Sucking Sherbet Lemons

by Michael Carson

A classic, hilarious coming out novel about growing up in the 1960s—can Benson be both gay and Catholic? Gay and happy? What do you do when you're fat, 14, and your obsessions include the Catholic Church, doing the right thing, scones and sweets, and other boys and their private parts? Well, if you're Benson, you panic and flee, hiding from the flesh as a novice in a monastery. Alas, St. Finbar's monastery is as full of temptation as the grammar school he'd left behind. The devils of desire find Benson once again and throw him back into the world from which he’d tried to escape. Returned to school, Benson is still trying to square the circle of his conflicting enthusiasms and desires. This comic epic is a warm, funny, and bold reminder of just how new, and superficial, sexual tolerance in contemporary society really is.

Genres: Fiction, Gay, LGBT, Coming Of Age, Gay Fiction, Queer, Queer Lit

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 1988

About the author

Michael Carson is the pen name of British author Michael Wherly. He is best known for his Benson trilogy of novels, about a young man growing up Catholic and homosexual.

Reviews

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although its theme may sound forbiddingly serious, an English adolescent comes to terms with his homosexuality while simultaneously sloughing off the hair-shirt of a pious Catholic education in this very funny first novel. Fat and unhappy, besotted with guilt and furtive sexual longings, Michael Benson is growing up in a working-class neighborhood in a city on the northwestern coast of England in the early sixties. A 14-year-old compulsive bed wetter, Benson makes up for a dreary existence with a rich fantasy life: melodramatic and uplifting images culled from the histories of the Catholic martyrs share quarters in his overheated psyche with decidedly impious homoerotic imaginings. In flight from his burgeoning homosexual yearnings, Benson rushes headlong into the Catholic faith, leaving his local school to begin his novitiate at St. Finbar's Seminary. St. Finbar's, with its fire-and-brimstone dogma and homosexual intrigues, proves disastrous for Benson, and he is sent home, where he will learn to accept his homosexuality and reject an uncomfortable faith. Writing with droll wit and sympathy, a wicked eye for detail and an obvious familiarity with the milieu, Carson mixes humor and poignancy in this moving account of a sexual and spiritual coming-of-age.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin Benson starts the book at 12-13 and is firmly within the Catholic faith's grip as he goes to meetings of the "rude club" where "Eric," and "Bruno," and himself have mutual masturbation sessions. Benson sees his first ejaculation in the form of Bruno's and comes to want to know more about other men. He starts to question if he is like the other boys at the all-boys Catholic school he goes to. "Surely, I am the homo" he admits to himself as the other boys taunting of him starts to make him feel like he's going to hell for his sexual desires.

So, Benson goes to the monastery of St. Finbars at 14-15 and to quote the book "Alas, St. Finbars is full of temptation as the finishing school he had left behind." "Brother Michael," a brother in the service of the Catholic faith, is unhappy with his life of service and is questioning his faith. However, he makes increasingly sexual perverse observations to Benson after feeling Benson's erection in the garden that Benson was tending to. Everytime Benson is invited to go to the "rubbish dump" with Brother Michael, he refuses; in part to his life of service in the Catholic service and in part in defiance of his homosexual nature. However, "Brother Ninian" his "particular friend" (who is possibly a homosexual like Benson? They held hands and Benson told Ninian they had to stop doing that, it's never stated by the book... implied, maybe, but never concrete) goes with "Brother Michael" to the rubbish dump where "the only thing he did was pinch my bottom, honest" when pressed by Benson's questioning of it. Benson is thrown out of the monastery/Catholic service after lying to protect "Brother Michael" who went with "Brother Ninian." "It was I that tempted Brother Michael to go to the rubbish dump" Benson says.

(I should note here I have no idea why he does this and can't put myself in his shoes in this case. Brother Michael was trying to get him kicked out of the service and Benson rebuffed his advances pretty willingly until this point, but I guess that would've been the end of Benson's story and transformation if this didn't happen, oh well... carrying on...)

