Ваша оценкаA funny, honest novel about being out, being proud . . . and being ready for something else.
Rafe is a normal teenager from Boulder, Colorado. He plays soccer. He's won skiing prizes. He likes to write.
And, oh yeah, he's gay. He's been out since 8th grade, and he isn't teased, and he goes to other high schools and talks about tolerance and stuff. And while that's important, all Rafe really wants is to just be a regular guy. Not that GAY guy. To have it be a part of who he is, but not the he...
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heyheykex2 июля 2016 г.Читать далееРоман Openly Straight («Открытый натурал») Билла Кёнигсберга — о парне по имели Рафаэль, который перевёлся в школу в соседнем штате и решил «уйти в шкаф», устав от ярлыка мальчика-гея.
Итак, Раф — обычный мальчик из обычной школе в Боулдере, штат Колорадо, и он гей. Открытый. Состоит во всяких общественных организациях, посвящённых выходу из шкафа, путешествует по другим школам, где толкает речуги о принятии себя, и вообще не тужит: родители Рафа, старые хиппари, активно его поддерживают и любят беззаветно. Рафа не травят, не ненавидят, не осуждают, у него есть друзья, даже парень был, но Раф смертельно устал от ярлыка «открытого гея», от необходимости соответствовать статусу и от того, что все встречные видят в нём в первую очередь гея, а уже потом Рафа.
И он решает свалить учиться в другой штат, подальше от родителей и атмосферы Боулдера, и там никому не говорить, что он гей. Родители, конечно, опечалены, лучшая подруга негодует, но Раф в кои-то веки считает себя счастливым: ещё бы, теперь он может мыться в душе со всеми, участвовать в типично мужских разговорах о девчонках и вообще. Никто не подходит к нему с просьбой высказать гейское мнение об атаке Германии на Польшу.
Всё идёт отличненько, пока Раф не втюривается по самые уши в своего одноклассника Бэна. Вечный стояк в совокупности с попытками выглядеть абсолютным натуралом доводят Рафа до исступления, и, в общем, всё заканчивается не очень.
Неплохая книга. Не так, чтобы прям «ах», но поднимает интересные вопросы. Особенно мне понравилось вот это:
“I just wanted to be me for a bit. Without my sexuality being on display, you know?”
Blank stares from Ned and Carlton and the other kid I didn’t know too well, Mickey.
“I get that,” Jeff said. He had a deep voice that I liked. “Go under the radar a little. I’m like that sometimes too. Like, why do we have to march in parades and all that stuff?
“But if we don’t march in parades, people don’t see us,” Mickey said. He was wearing a paisley shirt and his hair was pulled back into a ponytail.
“What do you mean?” Jeff said. “People aren’t going to stop seeing gays because they don’t march in some stupid parade. Straight people don’t march in a parade.”
“Well, they don’t have to,” Mickey said. “What do you call it when a straight person comes out?”
“What?” Jeff asked.
“A conversation,” Mickey said. “Straight people don’t have to think, every time they talk, about whether they are coming out. We do. That might be hard, but that’s also why we have to come out. If we don’t, it’s pretty much impossible to have a conversation about anything beyond the weather without lying. We really have no choice, do we?”
Jeff crossed and uncrossed his legs. “Except that’s not true,” he said. “Gay is just one thing I am. It doesn’t define me.”
“Maybe not,” said Mickey. “But if you don’t embrace that one part of you, forget it. Rafe just said it. How did that go for you, Rafe? Leaving part of yourself behind?”7294
Цитаты
LittleGhost19 мая 2015 г.Читать далееI felt a certain desire to jump and twist too, like my father would, like Toby might. All those people who weren’t constricted in their movements the way I was by my brain. And just as I was about to say the hell with it and join in the fun, I stopped. My hands half in the air over my head, half protecting my face as if someone were about to hurl a dodgeball at me, I stopped. I put my arms down and smiled to myself. I knew I could have danced if I wanted to, really. But I didn’t, so I didn’t have to. The world needs people who are more comfortable standing still. We keep the earth on its axis when everyone else is bouncing around.
236- LittleGhost18 мая 2015 г.
“Well, you know, the way your parents described her, she really didn’t sound like someone I could see you dating.”
That made me think about what kind of girl I would date if I really did date girls, and I enjoyed the silence. That was the thing with me and Ben; we shared the best silences.229 - LittleGhost18 мая 2015 г.Читать далее
“We’re a pretty tolerant place,” Steve said, an edge to his voice.
“Ah, interesting word. Tolerant. What does tolerant mean?”
“It means we tolerate,” Steve said, flat. “We accept people.”
“Actually, tolerance and acceptance are different. To tolerate seems to mean that there is something negative to tolerate, doesn’t it? Acceptance, though, what’s that?”
I thought about that. It reminded me of the excerpt from Edmund White’s A Boy’s Own Story that Mr. Scarborough had assigned us. White had talked about the strange sort of tolerance his roommates had had for him back at his boarding school in the 1950s. I remembered underlining the word tolerance. I mean, if you accept something, you take it for what it is. Tolerance is different. Less. So is acceptance at the top of the pyramid? Is that what everyone wants in the best of all possible worlds? Acceptance? I rolled the idea around in my head. It didn’t feel right, somehow.
No one was saying anything.
“Acceptance also has a bit of negative to it, doesn’t it?” I finally said.
Scarborough looked over at me. “Yes! Tell me more about that.”
My face reddened. I knew everyone was looking at me. I didn’t want to stand out in this conversation, but I did have something to add. I took a shot.
“Well, if you need to accept something, that means it’s not like it should be, right? Like you accept something as it is.”
“No,” someone said, from the back. “You get accepted into college. It doesn’t mean you aren’t as you should be. That’s stupid.”
“Not stupid,” Scarborough said. “Stay with me here. That’s a slightly different form of the word. And yet, colleges accept students who are otherwise rejected. Acceptance is an affirmation that you’re good enough.”
[...]
“It’s hard to be different,” Scarborough said. “And perhaps the best answer is not to tolerate differences, not even to accept them. But to celebrate them. Maybe then those who are different would feel more loved, and less, well, tolerated.”219
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