Posted in 365 Days of Bri (Bri 2.0)

[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).

8 thoughts on “[Day 143] Good Guess!

  1. I’ve actually never heard of Steve Kluger. The style of Almost Like Being in Love sounds like my kind of thing, like what Mark Danielewski did in House of Leaves.

    I get what you’re saying about the gay issue though. It’s hard to connect to a feeling that you personally don’t feel, despite not wanting to feel bad about being uncomfortable. However, as much as I hate to admit it, I’m a bit of a yaoi fangirl; it’s just so dang adorable, for some reason.

  2. “It may be that I can’t relate with these characters on the basic level that I can with most movie characters”

    Welcome to my world. Seriously, you have no idea how boring heterosexuality can be. Really, though, I think the reason your brow may furrow is because roughly 95% of on-screen gay romance is absolute crud. There are some- er, well at least one good faggoty example of romance I’ve watched.

  3. Thought I’d pop back in to see how you are doing. You still write very well, of course. I’m not familiar with this author, but I’m at a point in my life where I no longer like literature that moves me to tears; life has done that to me too many times already!

    I tend to gravitate to authors like Grisham, King, Koonts, and when I really nead a laugh I read something by Janet Evanovich. She has written a series of 15 books about a female bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, that never fail to make me laugh out loud, and often! I’ve read 14 of them–waiting for #15 to come out in paperback. I recommend you read “One for the Money,” which is the first of the series if you’re ever down and in need of a good laugh.

    Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and the New Year brings you all things wonderful.

    Eva Gallant

What's up, my dudes?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.