- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Red Fox; New edition edition (3 Aug 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099502917
- ISBN-13: 978-0099502913
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.4 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 774,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
"Clever and imaginative--vividly creating the atmosphere of summer in a seaside town and the intensity of adult love." --"The Evening Standard"
Product Description
Life in his seaside town is uneventful for Hal Robinson, nothing unusual, exciting or odd ever happens to him - until now that is. Until the summer of his 16th birthday when he reaches a crossroads of choices in life. He foolishly takes a friend's boat for a day's sailing, gets into difficulty and is rescued by Barry Gorman. Their ensuing relationship results in a tumultous summer for Hal as he experiences the intense emotions of his first teenage love.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am 14 and this must be one of my favourite books ever. A lot of authors don't write about gays because they think we're 'too young to understand' but Aidan Chambers is brilliant! He doesn't force it on you in a expicit or demanding way but gives you a lot to think about.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Aidan Chambers makes you tie yourself into knots just thinking. He's not a shy writer; he'll plunge in, tackle anything. His writing falls under the 'so-life-like-it's-scary' category; some of the emotions could have come directly from your secret heart.
Dance on my Grave is about homosexual love, but also about so many other things that it is a slice of life, with all its many strands. It is also funny, in a way that The Toll Bridge, Postcards From No man's Land and Now I Know aren't. I got the giggles for ages in some parts, and still laugh out loud when I think of them; the fight!!!!
But the way he writes is out of this world. His books are going to stay with me all my life.
Dance on my Grave is about homosexual love, but also about so many other things that it is a slice of life, with all its many strands. It is also funny, in a way that The Toll Bridge, Postcards From No man's Land and Now I Know aren't. I got the giggles for ages in some parts, and still laugh out loud when I think of them; the fight!!!!
But the way he writes is out of this world. His books are going to stay with me all my life.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I picked up this book when it first came out, started reading it idly - then couldn't put it down. This is a teenage novel, or young adult novel, of considerable and unusual accomplishment. It's also a gay novel, a comic novel, and an experimental novel, too. The story is about Hal Robinson, a sixteen-year old schoolboy, and his dramatic and obsessive love affair with the richer, handsomer, older Barry Gorman. On the first page, we learn that Barry is dead, and that Hal has been arrested for desecrating his grave. In the rest of the novel, we find out why.
Not the least of the novel's attractions is the clever and flexible style in which it is written. Influenced by Kurt Vonnegut and other postmodern writers - with diagrams, cartoons, lists, diary entries, scraps of screenplays and a social worker's reports interspersing Hal's vivid, fast-moving first-person narrative - the book is the second in a sequence of similar novels by Chambers, also comprising Breaktime (1978), Now I Know (1987), The Toll Bridge (1992) and Postcards from No Man's Land (1999). These are not a conventional series: each tells a different story about different characters, and not all the novels include gay themes; but all are experimental in technique and edgy in subject, intelligent books and about intelligent teenagers confronting the world. Aidan Chambers is the real thing. I wish I'd had books like these when I was younger.
Not the least of the novel's attractions is the clever and flexible style in which it is written. Influenced by Kurt Vonnegut and other postmodern writers - with diagrams, cartoons, lists, diary entries, scraps of screenplays and a social worker's reports interspersing Hal's vivid, fast-moving first-person narrative - the book is the second in a sequence of similar novels by Chambers, also comprising Breaktime (1978), Now I Know (1987), The Toll Bridge (1992) and Postcards from No Man's Land (1999). These are not a conventional series: each tells a different story about different characters, and not all the novels include gay themes; but all are experimental in technique and edgy in subject, intelligent books and about intelligent teenagers confronting the world. Aidan Chambers is the real thing. I wish I'd had books like these when I was younger.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Poignant, funny and haunting.
This is a wonderful book about becomng adult, the obsession of love, the pain of rejection and the irrevocable loss provoked by the death of someone with everything about the... Read more
Published on 27 Oct 2009 by Booklover Joseph
Full of wit, by turns amusing and tragic
Sixteen year old Henry Robinson, he prefers to be called Hal, tells is own story following the death of Barry. Read more
Published on 12 July 2009 by Benjamin
Memorable
I first read this book at school over 15 years ago and it has always stayed with me. It is the only book that I have 2 copies of one which i borrowed from that school! Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2004
A gripping, moving novel
A very enjoyable, discreet but interesting story. Exceelent characters and style of writing.
Published on 19 Mar 2002
Wow! A compelling, sympathetic read.
I enjoyed this title, and wish I'd read it 10 years ago. It's extremely well written, the plot keeps you hooked (I read it in two sittings) and, although you can't help but form... Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2002
V. Good Romance set in my home town!
I have only read 3 romances that I like, and this is definitely the best. There are two reasons for this- the first is that it's between two boys rather than a boy and a girl,... Read more
Published on 30 Sep 2001
my all-time favourite book
If I had to pick one book as my all-time favourite, it would be this one. Aidan Chambers has a wonderful way with words -- I find myself drawn in as much by his creative way of... Read more
Published on 3 Sep 2001
A book full of answers for qustioning youth.
After losing the original paperback, I was happy to find Amazon carrying this book. I couldn't get it from the UK site, but the US site shipped it to me, the few weeks wait being... Read more
Published on 19 Mar 2000 by J. D. D. Ridgway
Where was this when I was growing up?
This is one of a few British-published, Britain-based books about gay teenagers currently available (another is Same Difference, a collection published by Mammoth). Read more
Published on 5 Jun 1999
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