39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read this book!, May 18, 2009
This review is from: The Vast Fields of Ordinary (Hardcover)
This is definitely one of the best books I've read in long time. I couldn't put it down! Through the author's mesmerizing writing I could feel the sheer loneliness that Dade felt growing up in a midwestern town feeling isolated and out of place as he laid in his bed night confessing to his ceiling fan he is gay. Don't get me wrong, Dade never comes across as helpless or pitiful (maybe a little unsure of himself) instead you can see he is biding his time believing that there has to be more out there for him. His first attempt at reaching out is Pablo a boy he loves but who is using him to express physical feelings he can't even admit to himself. Although Pablo treats Dade horribly and is pretty much a jerk, I couldn't help feeling sorry for him as he desperately tried to deny who he really is.
A bright for spot for Dade is when he meets the neighbors niece who is staying for the summer. She is the first person who really pushes Dade to be himself and shows him he is actually a pretty great guy. I would hate to see this book get tagged as only a gay "coming out" book. It's a great read and comes a cross as one point of view of the thousands of teens out there who are just trying to figure out who they are, dealing with what life throws at them and wondering what life has in store for them.
Moderately sexual explicit scenes a long with drinking and drug use make this book appropriate for high school and above.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Revealing first novel, July 27, 2009
This review is from: The Vast Fields of Ordinary (Hardcover)
Nick Burd has written a terrific novel about a gay teenager from Iowa. "The Vast Fields of Ordinary" probes the depth of feelings of the main character, Dade Hamilton, and Burd comes up with a warm, troubling and accurate view of coming out.
While the book is timely for Dade's own generation it has ramifications for older generations as well. Being gay in America is still fraught with complications on many levels and those who think that recent easing of the public view of homosexuality makes life better, need to be reminded (as the author does for the reader) of the troubling internal and external aspects of leading a double life.
Although Dade comes out to his parents and friends without too much repercussion, Burd deftly explores Dade's relationship with Alex, his main love, and Pablo, his sometime companion. The Jenny Moore character serves as an unnecessary diversion to an otherwise brilliant narrative, but Dade's gay friendships are wonderfully presented and carry a good deal of literary weight. "The Vast Fields of Ordinary" is a compelling first novel by Nick Burd....I hope we read more from him.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Engaging, August 30, 2011
Dade Hamilton is about to finish High School and is looking forward to going to College and escaping the humdrum life of in the well to do suburban Cedarville. Living at the beck and call of his 'boyfriend' Pablo, a popular jock who barley tolerates his presence other than when they are alone, he longs for full recognition, or even just a real kiss.
Then Dade meets Alex Kinkaid, a beautiful, exotic and mysterious young man who shows Dade what a real relationship should be, and so changes Dade and his his expectations for ever.
However Pablo begins to miss Dade and becomes jealous of his relationship with Alex, ultimately with tragic consequences.
Helping Dade make his transformation is Lucy, the rebellious niece of a neighbour spending the summer in Cedarville, having been sent there by here parents in the hopes of taming here.
Along the way Dade also has to contend with his parents, loving but not always understanding, they have their own problems to confront. Dade has yet to come out to them and then face the consequences.
Running in the background throughout the story is the mystery of the disappearance of a young local girl, Jenny. While Jenny's disappearance and its outcome has not direct bearing on Dade's story, it serves as a symbolic parallel to Dade's maturation over the course of the summer, and the realisations he come to.
The Vast Fields of the Ordinary is an engaging story; both Dade and Alex are appealing characters, and there is an array of supporting characters from arrogant bigots to the lost and confused. The real beauty of the story though is the transformation in Dade over the course of one summer, from an insecure boy accepting just what little is offered and trying to make the best of it to a positive young gay man confident in his own being.
Generally well written, it is spoilt a little by some confused grammar, especially in the use of pronouns.
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