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Sam is ernest in his pursual of Clay, who we first come to know as a laid back (if he was anymore he would be horizontal) happy go lucky guy who loves getting high and chilling out, but as his character develops one who has his own secrets, desires and inner turmoil.
As the two accompany each other into a spiral of reckless behaviour, drugs and surfing at night!! they forge a bond that becomes all consuming and for Sam the focus of his very existence.
As their relationship develops so does the self-doubt, self-loathing and feelings of despair of both characters, all feelings that teenagers no matter what sexuality go through everyday.
The author has captured the awkward, obsessive and sometimes violent relationship between Sam and Clay wonderfully. To this end I began to have a vested interest that their life together could work out and that they could be individuals who were brave enough to not desperately seek continuous approval or affirmation from their peers to fit in.
We are given a slight glipse into such hope before being ripped away and thrust back into the reality where many hide their true selves away and consequently hurt and push away those they proclaim to love the most.
As a lecturer and an avid reader, not many books have built me up in such a vivid and glorious manner as what the story of `15 yr-old Sam and his love for Clay had done, to the point of breathing a sigh of relief that they may be able to make it where countless dont, but then as I read on with my heart beat racing, am pulled back once again to the harsh reality of just how much love can hurt. Excellent!!!
Sam is an unusually aware teenager. He spurns his middle class, bourgeois parents, who are more concerned about picking their stock options than worrying about him. And while he yells profanity and rebels against at them, he secretly writes love torn haiku poetry and pines for the next time he sees Clay. Clay is the epitome of the local cool boy - he has the obligatory blonde girlfriend, the butch truck, the muscled body, the shark-toothed necklace, and the tattoos. The impressionable Sam is absolutely besotted with him. And Clay secretly likes Sam, but he's a cool boy, a "cool dude" who plays punk rock music from his truck stereo, and surreptitiously seduces and beguiles Sam whenever he has the chance.
Sam is driven to so many extremes over his crush. In one instance, he violently mutilates himself in Clay's truck, and in another instance, he surreptitiously creeps into Clay's home, hides in his bedroom, and spies on Clay and his girlfriend Tammy having intimate relations. The reader soon learns that Sam's life is full of sexual angst and confusion, "maybe I'm too young to be in this sort of position," and even though his weirdness and self-deprecation is shocking, one cannot help but like him.
The strength of Clay's Way is the way Mastbaum really gets to the heart of Sam's psyche, and as all the action is filtered through Sam's eyes, one gets a totally raw and discerning view of a teenager's conflicted world. Love for Sam is indirect motivation, uncontrollable lust, and he forgets to feel that love as just a simple emotion. Mastbaum is also incredibly clever at Sam's sensory descriptions of Clay - from his dirty tee shirts, to the smell of his car, and his skin; it's as though the author is describing a wild animal on heat. The story takes lots of twists and turns amidst the seedy paradise of the Honolulu suburbs and its alcohol and drug-fueled teenage parties.
Ultimately Clay's Way is a rather sad coming-of-age story, where Sam doesn't necessarily get want he wants out of life, and after the drinking, the drug taking, the violence, and the soul searching, he becomes a much more mature person. The final scene, full of spiritual meaning and beauty, is quite heart breaking as Sam looks up at the stars and declares a kind of goodbye to his youth. Mastbaum has written a wonderfully engaging novel, full of totally realistic characters, which are full of youthful dynamism, and conflicted with childish torment.
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