Woman Reading

When he gets nervous his voice squeaks. It isn't funny but it makes me grin just the same.

What I loved:
The entire 12% that takes place in 1978!

This section was a-fricking-dorable. I couldn't get enough of Travis and Craig discovering themselves and hanging out, making out, shooting the shit and teasing each other. I wish that this section had been longer because it's my favorite section of the whole book and it was so short. Any time we were reading about Craig and Travis together I was thrilled, actually. They had so much chemistry, I honestly believed that these two high school seniors were falling in love.

Craig- I kissed him. I fucking kissed him. First our noses touched and then I kissed him.
I shouldn't have smoked the joint. I knew that was a mistake! But what else can you do when you're playing catch by a lake and it starts to pour? If there hadn't been one of those metal arch things with the benches underneath, it never would have happened-we'd have jogged back to school, wet and unkissed. This was a conspiracy!
Say no to drugs. They'll only ruin you. And I'm the proof: one toke and his eyes got bluer, two tokes and I'd have killed for his smile, three tokes and I couldn't remember a time we didn't know each other, four tokes and I would have woken up Brigadoon for him.

Travis- "These are the facts: (1) I haven't eaten in fourteen hours but I'm not hungry; (2) I can't sleep because my bed's turned into the loneliest place in the world; (3) I have bruises all over my body from bumping into three doors and a carpet-cleaner; and (4) I can't remember what 'fluctuate' means. Do people really survive this?
He didn't just kiss me. He ran his fingers through my hair and he made little circles on my nose with his pinky and he tickled me under my arms, and when the sun came out we walked in the woods where nobody could see us and held hands."

AWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!

Also, what else I liked, (and this is a potential spoiler, so skip this paragraph if you plan to read this) 1998 when Travis went searching for Craig, that Travis decided not to run over anyone to get him back. Yes, this might mean that they didn't get a happily ever after, but Craig had a whole life (20 years worth) that didn't include Travis. He had someone he loved, and someone who loved him back. Clayton wasn't villainous just to make it easier on the reader for Travis to steal Craig away. I was sad, but I was also glad because it would have felt wrong for them to end up together at the expense of good people.

Annnnd quickly we pause here to throw in what i didn't like:
I wasn't very fond of much that happened in 1998. I understand why the author went around and about the way he did, why we got to know the people in Travis and Craigs life. Like I said above, I thought that those were good characters and it showed how healthy love isn't selfish, and that's what Travis and Craig shared.

Mostly what I didn't love was that huuuuge chunks of the book were pretty boring. I didn't care about Craig's cases, though Noah was cute and reminded me of Joe from Last Days of Summer, and while I understand why Craig was running for office and applauded his gumption when it came to standing up for LGBT rights, a lot of the reading of it was pretty boring. The same can be said of Joe and his lesson plans at the college. I am more of a character emotion/connection reader, and that's why those are the scenes that I enjoyed most. (This is why I am only giving this book 4 stars.)

Though I do want to pause here a moment and say, despite the fact that I didn't enjoy the political/historical aspect of this book, there was one scene in particular that I looooved... here it is:

"They won't let you and Clayton get married, right?" he asked pensively, collecting the pertinent facts.
"Right."
"And a long time ago, they wouldn't let Rosa Parks sit in a bus either-right?" I could see where this was going and I loved him for it.
"Right."
"And now everybody thinks the people who arrested her were skanks, right?"
"Right."
Noah shrugged and swung himself into the sky again. As far as he was concerned, it was an open-shut case.
"So how come they don't know that in a hundred years we'll think the same things about the skanky guys who won't let you get married?" Since there was no practical answer, I stopped looking for one and hugged him instead. He had it coming.

From the mouths of babes...

Back to what I loved!
The end!

Granted, I would have loved to have gotten MORE time with Travis and Craig in the end, what we did get was so beautiful and so perfect.  (Another spoiler!) I'm sure a lot of people would say that this book wrapped up too nicely with everyone happy and getting the best in the end, but in this situation it really didn't bother me at all. This is how relationships should be and end. When it's time to part, you part. Nobody had to be ripped apart and brokenhearted and that made Travis and Craig's finally being together that much sweeter, because you know that in the end they didn't crush anyone to get there!

"Hey, Trav?" I murmured, chin-in-the-necking him while I played with his hair. "What do you call it when there's a smile in your stomach that starts when you wake up in the morning and doesn't go away until you're asleep?" Travis sighed audibly in my arms before glancing up from my chest in wonder.
"You mean you have one of those too?"
Flora was right. It's a quiet thing.

I loved it!