Do not let this deter you from reading it or recommending it to any teenager - it is great and informative, and the last few pages offer resources for teens. Maybe I should've just given it 5 stars and let it go, but the self-help angle takes away from the integrity and flow of the story from time to time.

Alex Sanchez has written a book that is a real page turner. This has to become an insightful and compelling, dramady series on television. It is serious and humorous in the same way that all of our lives reveal themselves to us.

The plot and characters live in the complex culture of American adolscence with all of its usual challenges of family, friends, and future decisions about college and life choices. Jason, Kyle and Nelson have the added challenge of uncovering that they are gay in a primarily straight world.

As a former high school teacher I could relate to all of the "usual" challenges of students. As a straight person I had never had the privilidge of being invited to examine the angst and strenght that young people experience in coming to terms with their gayness during these already quizzicale years.

Mr. Sanchez writes about the tender affections and great concern of the boys parents for their sons, so touchingly. He shows the struggle for acceptance from self and school friends with great diginity. And he walks us so honestly through the interior lives of the main characters and the supporting cast with the solemnity and humor that breathes life into the page.

This novel presents us with a slice of life that is real in many families. It shows us that it is time that we all work on learning much more about all life choices in order to understand and love each other more as the complex human beings that we truly are. Bravo and thank you, Mr. Sanchez. I look forward to your next novel with great anticipation.

I wish I were 16 again so I could read this book as part of my coming out process. However, I'm sure there are many kids out there today who are just like I was -- living in isolated areas with no openly gay, positive role models. "Rainbow Boys" is just in time for them: It offers a realistic portrayal of normal kids (who happen to be gay) facing the joys and heartaches of adolescence. It says to gay teens, "You're not a freak, and you're not alone."

For those of us old enough to be these characters' fathers, the book offers an inspiring view of youth. These are kids we'd like to meet, endearing characters who find the courage to be themselves and take responsibility for their own lives. There's a lesson here that we can all learn from, whatever our ages.

Well, someone has to do it- I must confess that I am rather perplexed that this book has not received more (read: any) negative reviews. 'Rainbow Boys' gained some notoriety among my friends as "the book in which depantsed was used in a *serious* context", however upon reading this "masterpiece" I found the the novel's problems ran far deeper than simple failed attempts at "Shakespearian wordsmithing".

I have a saying about this book whenever people ask me if it's any good. It goes something like this: "Rainbow Boys was so bad that it made me hate gay people." This, of course, is hyperbole, but it is difficult for me to express everything that is miserably misguided and wrong about this novel in less than twenty words without verbally composing a senior thesis. But I'll try:

My first impression of the prose was that it... under-developed. If I were in a generous mood, I would compare Alex Sanchez's writing to that of the kids who won the regional library writing contests when I was in sixth grade- I mean, it's *readable* as in there are full sentences and the descriptions are sort of coherent. But perhaps I am being unfair. I have certain benefits in life that Mr. Sanchez obviously has not:

- I have met actual gay people.
- I have met actual people.

Look, I'll be frank here: the real problem with 'Rainbow Boys' is not that it is badly written- although, let me reiterate, it is *very* badly written- it's that it purports to be an "educational" book dedicated to helping gay youths come to terms with their sexuality and helping straight youth come to understand their not-so-straight peers. Unfortunately, the book falls into a number of icky and damaging cliches and falls into them *hard*.

1. First and foremost, the father figures in the book are, without exception, portrayed as macho, over-bearing and incapable of understanding their sons' predicament while the mothers are always quick to keep the bond with their child. This is a book to help young, gay youth come to terms with the troubling events in their life? The subtext here is that a gay, male child will inherently relate better to the feminine aspect of their upbringing no matter their relationship to their father previous to their coming out. What message is this sending to gay youth who may be struggling with their father? Furthermore, is the author trying to say that gay men actually *are* closer to the feminine regardless of their upbringing or personality? My, my, that seems like an ugly bit of *stereotyping* on your part, Mr. Sanchez.

2. While it is certainly true that some gay youth do not realize that they are gay until late in their teen years, when Mr. Sanchez goes into excruciating detail about how much a character loves his girlfriend and enjoys sex with her and has never in his entire life thought sexually about men until he meets a gay boy of the appropriate age bracket... well, let me just say that I was not convinced. Maybe Mr. Sanchez was attempting to illustrate that Jason was desperately trying to convince *himself* he was straight, but the story does not read that way.

