Billy's Boy

I'm almost sorry that Warren finished her trilogy. It means that the saga is finished. It means I must close the cover on some of my favorite literary characters. It also means that she has accomplished something amazing. She has created a great series of books with lovable characters and nail biting situations that make me want more. Read this woman's books!!

When I first read "The Front Runner" years ago, I couldn't have predicted were the story would go. Rereading it after reading "Billy's Boy," I can see how far the characters, and we, have come. Billy's story couldn't have been told back then. It takes us into the thoughts, worries, and doubts of a remarkable young man and the remarkable adults who nuture him. We get to see, close up, the effects of stifling religious proscription and the terrible cost it has on those with such a narrow faith. We also get to see how fully secure, responsible people bind themselves together to stand up for their rights. What started out as a simple love story has blossomed into a clear look at created families and the superiority they have, in some cases, to their biological progenitors. I hope the story continues. But, if it doesn't, I hope that Patricia Nell Warren publishes an account of how she wrote "Billy's Boy." It would be especially interesting to find out how her work and advocacy with gay and lesbian youth helped her create the wonderful story she told.

The original characters I loved from The Front Runner are back --- sort of. It is no longer the 70s, but the 90s, and it seems the child Harlan tried to conceive with his lost husband, Billy, is growing up and maturing and ---coming out of the closet. The novel switches from narration by Harlan to his son, William Heden. What was wonderful was to see the man we love, Harlan, through the eyes of the boy. We have spent over 20 years with just Harlan's point of view. I simply loved this book to all ends! It reminded me of the feelings I had as a young boy when i was struggling to come out and deal with my feelings. In my opinion, it surpases the second book, Harlan's Race, because it doesn't have a forced / contrived feeling to it. These are grounded characters who we have grown to love. Its natural, and beautiful, and I could never write more complimentary things about an author like Patricia Nell Warren!

I have read three of Patricial Nell Warren's books. This one, the Front Runner and Harlan's Race. Billy's Boy touched me. As I read the pages, I saw myself burning the same candle and looking at the same images, always holding on to the past or what could have been. I have never experienced such a powerful feeling of introspection as the one brought on by this book. This wonderful book has the power to make you look at yourself through new eyes. I can honestly say that I am not the same person after having read this and the authors other books.

In BILLY'S BOY, the third leg of THE FRONT RUNNER saga, Patricia Nell Warren is back in full stride ahead of the literary pack. A front runner in its own right, BILLY'S BOY shatters records and societal myths while keeping pace with some of our familiar family from THE FRONT RUNNER and introducing us to a whole new generation. BILLY'S BOY strides to new distances since THE FRONT RUNNER and HARLAN'S RACE, picking up the shattered pieces of some familiar lives and racing through some harrowing new territory with today's generation of youth. Some wonderful and unpredictable plot twists and a heart bigger and more vast than the cosmos that John William --our protagonist, BILLY'S BOY-- so desperately loves to search and explore in his dreams and with his telescope. BILLY'S BOY is a must-read for all, though especially for teens, particularly those traveling down the tempting tarnished yellow brick road of gaydom. Many will find themselves here in these pages but more importantly they will find that family is not a basic unit one is borne into but brought unto, and the ties of chosen family are far stronger and much more reliable than the bonds of blood that often blind and break us for being who we really are. Beautifully deep and deeply beautiful, BILLY'S BOY spans the yawning chasm know as the generation gap and brings us all to the realization we are never alone in our aloneness and not that different in our differences.