Dream Boy: A Novel

by Jim Grimsley

Hardcover, 1995

Status

Available

Call number

PS3557.R4949 D74 1995

Genres

Collection

Dennis R. Neill Equality Center

Publication

Algonquin Books (1995), Edition: 1st, 195 pages

Description

Fiction. Literature. LGBTQIA+ (Fiction.) HTML: ALA Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual Book Award. DREAM BOY confirms the immense promise of Jim Grimsley's award-winning debut, WINTER BIRDS. In his electrifying novel, adolescent gay love, violence, and the spirituality of old-time religion are combined through the alchemy of Grimsley's vision into a powerfully suspenseful story of escape and redemption. "I've never read a novel remotely like DREAM BOY; and my admiration for Jim Grimsley's power is widened and deepened."--Reynolds Price; "Translucent prose and emotional authenticity."--Out. A QUALITY PAPERBACK BOOK CLUB SELECTION..

User reviews

LibraryThing member blakefraina

For me, along with Marilyne Robinson's "Housekeeping," this book is the most beautifully written, heartfelt I have ever read. My reaction was so similar to other reviewers who posted here, I don't know if I have anything new to add. However, I feel so strongly about this book that I am compelled to

contribute my opinion anyway. I, too, read "Dream Boy" in one sitting and, upon finishing, felt bereft, devastated for days afterward. The book's power derives not merely from the fairly simple, straightforward story, but from the writing itself which is positively transcendent. Mr. Grimsley works magic, at once exercising incredible brevity while achieving a kind of quiet poetry with his carefully chosen words. A boy's body, arching toward his lover, is described as a "curve of yearning," and at their first touch, the other boy, "...makes one sound, throaty and startled, like an animal giving a single warning." Spare, sensual, erotic, yet strangely disquieting.

Grimsley manages to create an aura of wonderment, joy even, in the boys' sexual discovery while at the same time running an undercurrent of dread through the entire slim volume, foreshadowing the book's heartwrenching climax. Interestingly, although I suspect most people misinterpreted or simply missed this, Grimsley provides several clues strongly suggesting that it's jealousy, not homophopia that precipitates the story's inevitable, horrifying tragedy. The final nine chapters, some as brief as half a page, present a spiritual, open ended denouement that offers a whisper of hope for those of us still haunted and despairing.

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LibraryThing member lycomayflower

I enjoyed this story of two teenaged boys falling in love in rural North Carolina in the 60s. The boys' feelings for each other were convincingly and tenderly rendered on the page, and the setting did much to illustrate how these characters are. I did find the pacing a bit off, with the back third

seeming to take the story places the front thirds didn't prepare me for. I expected not to get out of the story without violence, and that expectation was met. But nothing in the early chapters suggested or led up to the ambiguous, half-mystical ending. I'm okay with coming out of a novel with questions, but only if the questions are useful. The questions I'm left with at the end of [Dream Boy] just make me think Grimsley didn't quite do his job. Three stars for plot/structure. Five for writing/characterization. Gets you four in my math class.

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LibraryThing member sandburg

This book is really good and beautifully written. It's very sad and heartbreaking but there is also hope. But the last chapters are too short and confusing. I had to read them a second time to fully understand the end.

LibraryThing member mochap

heartbreaking coming of age love story about two farm boys--painful and beautiful. Could have been the inspiration for Brokeback Mountain.

LibraryThing member BinnieBee

Wow. This one was so many different things: sweet, innocent, sad, tragic and touching. It will stay with me a long time. I really enjoyed reading the book but it is disturbing.

LibraryThing member Charlotte_Kinzie

The first half of this boom was quite remarkable. It’s a simple and stunning portrait of a young man trying to escape abuse at home.

The second half left me feeling confused and disappointed. There is a violent assault in the second half ... it’s unclear whether it’s real or dreamed or even

who the perpetrator is. I felt as though the author was trying to hard to make the final pages of the book obscure.

Challenging subject matter to be sure.

I just wish the ending had been a little more revealing.

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LibraryThing member robfwalter

This book is so unlike anything I've read before that after finishing it I really had to wait twenty four hours before writing my review. It tells the story of a teenage boy who seeks to find respite from his abusive family life in a relationship with a boy who lives next door. The book

unselfconsciously passes through at least three genres in the process, meaning that the reader can never quite settle. It's not a challenging read, however, for two reasons. First, Jim Grimsley's prose is beautifully efficient; for pages on end he doesn't waste a word. Second, the characters, while also sparsely drawn, are human and relatable. As a reader I couldn't help but desperately want the best for the protagonist, Nathan, and hope that Roy could provide his redemption.

I'd highly recommend this unique little book and I'll be chasing up the rest of Jim Grimsley's work.

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