- Paperback: 201 pages
- Publisher: Haworth Press; 1 edition (Jan 28 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1560231858
- ISBN-13: 978-1560231851
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 15 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #719,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"The beauty of his prose and the strength of his characters are apparent from the opening sentence. This book is a sheer joy to read." - Lambda Book Report; "Quinn has written a treasure: a novel with a whole landscape behind it." - Jim Grimsley, author of Dream Boy
Book Description
In this unusual coming-of-age novel, author Jay Quinn surveys the expanding emotional and sexual boundaries of Matt, an eighteen-year-old surfer in coastal North Carolina. Set against the broad skies and beaches of North Carolina's Outer Banks, Matt's story of claiming his place as a surfer and as a gay man in the small and large worlds of construction sites, fishing piers, and surf breaks, is a triumph of storytelling.
As Matt's dedication to surfing and learning the nuances of the technical aspects of his job join seamlessly, he also learns of his own capacity for erotic adventure and need for emotional connection. Matt's many layers of learning to be a man are the stuff of hard-earned experience and a textured reading experience that is rare in the coming-of-age genre.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Me and Tiger had a difference of opinion. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Me and Tiger had a difference of opinion. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Utopian dream.,
By "ydimant" (New York, NY, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Metes & Bounds (Paperback)
This is not a perfect book. However, it is a book of a certain idealism which defies anybody to not wish for its world for just a moment, for a day, for a lifetime. This story of a young surfing boy coming to terms with the world around him and the world inside him, is built upon a certain Utopian world, where not a single character is totally without heart, or without a certain primal and primitive goodness. Where a 12 year old will tell an 18 year old that he needs to start trusting people more; where a fighter pilot and a high school senior love each other so much, they're willing to cut off all ties, suffer through divorce and child custody battles, willing to stow away on bomber planes just to spend an extra two days together, and through it all, get to happiness that only few may know. A world where a family of two gay men, a straight son, a gay nephew and a stray poor boy is happier than most conventional families are. Formulaic and often suffering from too many metaphors and straight-up lessons, this novel nevertheless pushes boundaries of what we're all willing to believe can happen and what so many of us wish would happen. In a world where even a glorified rapist can have tenderness, where your straight crush from high school can turn around and fall in love with you, where your father will support you through all of your falls, and where strangers are kind and those that are not are almost harmless, the characters of this lovely novel teach the readers that yes, good things can happen, even through all the fears and dangers that life has to offer. Set against the backdrop of one of the most conservative parts of this country - the South - with the contrast of the most freeing things a person can do - surfing, the novel juxtaposes the right and the wrong, the need and the will, and love and lust. As Matt, the main character, moves through his turbulent year - and even more turbulent memories of years previous - the reader gets sucked into this mind and his world, feeling that, as the end approaches, this world is the one that is the dream of almost every queer and even straight person out there. Though sometimes awkward, the style still flows beautifully and the frank and lively tone of the main character carries the story with dignity and life.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Decent plot but a painful read . . .,
By
This review is from: Metes & Bounds (Paperback)
I picked up this book from the library with a bunch of other gay books (albeit of the trashier variety). Expecting that it would be a nice, "literary" deviation from the trash books, I started my plunge into gay fiction with 'Metes and Bounds.' I wasn't pleased with what I found.The plot in the book was decent, nothing too special. It's basically a coming-of-age novel about a guy, Matt, finding his place in the world as a "queer" guy. (Though, why he didn't use the less-irksome and more PC word "gay" is beyond me.) The real pitfall of the novel is its writing. I absolutely abhorred it. The whole novel is written in an on-again off-again "Southern accent." The narration constantly switches grammatical correctness on and off as if Matt, the narrator, is one moment a college professor with a Ph.D. and the next a high school drop-out. The plot goes back and forth from the present to the past to the more-recent-than-the-past-but-not-quite-present-either. I didn't find it it hard to follow along, but it made me wonder what the point of it was. It seemed that the author was trying to be deep for the sake of being deep as if he were a gay, white, male Toni Morrison. Another part of the writing that I found redundant was the use of vulgarity. I'm not a conservative person when it comes to this sort of thing, which is demonstrated by the fact that the book I'm reading currently is entitled 'Hunk House,' however, I have to wonder if the use of profanity both sexual and otherwise really served any purpose. It wasn't sexy. It was just thrown in there at places where it was just superfluous. It was like the author was just throwing in dirty words every other paragraph to distract the reader so that he might not notice the bad writing. Overall, I found this to be a less-than enjoyable read. I like to vary my literary books and my fluffy reads. This book, however, fits into neither of those categories because it's too poorly written to be literary and too full of itself to be fluff. It is what it is, and what it is is just plain bad. There are plenty of enjoyable, well-written books out there to read. Don't waste your time or money on this one.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A gorgeous, touching, sweet southern tale,
By Norden Books (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Metes & Bounds (Paperback)
I really enjoyed this understated, romantic, coming of age story. So many gay novels leave me cold, but I found warmth in these characters and their struggles. OK, the shifting back & forth timelines were a wee bit confusing, but it all straightened itself out in the end. I loved how the North Carolina backdrop was so integral to the plot, and even though I've never visited there, I want to now. I will definitely read more books by this author!
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