Benson, now 16-17 returns to the finishing school he left behind. He meets "Andy"/"Andrea" who for lack of tact gives him Oral Sex for the first time the same day as President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. This confirms Benson's suspensions of his homosexuality while at the same time starts to bring about change in Benson's attitudes toward Catholicism and his homosexuality. Benson meets "Clitherow," a fellow student and self-admitted "agnostic bi-sexual" at the school that further quickens Benson's change from being fully in the bosom of the Catholic church to being unhappy with it's doctrines. Together within the final eight pages they go to a orgy that is being thrown by one of Clitherow's "homosexual contacts." It's admitted by Clitherow that he has never had sexual relations with other men, but has felt a girl up at a high-school party before. Benson has things done to him in the dark of the orgy as does Clitherow and Benson also does sexual favors (oral, basically) for Clitherow. They return to Clitherow's home where Benson finds out his mother has fallen ill.

The illness is never stated, and eventually his mother (who is having trouble breathing) dies at the hospital in a coma that day after an operation that put her in a more weakened state.

The end of the book basically has Benson's father packing up his mothers stuff and carrying it away to the "Sisters"/nuns of the Catholic service. Benson takes back the compact he bought for his mother that Christmas not even a month before and a month after the Kennedy Assassination. Anyway, Benson sleeps with the compact that night and admits all his feelings and his confirmation of his homosexuality to the compact. Hoping his mother would be alright with his changing feelings to life.

His dad goes for a walk soon after, and Benson dances (like he did at the start of the book) to music in front of a window that he doesn't cover the blinds for (like he did at the start of the book), accepting his homosexuality and not caring who sees him dancing at this point/not caring who sees him for who he is.

A side-note: Jennifer's review (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) stops midway through the book. The last quarter of the book is Benson finally evolving from strict Catholic to seeing the errors of strict Catholic dogma and accepting that maybe he isn't as religious as he thought. He does *NOT* think "what I'm doing is wrong, and I'm going to do it anyway." He does, for a moment but after meeting Clitherow this firmly changes with the reading of Sarte and Jean Genet, recommended to him by Clitherow. Double-so after meeting Clitherow's parents who admit they share the same views Clitherow does in regards to Catholic dogma and it's nonacceptance (for 1960) of contraceptive use in sex for population planning and other such issues. It's at this point that Benson doesn't care if he is or isn't a Catholic (for the record, he feels his faith has lapsed/left him like "Andy" admits in a second encounter with him at Andy's home). He's fine with just being himself and accepting his homosexuality.

The book's ending leaves a little to be desired: Benson's dad knows the reason why he left St. Finbar, after being told the reason by the priest. Benson, at the time, is embarrassed (and angry at the priest) and lies; "It was a one time thing and in the past" paraphrasing. This is part of the shame of accepting your homosexuality for most people and them not wanting to admit it to their parents.

However, after Benson's acceptance and Benson's mothers death, it leaves the hanging question of "does Benson's dad know his sons homosexuality is really true?" Something I hope the second novel, "Stripping Penguins Bare" answers.

Overall, I read the book based on Jennifer's review of it including an orgy expecting it to be a divisive and/or offensive novel. But I find it to be a decent "coming out" story of a males homosexuality even in modern times. Double so with it's focus on faith and conflicting thoughts with the fact that Catholicism finds "sodomy to be a sin." Something that Benson has to grapple with in fear of being damned to hell for all eternity while he is still strongly in the Catholic camp.

It's a shame the second and third novel weren't reprinted with the "fourth Benson novel"/Benson at Sixty being released in 2010. I'll have to hope that ILL's or bookstores in the future have a copy of them both, given they've been out of print for a while. I do want to see more of Benson's adventure/life now.

[Vin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I’m not the right man for bedwetting and a child’s sexual exploration but I know a colleague who would be.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This most hilariously touching and poignant coming-out, coming-of-age story I've ever read.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, it is wonderfully childlike, vivid and funny. I can read it again and again, beautiful.

