Tell Me It’s Real – T J Klune

[PaperMoon]

I realise there are cartloads of Bear, Otter and The Kid (BOATK) fans out there who truly appreciate and adore the main characters (especially Tyson) in both books in the series; I cannot count myself amongst this league. I did however take a risk to try Tell Me It’s Real (especially since the characters don’t include a kid) to see if would gain a better appreciation for Klune’s very distinctive writing style. I’m truly glad I did because this proved to be one of the more entertaining and amusing books I’ve read over the past few months – laugh out loud amusing!

In many aspects this title reminds me of The Epic Love Story of Doug and Stephen … a prickly standoff-ish protagonist who cannot understand why he’s being pursued by a gorgeous slightly dim guy and doing everything possible to put off the said hunk. Paul (narrator) is physically unlike Stephen though … husky, less self-confident and less snarky. He has incredibly supportive parents, a OTT best friend Sandy - whose drag queen persona (Helena Handbasket) steals every scene in the book, crazy extended family members and truly memorable pets. Paul’s character voice is definitely/typically Klune though … verbal stream-of-consciousness prose – inner dialogue that’s spoken out loud with not much restraint or editing. This made for some funny moments and repartee interactions between Paul and his loved ones. I appreciated Paul’s sardonic self-evaluation of his body shape, his endowment measurements, his social-desirability cache – so nice to find a gay romance-genre MC who’s not ideally proportioned – not even close.

Vince is the hunk with a heart of gold, a mysterious past, some dubious friends and a slightly less than average intelligence chasing after Paul (he’s not as dim as the aforementioned Doug though). His backstory and character development only really starts to get going from midway through the book and I did appreciate his storyline-arc by the end of the book. There were a couple of moments where I wanted to smack Vince for his seemingly out of character reactions but these puzzling responses were made clear eventually. There were also one of two unexpected plot revelations tied in with Vince (can’t give more away here unfortunately) and how delightful that ‘the hunk’ is not written as an entirely perfect character either. The cast of secondary characters were all memorable and distinctive – pets ‘Wheels’ and ‘Johnny Depp’ included!

T J Klune himself rates this book as better than BOATK and its sequel … I have to say I’m totally in agreement with him on this point. Readers will appreciate a slow-burn romance (not insta-love … but the book does provide some very interesting points on how does one ‘just know’ that someone is ‘the one’ at initial meetings). I’m pleased to say I found this Klune offering a genuinely warm and truly cute romance read – highly recommended.

[Octobercountry]

I recently read TJ Klune’s Tell Me It's Real, and I agree with PaperMoon's assessment above completely:

Do you believe in love at first sight? Paul Auster doesn't. Paul doesn't believe in much at all. He’s thirty, slightly overweight, and his best features are his acerbic wit and the color commentary he provides as life passes him by. His closest friends are a two-legged dog named Wheels and a quasibipolar drag queen named Helena Handbasket. He works a dead-end job in a soul-sucking cubicle, and if his grandmother's homophobic parrot insults him one more time, Paul is going to wring its stupid neck.

Enter Vince Taylor.

Vince is everything Paul isn’t: sexy, confident, and dumber than the proverbial box of rocks. And for some reason, Vince pursues Paul relentlessly. Vince must be messing with him, because there is no way Vince could want someone like Paul.

But when Paul hits Vince with his car—in a completely unintentional if-he-died-it'd-only-be-manslaughter kind of way—he's forced to see Vince in a whole new light. The only thing stopping Paul from believing in Vince is himself—and that is one obstacle Paul can’t quite seem to overcome. But when tragedy strikes Vince's family, Paul must put aside any notions he has about himself and stand next to the man who thinks he's perfect the way he is.

When I first started this, Paul’s offbeat stream-of-consciousness thought process was slightly off-putting; I was thinking to myself “Am I really in the mood for this sort of thing right now?” But after only a few pages I completely got into the spirit of the style, and couldn’t wait to see what comically outrageous things Paul and his best friend Sandy would come up with next, in their conversations.

No doubt about it, this book is FUNNY. As Papermoon noted, the overall tone put me very much in mind of The Epic Love Story of Doug and Stephen, another comic novel which I enjoyed and that had been discussed on the old AE book thread. Like that book, the plot of this is highly improbable in a highly amusing fashion. But Tell Me It’s Real has the advantage over the other book in that it’s both funnier (man, I love, love, love Paul’s goofy family), and deeper; more heartfelt. The characters seem over the top at the beginning, but as we get to know them they gain a sort of depth and clarity and they come to life in a very real way, despite the absurdities of the situations they find themselves in.

In short, I loved the book and recommend it most highly!

One caveat, however… The silly banter between Paul and Sandy does occasionally seem a bit misogynistic. It’s mild, and would seem to be more thoughtless than nasty, but these references were still just a little off-putting for me... Also, to be a bit nit-picky: The Paul-and-Vince stargazing scene, a pivotal moment in their relationship, is very sweet but highly inaccurate. The constellations Orion and Scorpius are NEVER seen in the sky together. This is a very basic error, and I wonder how it slipped through…

[Ulysses]

I've enjoyed all of TJ Klune's books. There is a pattern. His characters overthink - particularly in the "Otter and Bear" books. It can be exhausting, because anyone who is or knows an over-thinker understands the emotional toll exacted by this kind of mind. It can be tough to read.

But "Tell Me It's Real" offers the expected (and, I suspect, from his fans, looked-for) overthinking with the additional ingredients of marvelously fast pacing and unexpected, offbeat humor. I guess it's easier to embrace frustrating characters when they make you laugh.

Paul Auster is a great guy. A little overweight, maybe. He and his best friend, Sandy, have been tight since they were little kids. Both gay, both out since high school, both each other's chief protector against the world. But, while Sandy has developed a fierce alter-ego in his drag persona Helena, thiry-year-old Paul seems never to quite have developed any strong sense of his self-worth. All he sees is how inadequate he is in comparison with the hot jocky boys who hang out in the local bar and watch Helena's performances. And of course, being Paul, he overthinks it.

Until one of those jocky boys zeroes in on him. And then the fun begins.

Klune's greatest gift is his characters. Oddball, loving, generous-hearted; the people who surround Paul with their love and try to steer him toward happiness are - to use Paul's words - pretty much awesome. They help the reader deal with Paul's frustrating self-dismissal, and get the reader on Paul's side, until one is pretty much part of the cheering squad as Paul stumbles and sputters his way toward Vincent.

TJ Klune's best book yet.

[Octobercountry]

When starting a book you never know, do you, whether it will be a story that sticks with you for a very long time, or whether it will be a disposable story that is almost instantly forgotten...

Well, as it turns out, Tell Me It's Real is one of those books that linger in the mind. Let's see, I first read it over two years ago. And since then I've read it in its entirety several more times. Not only that, it's one of my go-to books for a quick pick-me-up. I can randomly open the book to any page, dive right in for another partial re-read, and before you know it I'll find I'm laughing once more.

I don't know that I can articulate what makes this book so special for me. But it is more memorable than about 90% of the m/m books I've read over the past five years---and yes, I still think it's hilarious. And I'm so happy to know that TJ Klune is, at this very moment, hard at work on a sequel. The new story will be told from Sandy's point of view, and I can't wait.