A review by mxbenjaminrose
Golden Boy, by Abigail Tarttelin
3.0
It's important to have good stories like this featuring characters like these. I applaud Tarttelin for creating a story that is very human, but challenging. I liked a lot of things about this book. Archie was an especially endearing character, as was Daniel.
However, I just can't give it too much praise because the heavy subject matter is not handled gracefully, in my opinion. [SPOILER]: The very. first. chapter. is a rape scene. Not an implied scene, either - it's a detailed and explicit account. I'm not against the purposeful use of such heavy scenes, but Tarttelin just drops us into that scene without any build-up or prior attachment to the characters. Every appearance by Hunter in the story is abrupt and makes it hard to follow the story at a reasonable pace.
Maybe I just missed something; like I said, I could see a lot of good here. But the way the subject matter was handled seemed a little careless and caused the story to take some major ups and downs. That said, please keep writing diverse and unique characters like Max.
However, I just can't give it too much praise because the heavy subject matter is not handled gracefully, in my opinion. [SPOILER]: The very. first. chapter. is a rape scene. Not an implied scene, either - it's a detailed and explicit account. I'm not against the purposeful use of such heavy scenes, but Tarttelin just drops us into that scene without any build-up or prior attachment to the characters. Every appearance by Hunter in the story is abrupt and makes it hard to follow the story at a reasonable pace.
Maybe I just missed something; like I said, I could see a lot of good here. But the way the subject matter was handled seemed a little careless and caused the story to take some major ups and downs. That said, please keep writing diverse and unique characters like Max.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault