Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
Alyson Books (2007), Paperback, 288 pages
Description
Ben Reilly is given the rare chance to confront the bully who tormented him in high school. But when Ben and Terrence meet as adults, friendship blossoms - only to crash and burn as Ben's deep rooted need for vengeance rears its ugly head.
User reviews
LibraryThing member veevoxvoom
Told between the past and the present, A Push and a Shove is the story of Ben Reilly, a gay man who in high school was bullied viciously by another boy named Terrence. Yet at the same time Ben had a huge crush on Terrence, and this mixture of hate and love haunts Ben even when they become adults.
This was a compelling book about the connections people have whether they want to or not, and the endurance, good and bad, of these connections. I admire it because felt real, not only in its exploration of memory but also in its characters. Ben and Terrence are imperfect. Kelly never tries to excuse either man’s actions. They help each other and they hurt each other. This is a tale about obsession, I feel, and Ben is creepily obsessed with Terrence. Yet I also think it is a love story, scars and bad memories and all. It can’t end happily but is all the more gripping for it.
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Ten years after the fact, Ben tracks down Terrence. To his surprise, they become friends. But their history remains between them like an uneasy, dark undercurrent and Ben can never forget.This was a compelling book about the connections people have whether they want to or not, and the endurance, good and bad, of these connections. I admire it because felt real, not only in its exploration of memory but also in its characters. Ben and Terrence are imperfect. Kelly never tries to excuse either man’s actions. They help each other and they hurt each other. This is a tale about obsession, I feel, and Ben is creepily obsessed with Terrence. Yet I also think it is a love story, scars and bad memories and all. It can’t end happily but is all the more gripping for it.
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LibraryThing member bookmaven404
Hummm...Difficult to characterize my feelings about this book, which is literally finished reading 15 minutes ago. My reaction is two-fold. The unreclaimed teenager, who was bullied in high school in much the same say that Benjamin was by Terrence was all to ready for revenge to be exacted. Through
The second half of my reaction was the soothing feeling that--as I've grown, older and more spiritual--that I have less urge to exact revenge than I did when I was younger. Perhaps one of the lessons we learn as we grow older is that, to be a "creature of faith" doesn't mean that we have to be present when God levels the playing field.
And I'll close by including a favorite quotation from the book: "I realized that just as every successful life is defined by one or two good decisions, every unsuccessful life is defined by one or two bad decisions." There's insight there. Think about your own life.....
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the book's middle section, I felt a critical disconnect as Ben fell once again under Terrence's thrall. Do we NEVER learn the lessons of the universe? Are we, as Harville Hendrix would have it, bound forever by the imagos that formed our early emotional relationships? Such would seem to be the case here. For Kelly, it's only through violence that we are able to slip the ironclad grasp the imago and try to heal.The second half of my reaction was the soothing feeling that--as I've grown, older and more spiritual--that I have less urge to exact revenge than I did when I was younger. Perhaps one of the lessons we learn as we grow older is that, to be a "creature of faith" doesn't mean that we have to be present when God levels the playing field.
And I'll close by including a favorite quotation from the book: "I realized that just as every successful life is defined by one or two good decisions, every unsuccessful life is defined by one or two bad decisions." There's insight there. Think about your own life.....
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LibraryThing member blakefraina
Christopher Kelly’s A Push and a Shove is my favorite kind of novel. One with a multi-faceted and difficult gay protagonist, a complex plot and a universal theme. In other words, this is not a “gay” novel by the classic definition, but a dark, sophisticated story that just happens to have a
That protagonist [and narrator] Ben Reilly, is a young man from a Staten Island family shattered by the early death of his older sister. Brought up to be timid and mistrustful, Ben is an easy target for Terrence O'Connell, the high school bully, on whom he harbors a secret crush. After graduation, Ben remains in S.I. to become a junior high teacher while Terrence goes on to Yale, a successful career in Manhattan as a staff writer for GQ and a soon to be released novel being shopped around Hollywood. An incident of violence at Ben’s school brings back painful memories for him, prompting him to seek revenge on his old nemesis. But the warm and attractive man he encounters in adulthood is a far cry from the cruel boy he remembers.
