Bash the Flash (Sebastian) and Sandro, narrators of James Acker's The Long Run, wouldn't seem to have enough in common to sustain a friendship, never mind a relationship.
Bash is a golden boy athlete, popular with his peers, the kind of guy people tend to see as being on the verge of a glorious future. They can't see his loneliness. His father abandoned him. His beloved mother died. He lives with his stepfather, a man who seems more like an acquaintance than a family member. His friends seem to not really know him, to be people he constantly has to prove himself to.
Sandro lives in the middle of a big, noisy, dramatic family, sharing limited space with two parents, two big brothers, and three, soon to be four, of their progeny. Nobody in his clan seem to listen to him, especially when he needs help. He dreams of going to college far away from home and and having his own apartment.
They're two guys whose paths were unlikely to cross...until they got invited to the same wild party and begin to move slowly and clumsily towards friendship and possibly more.
I'd highly recommend The Long Run for more mature high school readers and even more for college students. The boys are complex, sometimes contradictory characters who reveal themselves to the reader and each other and readers with a great deal of honesty and vulnerability.
But I believe the sexuality is a little too explicit for younger YA readers.
On a purrrsonal note, the barbeque and 🎒 distribution went off beautifully. I was able to give out twenty-six fully loaded backpacks. There was plenty of good food and congenial socializing. Everything cooperated beautifully 😍 🤩 👌 even the weather. Now the cycle starts again. I've taken inventory and started stocking up for next year.
A great deal shout out goes out to all who participated.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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