How the story reads is this: either you are completely straight or you are completely gay. Jason is attracted to Kyle so he can no longer be attracted to his girlfriend even though their relationship was perfectly healthy before. Bisexual youth struggle as well. Maybe theirs is a struggle Mr. Sanchez doesn't "admire" since they can theoretically "pass" in normal society by "choosing" to behave straight. Maybe he perceives them as having the "choice" ignorant people accuse homosexuals of having. I'll never know because Sanchez dismissed their existence entirely in 'Rainbow Boys': there is no in-between to him. If he wants to continue writing about social-sexual politics, he would do good to learn that sexuality is a spectrum, not a dichotomy.

3. Since Mr. Sanchez has never met an actual person, I was thinking maybe of giving him a free pass for his gross misrepresentation of eating disorders. Very few people who HAVE engaged in actual social interaction understand eating disorders as it is. In fact, many people who have known those afflicted with eating disorders fail to understand it completely. So instead of admonishing him on this point, I'll give him a few tips:

- While not traditionally considered mental illnesses, eating disorders tend to be coupled with abnormal psychology.
- Eating Disorders are a compulsive behaviour that lasts for a prolonged period of time. It is difficult to break the cycle and many sufferers take twice as long to recover as they did fasting.
- Eating Disorders are about control and mediating your identity. So yes, while it is conceivable that a gay youth might develop an eating disorder, it is an issue that you must treat sensitively. An example of an insensitive way to portray an eating disorder would be the following situation:

"Boy is depressed and eats a whole bag of Oreo cookies and then promptly throws them up. He declares that he has an eating disorder, but quickly quits when he is less depressed."

4. Token Lesbians. That's all I really have to say about them because that's all they really were.

5. Morning. After. Pill. For. AIDS. While this *does* exist, it is a problematic treatment which the effectiveness of is still in question. Mr. Sanchez, however, disregarded this because he was eager to offer his character an easy way out.

6. While this isn't a cliche, there is a great deal of hypocrisy present in the key relationship in the book. While the authority figures in the novel make a great to-do about "waiting" until you're ready for sex and "taking things slow", Jason and Kyle go on a grand total of *one date* before hopping in bed (they've formally known each other, what, a week tops?). Wait! this is a cliche, or rather, a harmful stereotype: being gay is so much about sex, those silly, promiscuous "homos" can't wait until they jump into bed! Yeah, yeah: I know they're teenagers, but seriously- Jason is recently out of a long-term relationship and barely out of the closet. If 'Rainbow Boys' wants to promote responsible sexual practices, then it should make sure to tell youth- gay and straight alike- that it takes more than a condom to make sex between confused teenagers responsible.

In conclusion, this book is an empty, soulless, poorly-written shill of a novel that sends a myriad of negative messages about gay culture to young people. The end.

Alex Sanchez's witty, realistic, and provocative look at gay teen sexuality is a definite winner!
The story follows the lives of three teenage boys during their final year of high school. Jason Carillo, "ultrajock" and Mr. Popularity has a girlfriend, and they've even had sex, so why does he sometimes think of other guys? Nelson Glassman is out and proud, a loud sarcastic mouth his only weakness against the gay bashers he confronts each and every day. And Kyle Meeks, Nelson's best friend, and lonely intellectual, harboring a secret crush on Jason since Freshman year.
In this fresh and startling novel, the experiences of the three intertwine and intersect, producing one of the best novels for gay teens in recent years. The book, however, resists being labeled as merely "gay fiction." This is a story of adolescence and high school, of love lost and love found. It is perhaps one of the most revealing glimpses of growing up, (gay or straight) that I've ever read.
And while dealing with such somber topics as HIV/AIDS, alcoholism, domestic violence/abuse, gay bashing, and ignorance and bigotry, Alex Sanchez never loses hope or lets the picture he paints become too bleak.
Inspirational and fun, quirky yet serious, Rainbow Boys won't soon be lost nor forgotten.

In my quest to read and make available in local schools the literature of diversity I purchased and read this book. Being a middle school teacher I read get to read a lot of adolescent literature and this is notable, not only for it's realistic treatment of the topic - love between teenage boys - but also quality of prose. Never trite and it doesn't attempt too hard to use the lingo of the generation - it reads real. The three primary characters are representative of kids i work with daily.