Review: "Really?"  "Really, really."
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 03 25, 2014
First of all, this is similar to "Tigers & Devils" by Shaun Kennedy, which is a brilliant book and a bit of a classic of m/m romance.  The plots, about a footballer who meets an arty wanker and the couple being stalked by paparazzi over the football player's coming out are remarkably similar.  Some elements in both are the 'us against the world', 'wags and waps', the falling out of bed scene, (that was from volume two of "Tigers And Devils", "Tigerland"), and there were more similarities.  I have no problem with that but you should read that book first.  It's quite witty.  This one is very strange.It's written in present tense in a narrator's voice that only represents one character.  Sort of like the author was channeling James Joyce.  Everything constantly repeats, phrases or even sentences, endlessly.  Here are some samples.  I could not make this stuff up."He shouldn't have to do this; they shouldn't have to do this, shouldn't constantly be at the centre of attention, having to slip outside just to breathe.  It shouldn't be like this."Or this, "He wants alcohol, a whole bottle of whiskey all to himself, and he wants Henry.  He wants Henry all to himself, too."Or, "When the noise echoes through the night, Ben is already running, running as if he spotted a gap between two defenders and the cross comes in just right, running like he's high of a game and nothing matters but this very moment."Oh, or this one... *coff*  "He's the only one, the only one - the only one who knows that he'd been Ben's first kiss, the first that counts, and that Ben's experience ends there."I mean, jeez...  Then Ben, the footballer, dithers  with indecision more than Hamlet and there are long stream-of-thought/agonizing with self-doubt diatribes rendered by the narrator.  I did enjoy the part in the middle of the book where the main characters go on a sailing trip to Corsica.  It was beautifully described as they swam in hidden coves, slept on the deck under the stars and picked up their breakfasts from small bakeries to carry back on board ship.That bit distracted me in my count, but characters or the narrator had used the slang term "Whatever." at least fifty times by that point.  It's a miracle this book didn't make my head explode.  So, "Really?"  Yeah.  Really, really.  ('Really' and 'whatever' usually go before any period at the end of a sentence in this book, really.)I am going to go take a Tylenol now.  Whatever.