Now and Then

I was surprised by the powerful feelings this book evoked in me. It is sparsely, beautifully written, and it feels utterly true, and real. The overwhelming, life-altering emotion of first love -- especially for a gay boy in a boarding school -- speaks volumes to just about everyone in the world. We've all been through the pain of growing up, having dreams broken or changed, and adjusting our lives each step of the way. At the end of this book, you feel free, as if you've been through therapy. It's wonderful.

...Wow! What a wonderful story. The book is slow to start, and it has an unusual gimmick. The story is a narrative told by Chris (Kit) Metcalfe from two of his points of view. The first is NOW, as he is a gay man approaching middle age, and THEN, remembering his days at a Brittish prep school and his first love, Stephen Walker.Let me say this, while at first I hated the narrator, I grew to love and understand him. This is a story of a broken heart and the damage first love, here gay, wrecks on the heart and the mind. Stephen uses Chris, and isn't until 30 years later that Chris learns the truth of the relationship, and see the other man who may be his true love.There are many twists that will make you stand up and cheer. This is about a journey that many gay men are on, and how we often hide our feelings from ourselves, even though they may be obvious to those closest to us.

This book has touched me in many ways than I'd have imagined. And believe you me, not many books can do this. I bought this book 2 months ago and only started reading it a few days ago. It was brilliant! I just couldn't put it down!There was never a dull moment. The love between Chris Metcalfe and Stephen Walker was beautifully described, right from the time when both of them met at a school play till the ultimate break-up. Chris' break-up with Stephen and consequently Chris' breakdown was painful to read. I couldn't sleep that night after finishing the book, it was simply tormenting!Sad yet hopeful, poignant, and well-crafted. This book has taught me a lesson: Inherit the past, create the present and hope for the future. Thoroughly Recommended!

I read this book in a day, I was so absorbed and horrified with the similarities between the narrators life and my own. I was brought up in Sevenoaks and went to a minor public school 50 miles away (never got molested once - and I demand my money back!). He absolutely captures the English middle-class attitudes and denial of emotions as well as the horrific nature (for many) of English public-school life. The alternate past and present format for each chapter works extremely well. His description of the thoughts and emotions of the young Chris, and suppressed emotions of the older version are heart-wrenchingly accurate.

As a reader who speaks English as a second language, I had to keep my dictionary while reading the book to the end. From the first day I started to read the book, I couldn't stop thinking of Kit's life and his love towards Stephen. His deep, poignant and still moving love made me shiver all the time. I even felt the turbulance of his inner state while he first started to think of Stephen when he sorted out things which his father had kept in his study and encountered his past looking at the photos of his schooldays. I sometimes think that it may be my future when I get fortysomething. Even though I was not in passionate love which Chris was in. I read the book six times in order to understand completely by looking up all the difficult words in the dictionary. I cried and shared all the sadness with Chris. Hope Chris will find his true happiness and let his poinant memories behind. This novel was simply magnificient, beautifully written and moving.