This is a captivating piece of storytelling that was very hard to put down. It’s a bit like a thriller, designed to leave the reader on edge, guessing what will happen next. But it's also a character study and, in many ways, it mimics the set-up of a typical Z-Grade gay romance. You know the type, the closeted homosexual bully who targets the effeminate school geek because he can’t act on his latent desire. But this is no romance. And despite my growing certainty that this wasn’t going to end well, I couldn't help but root for Ben and Terrence to get together once they’ve re-connected as adults. But Kelly is a much too ambitious writer to settle for something so artless as that.
Thank goodness.
This is a psychological examination of self-perception and self-deception. Just when the reader's sympathies lie wholly with Ben, Kelly turns the tables so that the reader questions his reliability as a narrator. Ben is an impressive and complicated creation. His ego has been totally hobbled by his parents, who have been so devastated by the loss of their oldest child that they manage to be completely overbearing yet emotionally withholding at the same time. Physically, Ben is never described, so the reader pictures him as he sees himself - small, weak and ineffectual. It’s not until very late in the story, when the pivotal high school episode between them is recounted, through Terrence's point of view, that a different picture emerges. Of both Ben and the incident itself.
This book is devilishly clever. It would make a wonderful film. If you're looking for a break from overly simplistic “good vs. evil” stories or have had your fill of predictable HEA LGBT romance, please give this one a go. You’ll thank me.
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gay character in the lead role.That protagonist [and narrator] Ben Reilly, is a young man from a Staten Island family shattered by the early death of his older sister. Brought up to be timid and mistrustful, Ben is an easy target for Terrence O'Connell, the high school bully, on whom he harbors a secret crush. After graduation, Ben remains in S.I. to become a junior high teacher while Terrence goes on to Yale, a successful career in Manhattan as a staff writer for GQ and a soon to be released novel being shopped around Hollywood. An incident of violence at Ben’s school brings back painful memories for him, prompting him to seek revenge on his old nemesis. But the warm and attractive man he encounters in adulthood is a far cry from the cruel boy he remembers.
This is a captivating piece of storytelling that was very hard to put down. It’s a bit like a thriller, designed to leave the reader on edge, guessing what will happen next. But it's also a character study and, in many ways, it mimics the set-up of a typical Z-Grade gay romance. You know the type, the closeted homosexual bully who targets the effeminate school geek because he can’t act on his latent desire. But this is no romance. And despite my growing certainty that this wasn’t going to end well, I couldn't help but root for Ben and Terrence to get together once they’ve re-connected as adults. But Kelly is a much too ambitious writer to settle for something so artless as that.
Thank goodness.
This is a psychological examination of self-perception and self-deception. Just when the reader's sympathies lie wholly with Ben, Kelly turns the tables so that the reader questions his reliability as a narrator. Ben is an impressive and complicated creation. His ego has been totally hobbled by his parents, who have been so devastated by the loss of their oldest child that they manage to be completely overbearing yet emotionally withholding at the same time. Physically, Ben is never described, so the reader pictures him as he sees himself - small, weak and ineffectual. It’s not until very late in the story, when the pivotal high school episode between them is recounted, through Terrence's point of view, that a different picture emerges. Of both Ben and the incident itself.
This book is devilishly clever. It would make a wonderful film. If you're looking for a break from overly simplistic “good vs. evil” stories or have had your fill of predictable HEA LGBT romance, please give this one a go. You’ll thank me.
Show Less
Awards
Lambda Literary Award (Winner — 2007)
Language
Physical description
288 p.; 8.3 inches
ISBN
1593500483 / 9781593500481
Local notes
OCLC - 281