Jeff Adams, Flipping for Him

[Ulysses]

By Jeff Adams
Published by J&W books, 2015
Cover design: Sylvia Frost
Four stars

Parkour and racism: what could be a better combination for a gay YA romance?

I’m not being sarcastic. For a book with gay teens in mind, this is pretty great.

Kevin McCollum is a tall, self-described lanky redhead. One day, basking on the rocks in Central Park like a lizard to catch the spring warmth (I’ve done it, it’s a thing), Kevin spots this hot, short Asian guy doing parkour on the rocks nearby. (If you don’t know what parkour is, google it. It’s cool, although not something I could ever have done, even when I was a teenager!)
Shin Tanaka is another Upper-West-Side gay boy, and he’s teaching himself parkour. When he spots the tall redhead pretending not to eye him as he works out, he decides to just say “hi.”

Good move. Like all Shin’s moves.

How interesting, in 2016, to have a story where being gay is not the issue. Here are two gay city high school boys, both out and proud, yet not hugely experienced in the ways of love. It’s not a first romance, but it’s different than what either of them have known. The problem is racism, and not the expected white-folks-hating-on-non-whites, but the reverse. The racism we don’t really discuss in this culture.

There’s not a vast amount of sturm und drang here; but the presentation of both Kevin and Shin is crisp, believable, and adorable. For someone of my generation, it’s hard to grasp being able to fantasize about another boy’s beauty without feeling shame. When I was sixteen, every stolen look was tainted with guilt. Every thought of my future gay self was edged with fear. Fortunately I survived and the world (praise God) moved on. Now boys like Kevin and Shin exist, but not without their own set of problems.

So, not epic, but embraceable. A sweet little love story for our times. Just right for the first day of spring. Thanks Jeff Adams.