If I were wealthier, I’d have a better reading plan. I’d purchase books with abandon and read what I want when I wanted. Alas, sometimes you have to read what the Philadelphia Free Library sends you, and the last couple books they sent me are pretty sad. We’re not exactly talking Depression Books Hall of Fame, like A Little Life or Bridge to Terabithia or Where the Red Fern Grows levels of despair, but we are talking healthy amounts of drama and trauma.
While I prefer to pepper my sad books among some more joyous fare, there can be something of a catharsis reading a number of sad books in succession. (Full disclosure: I read a lengthy chapter of Oscar Wars between each book for a mood cleanser. Stay tuned for that.) There’s even something called the “sadness paradox” - the derivation of pleasure from the consumption of sad stories. We respond to characters going through it because we, as readers, are always on the hunt for characters worthy of compassion. There’s even research that sadness in stories offer hope - the novels below all bear this out. Each ends with moments of bittersweet hope.
This series of books ended up being terribly convenient for me to have a theme for this episode of the newsletter, but I must admit I am ready for some frivolity. Maybe next time, since I’m about to do some *sunglass emoji* vacation reading. But, until then, grab your kleenex, and put queer joy on pause for moment, because it’s about to get disconsolate up in here.
THE LIBRARY IS OPEN
Brother & Sister Enter the Forest
by Richard Mirabella (2023)
I really enjoy sibling books. Sibling relations are so rich for mining deep seated, complex feelings. For many of us, sibling relationships are the first ones in which we experience love, hate, discomfort, camaraderie, jealousy, etc. etc. And complicated sibling narratives are tales as old as time - we can go back to fairy tales, the Greeks, and even the Bible to witness siblings trying to work things out. Like Hansel and Gretel entered the forest together trying not to get eaten by a witch, our modern day sibling duo in this novel navigate the forest of the real world, attempting to not be overwhelmed by the circumstances they’ve been dealt throughout their lives.
Justin and Willa, raised by a single mom after their father dies when they’re young, have a complicated relationship that becomes even thornier as they age because of the lingering trauma from childhood circumstances. Justin realized he’s queer from a young age and immediately searched for solace in the arms of an older boyfriend who ends up introducing him to a world of passionate pleasure and unimaginable violence. When Justin gets wrapped up in boyfriend’s trail of terror, his life and his sister’s are altered forever, and they’re left needing one another without always knowing how to communicate. How do two siblings raised in almost identical circumstances end up negotiating the world so differently?
Justin unexpectedly shows up to Willa’s home after years of estrangement, and we’re off to the races. The book jumps around in time to various points in their lives when they’re close, not speaking, pining for one another, and afraid to be near the other. The writing is beautiful, and there are simple moments like the sister reaching out to take the brother’s hand that are so moving and effective in telling their story. As they grow together and apart again and again, we’re reminded that love is not supposed to be easy.
More full disclosure: I’m friends with the author on social media, and it’s been a joy watching him live out his debut novel experience. It’s very cool!
Read it if you like: sibling narratives, queer coming of age, upstate New York, dioramas, parents who are in over their heads.
Juno Loves Legs
by Karl Geary (2023)
First, I love this book title and cover so much. Juno and Legs are both people - and they make up that undeniably powerful partnership that I believe to be the best demographic combination for podcast hosts: straight girl and gay guy. This novel falls into the burgeoning genre of Bleak Shit Happening to Kids in the British Isles popularized recently by Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo. The books moves the action to Dublin this time, and frankly, I’m not upset to have missed the Catholic school experiences of Ireland in the 70s.
Juno is a firebrand, growing up in an unhappy and poor home, who gets in trouble quite often with the nuns and priests at her school because she speaks her mind a bit too often for their taste. One day she defends a young man abused for being too feminine by both the students and the nuns. (A nun ties a pink ribbon in his hair in the front of the classroom and allows everyone to take a shot at him. The Sound of Music would never!) They become fast friends and help each other through their horrible home and school lives. After Legs - a nickname given to him by Juno - is forced to leave their town, they lose touch, only to be reunited later in life under circumstances I won’t give away here.
The novel sings in their reunited young adulthood, but alas, the 80s for a young gay man presented some complications that proved difficult to overcome. It didn’t seem to be much better for young, iconoclast ladies in Dublin, either. Still, I loved their friendship journey so much, and the idea that an act of kindness in your childhood can alter the rest of your life and bond you with another person is touching. The book’s beautiful ending will stick with me for a while.
Read it if you like: Wild acts of revenge, girl and gay friendships, Ireland, bad parents, buses as villains.
The Long Run
by James Acker (2023)
OK, this one wasn’t as sad as the others, but it’s a YA romance where our protagonists find love in a hopeless place. The hopeless place in question here is New Jersey - specifically in the area outside of Philadelphia where I currently live. It’s practically a third character in the book, like NYC was in Sex and the City. They’re serving diner culture, sarcasm, and overbearing Italian moms. They also go to a high school in the same town where I routinely pick up delicious pies, so I felt a deep, delicious connection in ways other readers night not.
Sebastian is a half Black, half Mexican all star athlete who’s trying to figure out his own life after his mother’s death. He lives with his white stepfather, a strong, silent type with whom he can’t seem to connect. Speaking of not connecting, he recently broke up with his neighbor girlfriend because something didn’t feel right. He’s running as fast as he can from everyone, and not just because he’s a gifted track star. With senior year starting, he knows he wants to go to college, but he doesn’t know what else he wants from life.
Enter Sandro, a classmate of Sebastian’s forever, and a boy so nice he’d rather walk around on a broken foot than inconvenience his aloof parents or overdramatic brothers. Sandro is self-conscious because he’s extremely tall and due to an early puberty, he’s quite hirsute for his age - all the other reindeer call him the “Italian yeti.” (There are so many of descriptions of body hair in this book - not something you expect in a YA title.) He’s ready to get the heck out of Jersey, where he can act on some feelings he’s uncovering, and never look back. So, when one day Sebastian picks him up in his beat-up car when he sees him struggling walking in a cast and sparks fly, things get complicated!
These are sensitive, sad boys who find a soulmate in one another and work their way through some feelings. Would that we were all matched with an attractive feelings sherpa our senior year of high school. The best part of the book were the intimate conversations the boys had together, where they realized pretty early in life that sometimes you need someone else to truly self-actualize. I’d love an update on them someday.
Read it if you like: Friends to lovers, New Jersey, bad parents, the rare good step-parent, realistic endgame circumstances for teenagers.
LIGHTNING ROUND
Maybe you’re in the mood for a sad straight guy? This one’s a college wrestler.
It’s been several years, and I still remember how upset the ending of this book made me.
Before TikTok got a hold of this book, real ones knew that it’s true: They both do die at the end.
Until next time…happy reading!