Different for Boys by Patrick Ness and Tea Bendix
| Different for Boys by Patrick Ness and Tea Bendix | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: A stand-alone edition for an old novella of Ness's, showcasing once again the insight and thoughtfulness of A Monster Calls, with zero sense of the fantasy he's also capable of. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 104 | Date: March 2023 |
| Publisher: Walker Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781529509496 | |
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Ant is in Year Eleven at quite a standard school, and is surprised to find his geography class (within which it seems absolutely nothing about geography is ever learnt) has been restructured, so his desk is one of four with both his best buddy from the football team, and two other old muckers – in fact they all go back to primary school days together. As they're all fired up, straining at the leash only a single-sex school can form, the talk in class and out often turns to sex. Which is confusing for Ant, as he doesn't know what his score is, where his achievements in that regard lie. He's had a casual relationship, a secret one, for several months now, and so has effectively progressed up the ladder headed by 'experienced', but whether that's set in stone, he can't be sure. And that's mostly because of who he's been having the relationship and the sex with.
One stand-out thing to take from this book is the amount of redacting done. The first page is the list, the activities that surely aren't that unhealthy for the teenagers of the world to do, and it's blacked out in so many relevant places it looks farcical. Oddly, the characters respond later on to what they can and cannot say when they see their own dialogue reduced to blackened rectangles. You could claim the benefit it brings is the way it leaves some things to your imagination, and I can see that, but to me the main reason for it is to scoff at the censorious adult attitude when it comes to the teens reading and being characters in a story like this.
And disapproval is one of the key themes here. Charlie, one of the lads, has a love/hate relationship with the fact that Jack, also in the foursome of desks, has evolved into a Mark Ruffalo-crushing poof. This seems water off a duck's back to him, though, as it is to the fourth lad, Freddie, who wants the bulky Ant to join him in playing rugby. Charlie insists, on Ant's behalf, that Ant is solely a football player. Here then are themes about how acceptable bickering about sexuality is – even among friends, toxic masculinity circa fifteen years of age, and the sheer loneliness that some people can still feel when surrounded by friends, if they have any doubts about what kind of person they are and who they should be.
This was first included in a book in 2010, Losing It by Keith Gray, and by several reports (including my colleague's) was a stand-out. It will be fascinating to see how it will be responded to in 2023 – even back when first released the characters are convincing when they admit their generation was supposed to be beyond bickering about sexuality, and blacklisting people for being found out as gay. I suspect such practices will still be recognised even in this allegedly ‘woke' time of ours, in much the same way this is expected to be the greenest generation, hence them all demanding a new sh*t-load of rare earth metals called a smart phone each and every year.
And it's easy to predict a few horrid types wanting this banned, for simply portraying male teenaged homosexuality. They should try reading it first, and seeing how un-pro-gay it is, with the homosexual experience being considered less authentic, and therefore the straight sex most people would think of when thinking about someone's personal score deemed the only real thing. Yes, Ant is questioning his score because it's casual as well as the nature of his partner, but he lives in a world where sexuality is still seldom allowed to be fluid.
I'll run to a close now – it's clearly obvious that, despite the brevity of this, one can talk about this for too long. You'll note I said nothing about the artworks for this new edition, but I think it fair to say the least possible, when your reaction is like mine. The veracity, thoughtfulness and compassion given to the emotional life of our lead was the biggest picture here, anyway, and it was a mighty fine one.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli is a similar, if much longer, look at the threat of being forced out of the closet. We can also recommend How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi.
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