When deciding to buy this book I was influenced by the strong positive reviews from Amazon readers. Having read it, I can only imagine that these people must have read a different book. I thought it was one of the dullest books I have ever read. The basic story is a familiar one, a gay teenager living in an intolerant environment comes to terms with his sexuality. The story largely unfolds in 'flashback', causing a degree of repetition that I found quite irritating. Much more irritating, however, was the interminable descriptive prose - page after page after page where nothing of any substance or interest is said. For my money, Paul Monette's 'Becoming a Man' or Edmund White's 'Boys Own Story' articulate the difficulties of growing up gay infinitely better than this novel did. I hope that this review will help to counterbalance the very positive reviews that I am at a loss to understand.