Reason read: tbr takedown, Reading 1001
This was a book published in 1990 and is a story about two boys who are friends; Jonathan and Bobby. The setting is the 60s, 70s, and 80s. There is sex and drugs. Other characters are Alice, Jonathan's mother and Clare, Jonathan's friend. I can't say I was a fan because I don't like sexual details in books. The last part is the best part of the book. I thought the first part was the weakest. The Hours was a better book. ( )

I liked the Hours better. This wasn't bad, I just got confused with the characters, so it was hard to keep track. I didn't care for Clare's character. I felt like she was a third wheel for a novel character. I liked the LGBT parts and thought it was a moving story overall. ( )

Not really a review.

This book was picked for me in a challenge. I began to read, got about 15% in, but didn't finish - too many things started happening all at once, GRamazon one of them (what a waste of time, but it totally sucked me in) However I did find time to watch a movie based on the book. Not sure if I can write a full-blown book review based on a movie, but I would want to write something when I put my thoughts together, hopefully within a day or two.

All I have to say right now that it's great story, I would watch the movie again and will definitely finish the book.

5 stars for the movie.

This is not my usual type of book to read.. I am more inclined toward historical fiction, true crime, Stephen King inspired horror/sci-fi, history and biographies, but I am so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to try a more contemporary read.
Heart-warming and heart- breaking are the two best descriptions of this book. I gave it 4 stars. Each chapter is narrated by a different character. Some chapters are better than others, some characters are better developed than others. Also, my main grievance is that one main character, Ned, is silent. I would like to hear his voice in the story because he was so influential on the character of Alice, Jonathan and Bobby.
Highly recommended for the beautiful writing alone! It was so readable! But the story was engaging from start to finish.
One thing I need to comment on is the title. In the book "Lady Chatterley's Lover" which I read last month, when the two lovers were contemplating running away they lamented that "there is no end of the earth" in the modern age. Little did they know that upstate New York could be considered, at the end of the 20th century as the "End of the World". ( )

This story would have been much better if each character was actually their own narrator. Each character told things from their own view point but there was no differentiation in tone, language or anything to make the characters unique. I often had to go back to the beginning of the chapter because i forgot who's perspective i was reading from.

I have no problems with bittersweet stories or endings, but it seemed like no one in this story was EVER happy and it made this book almost a chore to get through because there were no highs to offset the lows, or to make the lows matter. ( )