I don’t know if I dare confess to not knowing ‘Mrs Dalloway’, but I loved ‘Forever’ as a teenager and was in awe of a writer who could be so open and frank about discovering sex as Judy Blume was. This latest release by Patrick Ness may well be inspired by these books, but this was really a book of mixed responses for me.
The story focuses, in the main, on a day in the life of Adam Thorn. He is the younger son of an evangelical preacher, gay but not able to share this with his family (though there are clues that they know this) and about to spend the night at a going-away party for his first love, Enzo. We follow Adam through his day – so mundane in many ways, but also packed with exquisite moments.
Alongside Adam’s story is this rather odd tale of the spirit of a recently deceased girl (murdered by her boyfriend) hell-bent on getting revenge. She is accompanied on her journey by a 7ft faun and, on occasion, people in the real world see her. I confess to not really being sure what was going on here. It felt like some kind of symbolic representation of Adam’s life but it did feel like it was getting in the way of the story I wanted to know more about.
I found myself frustrated at the start by Adam’s family – the chrysanthemum scene was symptomatic of their inability to talk together – but I thought there might be hope when Adam’s brother, Marty, reveals he has got a girl pregnant. Sadly, we follow Adam on his day and there’s always a sense of someone not quite getting it.
The scene with Adam’s sleazy boss, Wade, angered me. I felt rather sorry for Enzo, in spite of the hurtful way in which he behaved towards Adam. However, that moment when Adam realises what has been going on, and gets his release from this toxic relationship was to be applauded. The moment that choked me, where I really wasn’t sure I wanted to read on, was the moment when Adam finally confronts his father with the reality of his life. A rather unconventional approach to outing yourself, but when his dad turns round and says “You’ll never know how hard I have to work to love you” I thought my heart would break!
I can see some readers might be uncomfortable with the level of detail given to describing Adam’s sex-life. Yes, it’s graphic but not really much more than we might get from many writers describing a heterosexual relationship, and I certainly didn’t get the feeling it was gratuitous. What I do think is worth noting is the positivity shown in the relationship between Linus and Adam. There was a real tenderness to their interactions and an emotional intimacy that anyone should be honoured to share.
All in all this was a read that I found absorbing. In turns drawn to and repelled by Adam and his family, I felt Adam’s story was Ness at his best. The other parts were, sadly, detracting and I felt they were Ness trying too hard to be clever.