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Holistic Guidance - Strings Attached
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List Price: $18.99
Our Price: $17.09
Your Save: $ 1.90 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781419628894
ISBN: 1419628895
Label: BookSurge Publishing
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 312
Publication Date: 2006-06-12
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
Release Date: 2006-04-19
Studio: BookSurge Publishing
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Editorial Reviews:
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Adolescence is a hazardous way of life for 17-year-old Jeremy Tyler; his father died in a mysterious accident when he was a child, and his mother has since descended into alcoholic hell and forced rehab; that's when he's sent from the Fresno slums of his childhood to the posh estate of his overbearing great aunt Katherine and her censorious husband - liberated from an economic prison, only to land in an emotional one - and is overwhelmed by the change. It's not easy for him to fit into the upper crust, particularly because he's trying to hide how much he's attracted to other boys. Jeremy's story of breaking free from the strands of dishonesty, deceit, and self-doubt has its parallels to the tale of Pinocchio, but Nolan's queer take is totally contemporary: think the TV series The OC - girls with mean cheekbones, well-built guys with snotty attitudes, and Jeremy in the role of a queer Ryan Atwood. He's a good-looking kid, with a sleek swimmer's physique - and the swim team's champ is out to get him. He dates one of the smart-set girls in an attempt to keep his gay hormones at bay - but that doesn't do him much good. Nolan's debut novel is a kitchen sink of genres - coming of age, coming out, mystery, romance, erotica, even a dash of the supernatural - that add up to an impressive story about the passage from boyhood to manhood. -From BOOKS TO WATCH OUT FOR by Richard Labonte
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Stunning.
Comment: This book is by far one of the best pieces of gay literature ive ever read. I can totally relate to Jeremy and his life situation. Going from one extreme, to another. And how money can change you.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A gay soap opera that takes itself too seriously
Comment: After I'd read the first few chapters of this book, it struck me that I was reading a gay version of The OC. It didn't disappoint on giving all the twists and turns you might want in a teenage soap opera--there's intrigue, betrayal, crime, lavish descriptions of the lives and playthings of the superrich, and, of course, sexual tension. Plenty of deus ex machina plot points (coincidence is about as close to an actual fulcrum you get, here) and expository dialogue round out the picture of a perfect gay soap. I rolled my eyes when reading this book--a lot.
But I kept going, because like any good soap opera, you just have to know what happens next. Unfortunately, towards the end of the book I started to realize that the author wasn't writing camp, he wasn't writing satire--he was dead serious, and thought he was writing a bildungsroman thriller. (This was well before I'd read the author's notes, where he goes into great detail explicating how the book is a retelling of Pinocchio, and describes each of the allusions one by one.)
The ending doesn't hold up, not by a mile. If I had still thought I was reading a campy gay take on the teenage drama, I'd have forgiven that. But now I knew I was reading something that took itself seriously, and I expected more. The protagonist says, in a penultimate funeral scene, that the deceased had "[warned] me, because she knew that I was in danger. If she hadn't, I might be dead and she would be the one holding this can of ashes." Upon reading this, I stopped, backed up several pages, and tried to figure out what I'd missed--the warning didn't seem to change the protagonist's behavior in the slightest, and the events leading to the death happened without his involvement. What could he be talking about? But no, rereading shed no light. I hadn't missed anything--except, perhaps, something that was excised from an earlier draft. There were several non sequiturs sprinkled about of this sort.
I'm disappointed. For trash, I can suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride. But this wasn't trash, and my disbelief wasn't sufficiently suspended to get through the ending.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Strings Attached
Comment: This is a page turner. A must read for any avid reader. It is not your typical gay novel. Three dimensional characters, an on the edge of your seat plot set in the California hills. There were times while reading this book I could swear I was reading a novel by Christopher Rice with a splash of Bart Yates. I have a great collection of gay themed books. This one will go on my top 10 list for sure. The author hints of a sequel in his notes. If so then I can't wait. Nick Nolan is on my radar.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An Everyman Kind Of Tale
Comment:
When I began reading the premise of STRINGS ATTACHED as being a modern day retelling of the PINOCCHIO story, I was afraid that it might be a very rigid and confining way to write a narrative. But, after reading the book, I realize that I couldn't have been more wrong. As I began to see more and more that all of us, no matter what our background or sexual orientation, are subject to having our strings pulled as if we are puppets in the process of growing up, the story of Jeremy Tyler became for me a very universal one. He becomes, as the twists and turns of the plot progress, a kind of Everyman figure for any boy who wants to grow up to be a "real" man.
The premise is never heavy-handed and even where one notices it, the reader is never hit over the head with it by Nolan making the hint too obvious. The story has such a natural progression and I was caught up into what was going to happen to the characters immediately especially to Jeremy.
Lessons are to be learned here like: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is, such as the first impression Jeremy has of the rich life he's thrown into by his circumstances. (At first, he thinks he's hit the jackpot.) And, those we originally think we can put our trust in, often have their own ulterior motives for only seeming to have our best interests at heart. Likewise, those who we think have failed us the most, might love us dearly, but never learned how to show it. But, the best lesson that Jeremy had to learn to become a "real" man was that in spite of the fact that his life up to this point has given him no indications that he could or should trust anyone, to grow up we have to eventually learn to throw caution to the wind and hand over our trust to at least a few good people.
In the final analysis, the criteria for judging any book as a good one was met in the end by the fact that I approached the end of the book by dragging my feet finishing it, because I simply wasn't ready to say goodbye to Jeremy Tyler so fast. Like many others who have reviewed this book, I too am hoping for a sequel.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Real world reminder
Comment: This book I believe they turned into a movie, but is definatly an interesting read! It will have you wanting to read the whole thing at once, wondering what will happen to him, and how he is going to get through the next day. I enjoyed this book and understood the struggles one faces when trying to figure out who you are in life, and who will it affect...if anyone. The character has a big heart and you definatly feel for him. If your looking for a good book to sit down and read, you will love this book!
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