Bear Me Safely over

I read a rave review that made me run out and buy this one, and I was not disappointed. I can?t remember when I?ve read such an impressive book by a first-time writer. It?s told in multiple voices and moves freely over time, in a way that leads to a surprisingly round, lush understanding of the lives of the characters. I fell in love with Paul, an utterly convincing gay teenager trapped in a backwater Georgia town. Though he struggles with prejudice and an internalized religious shame, he never questions who he is or suffers through any predictable angst over sex. He?s flawed: selfish, bold to the verge of promiscuity, capable of hurting people who care about him. But Joseph shows that these are necessary defenses in his unsheltered world, and that Paul does the best he can to create himself from scratch and survive without guidance. His struggle is deeply affecting. Other characters take the stage more briefly but convey memorable glimpses of the larger narrative while letting us in on the fascinating, sometimes hilarious, stories of their own obsessions and foibles. The prose is meticulous, melodic, varied to fit each character in the collage. This is a talented young writer. I can?t wait for her next book (and I really hope she will revisit some of the same characters because I miss them already!).

This is an astonishingly good first book, written in the tradition of great Southern novels but also inventive and wholly original. The voices circling the central characters are reminiscent of Faulkner, each one ringing true to itself and providing a different, often quite distorted, angle on the others. Paul Foster, the book's gay teenage protagonist, simply lights up the page as an unusual, complex, and heartbreaking boy-although one or two small-minded characters imagine him as a stereotype, the intelligent reader will not make this mistake. Each section of the book is told from a different point in time, leading to a broad and nuanced understanding of how change occurs and how bonds are formed between all sorts of unlikely people, more than seem possible in a book so brief. It's the work of a mature vision: hopeful but also stark and unblinkingly honest. I really can't say enough good things about this book.

As a gay man, what strikes me most about this book is the way a female author brings to life a young gay man with such extraordinary sensitivity and insight. Seventeen-year-old Paul Foster, a complex and often headstrong character, seemed absolutely real to me; I believed in him completely. Likewise, the chapter "Brain Fever" captures, in two pages, not only the inner thoughts of a gay man but also the entire gay lifestyle with absolute accuracy. And Joseph describes the relationship between Paul and his somewhat reluctant boyfriend, Kent, with such depth, subtlety, and subdued sensuality that I felt as if I were in the room with them as they grappled with their feelings for each other. The fact that Joseph is able to do this is a testament not only to her talent as a writer but to the universality of the emotions, desires, and hopes of the people she portrays. This is not a "gay" novel. It is a novel about complex, troubled, and very human people, some of whom happen to be gay. I recommend this book to anyone, straight or gay, who has ever loved another person and struggled to understand and express their feelings.

I happened upon this book in the store and was completely taken with it--I couldn't put it down. Joseph interweaves multiple perspectives and stories into a beautiful tapestry of a book, painting a portrait of passion, love, and loss that grips you till the final page. I can't wait to read whatever Joseph writes next. It's a rare and special book.

An incredible read-- like the horses that appear frequently in the collection, Ms. Joseph writes with quiet grace and solid power. She deftly explores the myriad intricacies that permeate the characters' daily relationships, with parents, lovers and self, shedding light on their growth and pain. I stayed up well into the night to see what would happen next, and highly recommend this debut author.