Customer Reviews

The Secret Fruit of Peter Paddington: A Novel (P.S.)

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

 

 

After a slow start this book became one of the best I've ever read. A novel about an 8th grade, overweight boy in self-discovery with his special friends - the talking nipples.

This true comic find will touch your heart and for me - made reliving my teen years something I could laugh at finally!

I just love a book where the characters become so endearing you don't want it to end. This book is one of them. Would love to see what becomes of Peter after a few more years of living.

A ++

While I was never fat when I was middle school, and still was unsure of my sexuality, I do remember those times as a boat load of problems. I was never popular -and I don't think I ever belonged to any group. I guess I was geek, and did have a few friends that could've been called geeks. Anyway, in a lot of ways, I can see Peter Paddington in me and the people I hung around with. The book is a funny look at growing up in 1984 - a dark time for fashion and everything odd in suburbia. While Peter's mother is smothering, she is also a wry character who only wants the best for her three children. Dad is, as the sterotype must go, distant from his son. Maybe parents know early on about their gay children, and while author Francis says the book is not autobiographical in the complete sense, his struggles to be who he really is gives me that feeling that most is true, if only because I had the same sense as Peter about cooking, muiscals (Funny Girl Changed my life) and the a starnge attraction to sport guys. Francis touches on a lot of the things that made the 80's so silly, things I remember with a groan. But through it all Peter tries to make sense of his life and the wacky people that orbit his world. I look forward for more books by Brian Francis

This book had me laughing out loud on several ocasions. Witty, memorable, and great characters bring out a charm rarely realized in gay novels. Sidekick Daniela, the smart-mouthed Italian neighbor, makes the novel her own. Definately worth the purchase.

This book had me hunched over with laughter. It was as if David Sedaris wrote a fiction book about himself living in Canada as a fat teenager. So good!

There were a lot of interesting and humorous moments in this novel, but as soon as I finished it, I thought to myself .. 'that's it?' I felt sorely dissapointed by how abruptly it ended. There seemed to be some themes that escalated, then dropped off without warning.

I think the author is talented, but there's just something missing. I felt especially cheated that there was never a true resolution to the cherry nipples. If he were to write another book, though, I'd probably read it.