[Day 143] Good Guess!

“Travis, everybody you touch falls in love! Can’t you see that?! The only one who’s coming out of this whole deal empty-handed is you! It’s just not fair.”

It’s nine thirty on a Wednesday morning, and I should be in school. Instead, I’m home with a three day old sore throat and in need of reading material for the breakfast table. Let’s be honest; the local newspaper doesn’t take very long to get through anymore.

After some deliberation, I grabbed a Steve Kluger book that I’d ordered two weeks ago with a Christmas Amazon gift card. He’s the author of my current favorite book, Last Days of Summer, and I figured I should expand my scope to his other works. I was hesitant about this one, Almost Like Being In Love, however.

First, it was written not only in alternating point-of-view narrative, but also in letters, checklists, and other unusual story-telling mediums. Not exactly easy reading.

Second, there promised to be a baseball mention on nearly every page. I’m not a big sports fan, but I have a particular distaste for baseball. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my softball/t-ball coaches always out me in left field.

The third, and probably the fact that made me the most hesitant, it was a romantically-driven plot circling around two men.

Of the four people reading this review, I just lost three. But for you remaining reader, I figure I’ll put some context around that assertion. I’m in no way homophobic; many of my closest friends are gay. But there’s still something about watching a movie where two boys or two girls fall in love that makes my brow furrow. It may be that I can’t relate with these characters on the basic level that I can with most movie characters, but who knows.

Regardless, all three of the reasons I was hesitant about reading this book fell to pieces by the second page. The unusual story-telling made this book all the more real, the baseball was mixed in with such beautiful and compelling characters that I barely noticed it, and the central romance was not the least bit cringe-worthy. I’d even go so far as to say this; if you’re hesitant about reading a boy meets boy romance, you’ll stop noticing it as an anomaly from normal society once you get into this book.

When I first picked up the book, it was meant only for fifteen minutes of breakfast reading before I’d go work on Government notes. My imagination: I read a mildly diverting few passages while eating my re-heated pancakes, put a scrap of newspaper on my place, and go get some much-needed writing done. Reality: Complete and total immersion into the world of Almost Like Being In Love. It was pressed to my nose while I hunted for another Gatorade or ginger ale, when I made numerous trips to the bathroom because of the beverages, and when I was crying from the pure and simple beauty of it.

The first time I cried was on page 304, out of 354, during a phone conversation between one of the main characters and his straight best friend. I cried again on the very last page, and almost choked on the piece of bagel in my mouth from the raw emotion that had surfaced.

I haven’t been this touched by a book since, well, The Last Days of Summer. And that’s saying a lot. I cry every time I read that book, and I know what’s going to happen.

Steve Kluger is a genius. Although I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone under fifteen or anyone who is offended by discussions of sex and sexuality, I am completely willing to scream my praises from the rooftops (in the event that my throat ever stops burning).