The World of Normal Boys

Was surprised to like this as much as I did....Not sure what i was expecting, but what i got was a rather poignant tale of the late1970's suburban New Jersey teen-age sexual awakening of 13-year-old Robin Mackenzie....and that awakening is not necessarily a resolution. Having grown up in the 1970's, graduating from high school in 1979, the representation of suburban home-life, expected moral behavior was startlingly as i remembered it.....as was the mental turmoil so clearly captured as to what it is like to begin that journey to adulthood: fitting in (or not), sexual discovery, never seeming to live up to what is expected, peer rivalries, family rivalries, friendships and betrayals, hurt and deception, experimenting, going against your show more own principles to do things in order to seem to be more 'normal'......wow! it was like reliving that period of my life. I suppose the details were a bit more graphic than i expected, but the tone was certainly appropriate if the goal was to capture the goings on in the head of a teenage male struggling with his sexual identity. The tragic family event was also unexpected and allowed us to view the truly fragile nature of our family structures when confronted with the unexpected, but also to see where a dark page in our story can often be and opportunity for a new chapter. I enjoyed not knowing what was coming next, or how the relationships were going to resolve, and that unexpectedness certainly overcame the occasional sappy turns in the story...but then again, I'm probably not being fair....in my own life.....well, i guess i won't go there......All in all a good read that i plowed through very quickly and enjoyed, although the subject matter was completely relatable to my own story and time....cannot guarantee the same feel for those whose story is more removed.... show less

I am not sure what a normal boy is, but I am sure that I was not one, at least not an average one. This book has an appeal with its central protagonist on a journey of discovery about himself - trying to find out what it means to be a "normal boy". The journey itself, the characters he meets, and his family become less and less interesting as the book proceeds. Perhaps the author tried to mix a few too many problems and in the process lost some of the focus on the central character, Robin MacKenzie. That explains, at least in part, why I did not find the novel satisfying.

The mind and behavior of a teenage boy coming to grips with his sexuality is so realistic in this book that I found myself understanding myself better! Often I felt like I was reading about myself when I was a new teenager (and that was a long, long time ago!). The book leaves many questions unresolved - very realistic, very lifelike! I highly recommend this book.

I recently finished this novel on my Kindle as a distraction from all the academic reading and writing that accompanies the end of a semester. I consumed this novel almost in one fell swoop over the course of three days. That in itself is a positive review.

I can't speak for all gay men, but I know that for me coming to terms with my homosexuality as a teenager was one of the most profoundly emotional times of my life. It was both the best and worst of times and entirely unforgettable.

K. M. Soehnlein brought me back to those days and if you are a gay man then you may very well feel the same way.

This novel follows the life of Robin, a thirteen year old kid from the New Jersey suburbs who skipped a year and is just starting high school at show more the beginning of the novel. The story takes place in 1978, but the story is more than just a product of it's historical setting and issues dealt with in the novel are generally timeless. The novel follows the next 5 months of his life, a time when very dramatic changes are happening in his family and he is just beginning to deal with his sexuality.

Two friends play important roles in his newfound interest in guys, one four years older than him and one his age from a bad household. The two arcs of these relationships make up the gay backbone of the story and were fascinating for me and well handled by Mr. Soehnlein.

Robin's family plays the a very important role in the novel. The issues Robin and his family are dealing with at home are just as dramatic and fascinating as Robin's discovery that he is gay (though, to be clear, this is not a novel about coming out, more just a novel about the self-realization of one's sexuality). I found his family members to be rich characters on their own right and Robin's relationship with his mother, father and sister were deftly handled.

While the main draw for me was the story line, Soehnlein did come up with some beautiful sentences. Though the dialogue was at times not that convincing. In the end these issues didn't matter because I instantly connected with Robin's life and if you are gay you might feel the same way. show less

This book started off as very readable novel about a thirteen-year-old boy in a specific time and place, but then ended up pushing him and his family through a traumatic event to the extent that it started to feel well over-the-top.

Here's what I wrote in 2008 about this read: "Memorable, but distasteful due to rawness and explicitness. The world of gay boys and men, showcasing the easy promiscuity that existed before AIDS drove more caution into the gay community. Question, when does a boy (or girl) begin to realize that they are gay?"

17-year-old Todd Spicer builds a relationship with 13-year-old Robin MacKenzie. He welcomes him into his circle of older school friends in the New Jersey suburbs and invites him to parties. Robin is friends with Scott Schatz, another 13-year-old who had sex with Todd when he was aged 11. Todd seduces Robin.