Jack by A.M. Homes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I remember, back in the days, being very impressed with A.M. Homes’s short fiction, but I lost track of her. In any case, I recently came across ‘Jack’, her first novel, written when she was 19! And I was interested enough in the pitch, a teenage boy whose Dad comes out to him. I have to admit though, that I don’t like teenagers all that much (and wouldn’t have liked myself as a teenager) so at times, I found Jack to be annoying in a teenage way. The voice may have been authentic, but it was not my favourite voice. And the gay dad plot point is not the biggest focus of the book. Still, sometimes while reading this novel, I found myself having so naturally fallen into the story that it surprised me. The story is a pretty gentle one, without much drama until the end, so it was Homes’s writing, not showy but skilful and engaging, that drew me in. I should really read something current of hers as this novel came out over 30 years ago.