Bob Bennett Bennett itibaren Malu Roșu, Romanya
When love doesn't accept a no. Gray is a 23 years old artist who feels an immediate attraction for Charles, a 31 years old literature professor. Gray is young and full of life, he also has just accepted his homosexuality. Charles instead is quite and aware of his own sexuality: he doesn't have a present lover, but if he wants sex, he knows where find it and absolutely doesn't want a youger lover, maybe a little to easily influenced by an older man. But Gray is very insistent, and no matter what Charles says, he wants Charles and wants everything Charles wants, also the pleasure/pain game that Charles prefers. I like very much the character of Gray: he is open and outspoken, he holds nothing of what he feels or what he wants. Charles instead is closed and brooding, but, fortunately, he doesn't deny his feelings and desires, even if he is dragged to admit them. I love the atmosphere of this novel: it's warm and cosy, the feelings seep into you and leave you with a peaceful sensation after turn over the last page. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1603701397/?...
Kind of fun, kind of goofy.
This book really deserves 3.5 stars but I can't quite give it 4 since I had some issues with the second half. The novel starts off very well. We're introduced to Binti, a young (12 years old?) girl living in Malawi. Her mother passed away but her father owns a coffin shop. Binti goes to a good private school and is part of a radio show. Her life seems safe/secure but then disaster strikes. Her father dies of AIDS and she has to deal with two things: 1) losing her father and 2) being shunned because everyone assumes she has AIDS. She goes to live with her brother's family and they treat her badly. There's a lot of ignorance and fear when it comes to HIV so she is treated like a second-class citizen. It was interesting to read the first part of the story although I was surprised that Binti didn't suspect that her father might have HIV. It was very sad to read about his death but it was even more disturbing to read about how Binti and her two siblings were going to be divided up among her father's brothers. No one wanted them even though they were family. It was interesting to read about this, as I really didn't have a good sense for how HIV-positive people are treated in a country where HIV rates are so high. I was somewhat disappointed by the second half of the book, though. I felt like Ellis built it up so much in the beginning yet the ending seemed very anti-climactic. It seemed unrealistic that her brother was able to join them so soon and the whole Junie/Jeremiah plot was more irritating than cute. I didn't really understand why Gogo didn't just take Binti in in the first place -- it would have saved a lot of trouble for Binti and might've made the story more interesting. I think I honestly would have preferred the book if it was told through Junie's eyes rather than Binti's. Binti was pretty immature at times and I wanted to hear more of Junie's thoughts. I do hope that Ellis writes more books about Africa. Despite my concerns/complaints, I really enjoyed the book and was glad that she shifted her focus to a less-talked-about place and issue.
Pretty good story about post-war (1948) eastern Europe when the Russians haven't completely taken over the government and memories of the Nazis are still fresh in everyone's mind.