|
Loading...
LibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendationsLoading...
won't like
will probably not like
will probably like
will like
will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. John Galardi hasn’t been touched by his mother since his parents’ divorce when he was ten years old. In truth, he hasn’t been touched by much of anything since the unpleasant event. Then he meets Marisol, a fellow zine writer and a self-professed lesbian virgin, and his perceptions of himself and his world are blown open. This text is a complex story of alienation, creativity and self-knowledge. (  ) dianestm | Oct 31, 2009 |  This was an antidote to the romances I've been reading lately. John and Marisol meet and become friends: sharing a love of writing, and a certain loneliness. Their friendship has a great capacity for bringing joy and comfort, but an equal capacity for causing damage. When John falls in love with Marisol, a lesbian, their relationship can never go back to the way it was. I was uncomfortable with John and Marisol's relationship, not because it was unrealistic, but because it was very realistic, and I could see disaster looming. I know it is the difficult relationships that be the most wonderful, but I was two busy anticipating the pain to be able to enjoy the way they helped each other open up to wider truths about themselves and about the world. I'd give this to people looking for realistic fiction about friendship and relationships - especially for stories about children surviving divorce. (  ) francescadefreitas | Nov 30, 2008 | This one needed kleenex. John doesn't have much of anyone in his life before he discovers and becomes friends with Marisol. I can truely see how, with so little having much meaning to him in his life, Marisol came to mean so very much to him. When there is no one else and nothing else to look forward to, one may race with glee to communicate with merely one person because their world is so empty. It puts a big smile on their face and everything is good, or in John's case, at least for the moment. Sadly, these people come to mean just too much sometimes. This is hard love. ( ) Kerian | Aug 5, 2008 | Hipsters, zines, a unsatisfying here-lets-clean-up-quick ending. Couldn't really get into this one. (  ) staram | Jun 17, 2008 | John pretends to be "immune to emotion," but he describes his loneliness and alienation in his zine, Banafish (Mom hasn't touched him since his dad left and dad doesn't stay in the apartment much during their weekend visits). Things begin to change when John meats, Marisol, the creator of his favorite zine. He soon falls in love, but the feeling is not mutual - Marisol is a lesbian. Can their friendship survive? Other books to try: Empress of the World, True Believer, Baby Be-bop, "Hello," I Lied, Love and Sex Other books by this author: Razzle, The Long Night of Leo and Bree, What's in a Name? (  )1  libraryleonard | Mar 5, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
References to this work on external resources.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Book description |
|
Like Barbara Wersba's Whistle Me Home, Hard Love tackles the delicate issue of unrequited love between a straight and gay teen. But what sets this novel apart from similarly themed books is Wittlinger's choice to present the story from John's straight male point of view. Funny and poignant first-person narration will engender empathy for John as he attempts to connect with his emotionally distant parents and an understanding of how his need for their affection has manifested itself in romantic feelings for a girl he knows is unavailable to him. Hard Love is a thoughtful and on-target addition to the growing canon of gay and lesbian coming-of-age stories. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
(retrieved from Amazon Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:12:05 -0500)
The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.
Quick Links |
| Ebooks | Audio | Swap |
| — | — | 32/5 |
Wikipedia in English
