Wallaçonia David Pratt 9780998126203 Books
Download As PDF : Wallaçonia David Pratt 9780998126203 Books
High school senior Jim Wallace faces the approaching Christmas holidays with a mixture of hope and dread. This could be the week he and his girlfriend Liz finally have sex, putting to rest any lingering doubts Jim has about what kind of guy he really is. But then Pat Baxter, a neighbor, asks him to help out in his bookstore during the holiday rush, and Jim starts making new connections - and rediscovering an old one.
Wallaçonia David Pratt 9780998126203 Books
“I always wanted to be normal.”With the Kinsey Fives, always a little patience.
This not meant to be snarky. It is, rather, a mantra I repeated to myself as I read this book (cribbed from Jimmy Stewart’s lines in “Philadelphia Story.”) It was hard to read “Wallaçonia” at first. David Pratt’s writing is lovely, his tone is spot on. What made it hard to read was reliving the anguish of a teenager who is struggling to come out forty-two years after I did, and to feel the same loneliness and despair that I and most of my generation suffered, in a modern world that some people talk about as being “post gay.”
“I’m the only son my parents have. I can’t be like this! How could it be? Who can I appeal to?”
Jim Wallace thinks very little of himself. He is not a jock; he is quiet and bookish; he loves his solitude and his shells and maps. He is sure that he is a disappointment to his parents. He feels he is a fraud, and is determined that he will have sex with his girlfriend, Liz, and that his life will finally fall into place.
And this is where my need for patience kicked in. I am a Kinsey six. Gold-star gay. By the time I was thirteen I realized that I was not attracted to girls; only to boys. This did not make coming out any easier (I was twenty before I ever kissed anyone). But this clarity of who I was did reduce the confusion I felt. I knew who I was and what I had to do. I was just too scared to know how to do it, how to be it. This is where I felt so at home in Wallaçonia, the imaginary world of safety and comfort that Jim Wallace has created in his little part of Cape Cod. Many (most?) of my generation felt this same isolation and fear. Fear of disappointing those we loved; fear of loss. Indeed, many of us did lose. For those of us who had even the faintest glimmer of attraction to girls, everything was simply all the more complicated and painful.
Into Jim’s turmoil, Pratt brings Pat Baxter, the “obviously gay” man who owns Bay View Books next door to the Wallace house. Jim’s parents treat Pat with friendly dismissal, as if he’s some harmless eunuch. Jim, of course, is fascinated by him, having created his own fantasy of who Pat is, with no more knowledge of him than his parents have. Pat’s history turns out to be far more complex than either Jim or his parents could have imagined, and he becomes a critically important part of the puzzle Jim has to solve.
“The thing I feared all the time—to be sent outside, with no chance ever to get back in—was happening.”
Pratt’s narrative is carefully crafted. Each character has a purpose in driving the story and in triggering Jim’s behavior. Jim is haunted by his horrible treatment of a fellow student, Nate Flederbaum, back in middle school. Nate reappears in Wallaçonia, after seven years in Jim’s memory, throwing Jim’s carefully constructed plans into disarray.
Finally, Jim’s parents. They seem irritatingly bland and conformist, and yet they, too, offer surprises that their teenaged son can only discover when he opens himself up to seeing them outside of his own inner turmoil. They appear to be parodies of Ward and June Cleaver, but in fact are very much part of the twenty-first century. They are not flawless, nor magical. But, as with all of the characters in this book, they become more than Jim thinks they are once he begins to really see them.
Young adult novels are not just about teenagers. They are about people who used to be teenagers, and who remember what it was. Astonishingly, in spite of everything that has happened in the past 50 years, being a teenager is still a messy, painful, confusing time for a lot of us. Many of us created our own Wallaçonias, our own places of safety, until we understood that in order to grow up, we had to leave them behind.
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Tags : Wallaçonia [David Pratt] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. High school senior Jim Wallace faces the approaching Christmas holidays with a mixture of hope and dread. This could be the week he and his girlfriend Liz finally have sex,David Pratt,Wallaçonia,Beautiful Dreamer Press,0998126209,FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS Life Stages Adolescence,LGBT; coming out; Cape Cod; gay; bisexual
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Wallaçonia David Pratt 9780998126203 Books Reviews
I'm not sure, but for some reason the emails at the end of the story didn't show up, I'm not sure if they were supposed to be left to our imagination, or not. It's an interesting tale about self discovery. I'm not sure if my copy was corrupted, or not, because of the missing emails, but it just sort of ends. But I did like the story, and I would recommend it. The main character is a sweet derpy guy, who's learning who he is, and what he wants out if life. I just really wish pat had been younger p
Wallaçonia is a good read, with some interesting characters with great developments. It was difficult to like or understand the main character, as we learn about him through his struggles to accept himself, atone for mistakes, and become a better person, we start to find out how damaged and strange he is.
I wanted much more Nate in this book. Always leave them wanting more, I guess, but I felt this was a missed opportunity. He is such a complex and intriguing person, I wanted him to elevate to starring role. Pat was a good catalyst character and the college trip was a good way to help him bond with family.
It's well written and engaging. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was not disappointed.
'My name is James Howard Wallace, and I have a one-sentence biography I always wanted to be normal. I was sure I would be normal. I had to be, In West Sicassett, Mass., in the crook of the arm of Cape Cod, there is nothing but normal.'
This is a beautifully poignant piece of coming of age gay fiction. The writing is perfect for the YA/NA age category yet deep and meaningful for older generations. It's a book that plenty of gay men will relate to, they'll know some of the struggles and the people, yet I'm a woman and I found it moving and charming and honest; and I knew some of the people.
