THE PELICAN FABLES

by J Christian Enochs

A modern day gay Lolita, The Pelican Fables is a poetic and provocatively written coming-of-age story that confronts the burgeoning sexuality of a young man in his last year of prep school.Adam Proffit is torn apart by his longstanding, highly concealed crush on his roommate of two years, Kellum Thurman, and the newly arrived faculty member, Carter Moran, whom Adam believes may share his attraction. But within the conservatively charged atmosphere of the Melbourne School, acting upon any of his sexual impulses presents a dangerous proposition that could jeopardize Adam's existence at Melbourne and destroy the future for which he has worked so long and hard.But keeping his feelings hidden poses perhaps an even graver and more devastating challenge. Adam must either come to terms with his sexuality or find the emerging self within him destroyed.Uplifting and surprising, The Pelican Fables will keep you wondering until the very last page.

142 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yipes. I read this book before anyone had reviewed it, and so went into it with only my love of boarding school stories. I don't know why I like boarding school stuff so much, I certainly didn't attend one. Didn't even live in the residences at university. But still, it's one of my favourite settings; so I bought this book as soon as I knew it existed.

The story is simple enough - a confused prep school student develops an infatuation with his young, hot teacher. Nothing much happens, though. It's all very vanilla. If I were more unkind, I'd say kind of boring.

Maybe that has something to do with the writing; it's probably one of the most literally descriptive books I've ever read. But, like, not in a good way. Every single detail and emotion and perception is painstakingly described in minute detail. I'm always a little offended by this because I feel like the author doesn't trust us to come to certain conclusions by ourselves. In a word, it's artless.

Ultimately, the message about self-acceptance and combating bigotry is important and can't be overstated. But this book fell a little flat for me.

[Gavin Stephenson-Jackman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice story that fulfils so many gay men's fantasies of an all male prep school.