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親友とその息子
Paperback Bunko
First published September 10, 2013
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 14, 2015
While it ultimately wasn't quite as bad as I thought after having read the first hundred pages, it still wasn't very good. I must have bought this relatively early during my BL novel reading stage, so it's been sitting on my shelf for quite some time while I was reading Nagira Yuu and Eda Yuuri. The latter definitely was a better use of my time.
The thing is, there are actually parts of this that aren't bad or even interesting. Still, "Shinyuu to sono musuko" suffers from two main problems: characters who don't act completely over the top and unlike any real human being ever would and a structure that doesn't do the story any favors. Add to it a weird and somewhat creepy way to deal with the serious topic of child abuse and you have the mess that is this novel.
Kayama is an author of children's books who has been in love with his - older - best friend Nogaki since forever. Actually, ever since he's been molested as a child by a young man and was saved by Nogaki. When Nogaki's 17 year old son Tomoya (Nogaki is at this point a divorcée) suddenly declares he's in love with Kayama, Nogaki offers to sleep with Kayama in order to keep him from hooking up with his son.
As if this setting wasn't weird enough, you really have to read the internal dialogue of Kayama - who is repeatedly about to be swept away by Tomoya's attempts of seduction which mostly involve Tomoya throwing himself at Kayama - to believe them. Tomoya, being Nogaki's son, obviously resembles his father somewhat, but that shouldn't be a reason for being okay with sleeping with him.
But what do you expect with such a setting.. I actually had different hopes judging from the cover - I thought Kayama was actually the son, and Nogaki the disgruntled best friend. I don't know why I thought that, and how that would have been better.. anyway, what was interesting where the parts about Kayama's life as a writer, his sudden fame and fall from it, and the public's reaction to his sexuality. And if his entire behavior had been actually treated seriously - as a consequence of what happened to him as a child - it might have been interesting.
As it is, it feels like I the author couldn't quite decide whether this was supposed to be a comedy or a tragedy. As a result the events in Kayama's past have a very weird atmosphere to them - they're not glossed over, but also not dealt with properly in my opinion. The weird love triangle was so very much not believable and I didn't want anyone to end up with anyone to be honest. It takes some skill to make me not root for the uke's happiness after having been in love with his best friend for years.
And the weird structure - that the romance/sex part happens in the beginning and only then the plot involving Kayama's life as a writer really starts - doesn't help either.
Ah well. As I said on tumblr, the good thing about novels like this is that they make you appreciate the good novels more. And it did have two nice sex scenes with some good dirty talk. Only to be ruined by the last scene where OF COURSE the uke is suddenly OH SO EMBARRASSED again.
I'm glad I managed to finish this today, because this way I can read something nice to end the year with.
The thing is, there are actually parts of this that aren't bad or even interesting. Still, "Shinyuu to sono musuko" suffers from two main problems: characters who don't act completely over the top and unlike any real human being ever would and a structure that doesn't do the story any favors. Add to it a weird and somewhat creepy way to deal with the serious topic of child abuse and you have the mess that is this novel.
Kayama is an author of children's books who has been in love with his - older - best friend Nogaki since forever. Actually, ever since he's been molested as a child by a young man and was saved by Nogaki. When Nogaki's 17 year old son Tomoya (Nogaki is at this point a divorcée) suddenly declares he's in love with Kayama, Nogaki offers to sleep with Kayama in order to keep him from hooking up with his son.
As if this setting wasn't weird enough, you really have to read the internal dialogue of Kayama - who is repeatedly about to be swept away by Tomoya's attempts of seduction which mostly involve Tomoya throwing himself at Kayama - to believe them. Tomoya, being Nogaki's son, obviously resembles his father somewhat, but that shouldn't be a reason for being okay with sleeping with him.
But what do you expect with such a setting.. I actually had different hopes judging from the cover - I thought Kayama was actually the son, and Nogaki the disgruntled best friend. I don't know why I thought that, and how that would have been better.. anyway, what was interesting where the parts about Kayama's life as a writer, his sudden fame and fall from it, and the public's reaction to his sexuality. And if his entire behavior had been actually treated seriously - as a consequence of what happened to him as a child - it might have been interesting.
As it is, it feels like I the author couldn't quite decide whether this was supposed to be a comedy or a tragedy. As a result the events in Kayama's past have a very weird atmosphere to them - they're not glossed over, but also not dealt with properly in my opinion. The weird love triangle was so very much not believable and I didn't want anyone to end up with anyone to be honest. It takes some skill to make me not root for the uke's happiness after having been in love with his best friend for years.
And the weird structure - that the romance/sex part happens in the beginning and only then the plot involving Kayama's life as a writer really starts - doesn't help either.
Ah well. As I said on tumblr, the good thing about novels like this is that they make you appreciate the good novels more. And it did have two nice sex scenes with some good dirty talk. Only to be ruined by the last scene where OF COURSE the uke is suddenly OH SO EMBARRASSED again.
I'm glad I managed to finish this today, because this way I can read something nice to end the year with.
Displaying 1 of 1 review