I would recommend this to readers searching for an unusual gay love story with beautiful yet jagged writing. The motives behind why characters would hurt one another or how some of their emotions escalated so quickly could have been further fleshed out. There's a difference between an author deciding to leave aspects of his work ambiguous and failing to explore certain characters, motifs, etc. On the surface this book may appear to be about a relationship between two boys, but it has a dark undercurrent and themes that can capture one's mind long after reading.īut the blunt nature of this book left me wanting more. His brevity brings Nathan's insecurities and abuse to life. Grimsley's writing is concise and almost clinical, yet strongly sensual and violent. Roy gives him warmth, but at a cost - he doesn't want Nathan to tell anyone about their relationship.ĭream Boy is about young adults, but might not be for young adults. His alcoholic father exemplifies sanctimony while his mother wisps around like a leaf. Dream Boy, for me, is one of those books - what I liked about it is also what prevented me from loving it fully.įirst published over ten years ago at a succinct 195 pages, Dream Boy revolves around Nathan, a sophomore in high school who falls into a complex relationship with Roy, a senior. Not because they're just that bad, but because a number cannot encapsulate everything found within their bindings. For twenty years he taught writing at Emory University in Atlanta. His body of work as a prose writer and playwright was awarded the Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2005. He has also published a collection of plays and most recently a memoir, How I Shed My Skin. His books are available in Hebrew, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Japanese, and Portuguese. He has published other novels, including Dream Boy, Kirith Kirin, and My Drowning. Winter Birds won the Sue Kaufman Prize for best first novel from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Jim’s first novel Winter Birds, was published in the United States by Algonquin Books in the fall of 1994. He has published short stories and essays in various quarterlies, including DoubleTake, New Orleans Review, Carolina Quarterly, New Virginia Review, the LA Times, and the New York Times Book Review.
Grimsley was born in rural eastern North Carolina and was educated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studying writing with Doris Betts and Max Steele. The book is a look at the past when queer people lived more hidden lives than now. Jim Grimsley published a new novel in May of 2022, The Dove in the Belly, out from Levine Querido.
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