Wallaçonia is heartfelt and moving and immerses you in the mind of an eighteen year old who must be straight, has to be, because that's what makes you right and makes your family happy and proud. Movies, books, the community at large encourages you, urges you, to be manly and upright and dependable. So you have a girlfriend and you aren't at all femmy. You're so unfemmy you may even pick on a softer target to distance yourself, so no one might suspect. And you're going to have intercourse with Liz, and you're going to keep thinking about how normal you'll be afterwards, and one day you'll settle down with her and have children. Furthermore, you'll go to a more conservative and rural university, not one in Boston where there are social activities for men who aren't upright and sterling. No, that university is a standby measure only.
Life is a process, it's an even bigger one when you're scared of the ramifications of not being who or what your parents expect - maybe your parents won't pay for your education, maybe it will be such an issue you won't have a home to come to.
But a man comes along who nudges you to believe in yourself and to try to see the world through a different lens and narrative. One who knows who you are but doesn't push it. Pat Baxter is kind and caring and shares things that help you have a backstop that wasn't afforded a man now in his forties. You're a mirror and he's a mentor. He'll help you step out of being pretend Jim and out of Wallaçonia and embrace not only the wider world but yourself too, bit by bit.
I loved this book and I was sad when it finished. David Pratt is as talented an author as you will find in (gay) fiction. All of the words and phrases and actions are like jigsaw puzzle pieces, even the cedilla under the title and the use of the sibilant s that Jim's father uses when he is compacting Mr Baxter down into a stereotype carry throughout the book to a conclusion.
While Wallaçonia is meaningful it isn't heavy-handed or miserable, there is understandable and real trepidation in Jim but there is hope and positivity and a life to be embraced.
I hope school libraries, colleges, universities, pick up Wallaçonia for teenagers and faculty alike. I hope community libraries stock this book for people interested in broadening their horizons. 5 Stars all the way.
This is actually the first YA book I read as a, well, not-so-young adult. I was a bit hesitant because of that, but I actually really enjoyed it. It's somehow bittersweet to be reminded of that formative time of life, and see how far we've come.. And I had no idea YA fiction could be so sexy or moving. I read it on vacation, and it caused me at one point not to be able to stand up on the beach for a while (due to a certain situation in my swimming trunks) and at another to leave the pool (because I was starting to cry).. So perhaps it's best read in private. But no matter where, make sure you read it.
“I always wanted to be normal.”
With the Kinsey Fives, always a little patience.
This not meant to be snarky. It is, rather, a mantra I repeated to myself as I read this book (cribbed from Jimmy Stewart’s lines in “Philadelphia Story.”) It was hard to read “Wallaçonia” at first. David Pratt’s writing is lovely, his tone is spot on. What made it hard to read was reliving the anguish of a teenager who is struggling to come out forty-two years after I did, and to feel the same loneliness and despair that I and most of my generation suffered, in a modern world that some people talk about as being “post gay.”
“I’m the only son my parents have. I can’t be like this! How could it be? Who can I appeal to?”
Jim Wallace thinks very little of himself. He is not a jock; he is quiet and bookish; he loves his solitude and his shells and maps. He is sure that he is a disappointment to his parents. He feels he is a fraud, and is determined that he will have sex with his girlfriend, Liz, and that his life will finally fall into place.
And this is where my need for patience kicked in. I am a Kinsey six. Gold-star gay. By the time I was thirteen I realized that I was not attracted to girls; only to boys. This did not make coming out any easier (I was twenty before I ever kissed anyone). But this clarity of who I was did reduce the confusion I felt. I knew who I was and what I had to do. I was just too scared to know how to do it, how to be it. This is where I felt so at home in Wallaçonia, the imaginary world of safety and comfort that Jim Wallace has created in his little part of Cape Cod. Many (most?) of my generation felt this same isolation and fear. Fear of disappointing those we loved; fear of loss. Indeed, many of us did lose. For those of us who had even the faintest glimmer of attraction to girls, everything was simply all the more complicated and painful.
Into Jim’s turmoil, Pratt brings Pat Baxter, the “obviously gay” man who owns Bay View Books next door to the Wallace house. Jim’s parents treat Pat with friendly dismissal, as if he’s some harmless eunuch. Jim, of course, is fascinated by him, having created his own fantasy of who Pat is, with no more knowledge of him than his parents have. Pat’s history turns out to be far more complex than either Jim or his parents could have imagined, and he becomes a critically important part of the puzzle Jim has to solve.
“The thing I feared all the time—to be sent outside, with no chance ever to get back in—was happening.”
Pratt’s narrative is carefully crafted. Each character has a purpose in driving the story and in triggering Jim’s behavior. Jim is haunted by his horrible treatment of a fellow student, Nate Flederbaum, back in middle school. Nate reappears in Wallaçonia, after seven years in Jim’s memory, throwing Jim’s carefully constructed plans into disarray.
Finally, Jim’s parents. They seem irritatingly bland and conformist, and yet they, too, offer surprises that their teenaged son can only discover when he opens himself up to seeing them outside of his own inner turmoil. They appear to be parodies of Ward and June Cleaver, but in fact are very much part of the twenty-first century. They are not flawless, nor magical. But, as with all of the characters in this book, they become more than Jim thinks they are once he begins to really see them.
Young adult novels are not just about teenagers. They are about people who used to be teenagers, and who remember what it was. Astonishingly, in spite of everything that has happened in the past 50 years, being a teenager is still a messy, painful, confusing time for a lot of us. Many of us created our own Wallaçonias, our own places of safety, until we understood that in order to grow up, we had to leave them behind.
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