[Alhasan Ghazzawi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light and comical. Rich in religious Irish culture. Still relatable for those struggling with their sexuality within the confines of religious conditioning.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

What appears to be another funny YA book about starting to grow up, "Sucking Sherbet Lemons" becomes almost another book all together when Benson decides to attend a monastery to escape bullying and his sexual desire for men. Benson finds leaving his childhood home does not necessarily give him the freedom he craves. Growing up in 1960s Ireland is a limiting experience if you're a male teen who regularly prays to Jesus and attends church to stop thinking about men and constantly bash up against stereotypes about what it means to be a man. I found this book--originally published in 1989--to be one of my 2016 favorites. Highly recommend. GoodReads description: What do you do when you're fat, 14, and your obsessions include the Catholic Church, doing the right thing, scones and sweets, and other boys and their private parts? Well, if you're Benson, you panic and flee, hiding from the flesh as a novice in a monastery. Alas, St. Finbar's monastery is as full of temptation as the grammar school he'd left behind. The devils of desire find Benson once again and throw him back into the world from which he’d tried to escape. Returned to school, Benson is still trying to square the circle of his conflicting enthusiasms and desires. This comic epic is a warm, funny, and bold reminder of just how new, and superficial, sexual tolerance in contemporary society really is.

[Jim Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a friend that told me he joined the marines in an attempt to put an end to his urges to have sex with men. But once he joined, he said, he never had so much gay sex in his life. Similarly, the protagonist of this funny and sad book is a devoutly Catholic English boy who because of his sexual guilt decides to join a seminary. Of course, most of his fellow seminarians are gay and there’s a 70-year old Irish brother there who keeps trying to get him alone in the woods to mess around. He leaves under a cloud of suspicion and once he returns to the “real world,” he begins to question all he has come to hold dear about the Church. The book ends with him going to a male orgy. When he returns home, in a final twist of Catholic guilt, he finds that his mother is on her deathbed. I’m not sure this book will be completely comprehensible to non-Catholics, but for those who grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s and went to Catholic school, you will be howling and cringing almost in equal parts.

[Hugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruno's in the garage...

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Mr Knox I’m sorry I tried so hard to like this book but it was absolute pain to turn a page. I didn’t understand half the religious jokes and by the time i got to 40% way through nothing interesting had happened. I wanted so badly to like it, and I really wanted to discuss it with my teacher (Mr Knox) but by god I could not read it.

[Christopherch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read - the reader is drawn right in along with this suffering gay boy, confused, full of catholic guilt - poor thing! The resolution to the book is a little implausible, with our main character’s sudden transformation. But it’s positive and certainly reflects the times back then, it really wasn’t easy.

[Mr Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as I remembered it after all these years, nevertheless still an enjoyable read and probably quite an accurate description of the idiocy of childhood foibles, adolescent angst, sexual awakening and the lunacy of many Roman Catholic beliefs (especially in the 50s and 60s). An entertaining read that leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next.

[Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last fifty pages are by far the best but I wouldn’t say are worth the first 220.

[amy hatrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasantly surprised, laughed a lot and enjoyed :)

[Hannah Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really liked. Loved the unintentional humour. Loved the characters and writing style. Would recommend :)

[Gracie Quinn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I’d liked this as he’s the only author I know, but sadly wasn’t my thing

[William Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book read a long time ago

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, 2.5 stars, though the writing deserves more, the writing was lovely. It's what was being written about that I didn't enjoy. I'm sure there is a market for books full of descriptions of children having consentual sex, but I am just not in that market. Actually there was never a point at which I thought that I would stop reading, even when two boys attend an orgy, because I was immersed in the story, It is after I have put the book down, when the power of the writing has faded, that I feel disturbed by the content.

I don't feel that Michael Carson is being pornographic, his bio contains a number of interesting similarities with the boy in the book - and in all probability lives are lived this way. It's just outside of anything that I can connect with.






















t6

[Jenny Roth]

I can't fairly rate this book, since I didn't read very far into it. Let's just say it wasn't my cup of tea. Maybe I was tricked by the citrus-themed title, but I was expecting something similar to Oranges are Not the Only Fruit: a coming-of-age tale about a child grappling with the equally confusing worlds of sexuality and religion, complicated by his discovery of his own homosexuality. But from what I read Benson's ideas about Catholicism and sexuality were pretty clear-cut: what I'm doing is a sin and I know it's a sin but I'm going to do it anyway.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange, strange book....