Title: Rainbow Boys
Author: Alex Sanchez
Series: Rainbow Trilogy
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publish Date: May 1, 2003
Genre: Gay YA Contemporary
Pages: 272 Pages
Source: Brian: Bought at Independent Bookstore, Shaunta: Borrowed from Brian
Buy the Book: Rainbow Boys
Synopsis: Jason Carrillo is a jock with a steady girlfriend, but he can’t stop dreaming about sex…with other guys.
Kyle Meeks doesn’t look gay, but he is. And he hopes he never has to tell anyone — especially his parents.
Nelson Glassman is “out” to the entire world, but he can’t tell the boy he loves that he wants to be more than just friends.
Three teenage boys, coming of age and out of the closet. In a revealing debut novel that percolates with passion and wit, Alex Sanchez follows these very different high-school seniors as their struggles with sexuality and intolerance draw them into a triangle of love, betrayal, and ultimately, friendship. (Via Amazon)
Brian: What the hell was I doing in 2003? At the time of my life when I needed books like David Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy, which came out in September, and Alex Sanchez’s Rainbow Boys, which came out in May (the week of my senior prom!), I wasn’t paying close attention. Rainbow Boys was a magical read for me in the three days I poured through it earlier this month, but I can’t even imagine what this book would have been like for me if I had read it back in ’03, when I was graduating high school, starting college, and as closeted as you could possibly get. I love this novel, here now at age 28, but I think it could have changed my life back when I was eighteen, I honestly do. Oh, well, better late than never, I guess! Shaunta found the entire Rainbow Boys trilogy on the shelf when we were at a local independent bookstore in Reno. She dropped them in my hands and said, “You should get these. All of these.” I knew nothing about them. Did I really want to shell out cash for all three? I decided to take a chance on them. Boy, I’m glad I did. As I finished this wonderful novel, I was so happy that I had not one but two more books about these characters to look forward to.
Shaunta: The very best parts of this book, for me, are that I knew Brian would love them and the author’s writing style reminded me so much of Brian’s that it was a very comfortable read for me. I didn’t find it quite as perfect as Brian did, but I enjoyed it. And I’m glad it’s out there. I firmly believe that everyone should be able to find representatives of themselves in pop culture. That’s what this book does. It’s a pretty mainstream YA contemporary romance/coming of age story with characters who are gay. I think it borders on being an “issue” book, which I like less. I dislike when books try to be a peek into the mind of a (fill-in-the-blank) person. Rainbow Boys doesn’t quite go there, but in some places it almost does.
Brian: Rainbow Boys is a straightforward, riveting story of three high school seniors who are at various stages of coming out. One is Jason, the closeted jock, whose first step toward acceptance comes in the first scene when he attends a meeting for GLBT youth. He has a girlfriend, has a dad who is as homophobic as it comes, and yet he can’t deny his feelings. There’s Nelson, the out and proud gay, who never apologizes for who he is and who he wants. When he has unprotected sex with a much older man, he becomes terrified he might be HIV positive. And then there’s Kyle, a swimmer who is somewhere between these two mentalities—he’s still not out to his parents, but he’s much more open about who he is than Jason. Soon Kyle and Jason start to fall for each other, which makes things more complicated, since Nelson loves Kyle. Is Rainbow Boys the most unpredictable book in the world? No. There are a few steps in the plot I saw coming, and the arc of Jason’s character is something expected, if necessary. For me, this book was about the journey, with three people I feel like I knew in high school. We’ve all met them, at one time or another, and Sanchez brings them to life beautifully on the page.
Shaunta: This book meant so much to Brian that I almost hate to say that it was a little uneven to me. Some parts were super touching and really well done. The scenes were Jason and Kyle are first getting to know each other and Jason is first trusting his feelings. Those are amazing. The dichotomy between Nelson’s outward bravado and inward insecurity, also fantastic. But then there would be whole scenes that felt like the author shoved as many gay cliches as he possibly could into a few pages. I wanted to love Jason’s character more than I did. I was turned off by the way he treated his girlfriend (and then even more turned off by the way she treated him when he came out to her.) I also thought Kyle must be the most oblivious boy on the planet not to catch on that Nelson is into him until halfway through the book. My instinct is to say: this is a great book with gay themes. What I wish I could say: this is a great book. If you take away the gayness, if it was a basic girl/boy/boy love triangle, it would have been a little bit–meh. But, it’s not, because gay love triangles are so much less common. I just wish it didn’t have to rely on that so much.
Brian: This book, and most likely the trilogy, will be one of my top favorites of the year. It’s that good, and I recommend it not just to young gay men looking for some fun weekend reading, but to anyone out there in search of a good story. Sanchez has a smooth, easy-to-read writing style that engaged me from beginning to end. I was able to picture each scene so vividly. The book made me laugh out loud on a number of occasions, especially whenever Nelson is chiming in on the conversation. I also found this one of the most romantic gay YA reads ever. A lot of the early part of the book has characters questioning their feelings, not knowing how they’ll manage, but as they come more comfortable in their own skin, and more willing to confront the ones that they love, some truly tender scenes take over, ones that don’t hold back in their intimacy. Again, I didn’t even know young adult books like this one existed back in 2003. It took me ten years to find Rainbow Boys, and that’s ten years too long. I beg of you, any of you, especially if you’re young and questioning, seek out this wonderful book, and trilogy. It may change your life the same way I know it would have changed mine.
