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In The Rough (2009)

by J.B. McDonald(Favorite Author)

3.83 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1603707794 (ISBN13: 9781603707794)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Torquere Press

series

By Degrees

review 1: Good, but with hard-to-read subject matterWarning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS. Rating: 7/10PROS: - Good characterization. Particularly well done are the development of Rick’s long-standing feelings for Jay and his susceptibility to Jay’s charms. I also liked Jay quite a bit overall even though he’s basically a dead-beat and has some really unlikeable qualities. (The depiction of the social worker is eerily on the mark, too.)- The evolution of the relationship from friendship to love is gradual and felt realistic to me.- I didn’t find Emmy, Jay’s daughter, to be stereotypical. She has just the right mix of childish cuteness and pre-teen attitude.- McDonald’s exposition is often dry and matter-of-fact in a way that’s quite funn... morey. Some of my favorite instances happen when Rick has resolved not to have sex with Jay anymore, period, and then Jay walks in looking and smelling all sexy. At one point when that happens, Rick sighs “mightily” and thinks that “the world [is] against him.”CONS: - The flashbacks of childhood horrors (both Jay’s and Rick’s) are detailed enough that I had a hard time reading some of them. They don’t glorify the abuse or violence, but they relate the unpleasantness frankly.- McDonald doesn’t identify which flashbacks belong to which character until well into the book: they all just say “he.” There’s bound to be a reason for this, because the author strikes me as a conscientious writer--are the ambiguous flashbacks meant to align Jay and Rick, maybe? Are they supposed to show the universality of suffering? Probably yes, on both accounts, but I found the ambiguity frustrating.- There’s very little coverage of the emotional effects Emmy experiences as a result of a) the abuse and b) the total upheaval of her life (moving in with her dad and changing schools, not being allowed to see her mom very often, etc.).- There’s a sex scene after the big “we like each other and we’re going to be together” discussion, but it falls flat in my opinion. The explosion of passion I expected and wanted just isn’t quite there.Overall comments: This is a good book, with good characterization of atypical protagonists. I liked By Degrees better than this volume because it felt a little more complete and settled to me, but the two books together make an above-average series. They’re definitely keepers for me.
review 2: This is the story of Jay and Rick, two thirty-something men who have been best friends for 20+ years, fuck buddies for years and have both kept a tight leach on their feelings for each other for different reasons. Jay is a looser who thinks he can only be failure and does not deserve happiness. Rick is a self-made man (though not rich, far from it) and does not want to have his heart broken by another looser like his father. Then jay's daughter is taken away from her mother (Jay's ex-wife) by social services but they'll only give Jay custody if he proves that he can provide his daughter with a stable life and a safe home. Can immature Jay, who is very comfortable in his looser and irresponsible life, step up and be the dad his daughter needs? And wouldn't an adult and responsible Jay now be boyfriend material in Rick's eyes? I liked everything about this book: the characters, their loyal friendship, their devotion to each other from the moment they met years ago. I liked Jay's struggle to give a safe home to his daughter, his struggle against his total lack of self-worth. I was sad to see how such a bright young boy became a school drop out, incapable of holding a job or building a romantic relationship because he believed he was not worth any good happening to him. I liked Rick's strength. I liked that in spite of his difficult past, he had such a strong self-esteem and such a belief in life and people. I've always been fascinated by how differently people react to psychological trauma. Why is it that some will get stronger when others will just loose it? You can never tell for sure how people are going to react, sometimes it's the "strong" one who breaks.I liked the prose of the author, it's simple and goes straight to the point. I also liked that the heroes are typical "men behaving like men". I was in the mood for a very "manly" book and this book never disappoint. It's probably the third or fourth time I've read it. less

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