Jerome: A Novel

1.75 This was my third time reading, and first time I really hated this. Two teenagers have just lost their best friend, and email back and forth as one is in Aotearoa, the other in the USA. This book is filled with homophobic and racist slurs, and though that's on purpose for the characters to learn and grow, it was very difficult to read. It was VERY progressive for 1990's Aotearoa, but there's no reason for me to read this in the current day.

This novel is composed mainly of letters and emails between Marco and Katie after their friend Jerome's death. The major theme of the novel is the necessity for truthfulness in grief, as Jerome had never told Marco of his homosexuality. This inability to tell Marco how he feels leads Jerome to commit suicide, disguised as an accident. Katie finally tells Marco the truth, at which point Marco realises that he had felt the same for Jerome. The strong language and swearing, as well as Marco's constant drinking as an aid in his grief, can be off putting.

Framed by emails, faxes etc,which keeps the pace interchanges quite fast. Describes Marco's changing world picture and discoveries about his own and others sexuality. I dont know if people do come to accept a radically different truth so quickly. Realistic in terms of language used - electronic communication represents spoken language commonly in use rather than a formal (and cleaner) written one. Hard to do in depth character examination in this format.