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There are currently 65 member reviews
for Golden Boy
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sentmark
Rarity of subject mirrored writing focus
Abigail developed interesting characters and had me hooked within the first 120 pages, but not right out of the box. The rawness of the subject made it hard to keep reading, until it didn't any more. I credit this to the author, but I can not explain how exactly. Most of the inner dialogue was appealing. Minor irritations, for me, were the continual awkward reminders of some character facts, and the phenomenal ending which did not fit the rest of the book. I am looking forward to her next.
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Catharine L. (Petoskey)
An unusual story
I was hooked in the first three pages with Daniel's (age 9 4/5's) description of his older brother Max. The story is told from the viewpoint of 6 different characters. It is a coming of age and family in crisis situation.... I didn't rate it a 5 because the discussions about the XX/XY sex chromosomes were too long. The story, however, is fascinating and the characters very real.
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Dorothy L. (Boca Raton, FL)
A Mixed Review
Initially I found this book disturbing. I don't think it will have universal appeal, but I do think it is an interesting treatment of a subject many readers are not that familiar with. I did get caught up in the story fairly soon and wanted to know how it would turn out. The author uses a fairly common premise--a family with secrets. This secret was a big one and had tremendous ramifications for many people.
I have a few criticisms of the book. It is not particularly well written. The style is simplistic--many of the sentences are subject-verb formulation. There is little variation in sentence structure which made it somewhat tedious to read. The constant jumping around in points of view engaged the reader but was disjointed because the viewpoints were being changed too often.
I found it implausible that today a man would run for office with such a big family secret and endanger his family in the process and that there were no problems earlier in Max's life. There also needed to be a backstory for Hunter and Max's relationship that led to the rape.
I am somewhat ambivalent about the book but feel that it may be a worthwhile addition to knowledge about intersex and the family dynamics that result.
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Jinny K. (Fremont, CA)
Good book on unusual subject
Golden Boy is a haunting emotional novel about a subject not frequently written about. It's shifting point of view among its characters is very well done and each narrative seems true to the teller.
Its only slight flaw might be the tendency to be a little over-informative about the subject of intersex persons, so it seemed a little documentary in parts.
All in all a wonderful novel and I think it would be ideal for young adult readers as well. When it was over, I felt a wish to continue to know what happens to this family in the future and that is a mark of great book.
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Pepper E. (Lawrenceville, NJ)
Interesting and compelling
I enjoyed reading "Golden Boy", the story of 16 year old Max and how he enters a turbulent time of his life under extraordinary circumstances. As the mother of teenagers, I was impressed with the authenticity of the voices in this story, and wished there could have been more character development of several of the characters to add some heft to the issues between Max and his long-time family friend Hunter, and I would have appreciated more on the dialogue between the parents for historical perspective since they were not united in their approach to their son's gender issues. I felt that having the story told in individual voices added to my understanding of the characters.
The issue of intersexuality did not bother me in "Golden Boy" the way it did in "Middlesex", but I think that was because Max was so likeable. I did not realize just how common this condition actually is, and I know I will be reading more about it. I liked the book overall and I feel the young writer shows promise.
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Laurie F. (Brookline, MA)
Wonderful and Human Perspective of the Life of an Intersex Child
Confession: I didn't think I was going to like this book but I was quickly absorbed. Max's life experiences and interactions open your heart as well as your mind. I normally find the character-to-character perspective choppy and distracting but it worked in this novel. The author does a wonderful job developing the characters and having the reader sympathize and sometimes cringe as they become part of Max's life. I was ready to rate this book a five until it became a bit wordy in the last 50 pages or so.
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Nancy H. (Foster City, CA)
An author with promise
Contains potential plot spoilers
While Golden Boy had very gripping story elements, I did not find the dialogue or overall writing style particularly compelling. However, if the author's primary intent is to introduce the issues surrounding intersexusality, she did that well. There was far more character development for the Walker family than for Hunter and his family. To increase the believability, one needs a better understanding of Hunter's motivations and conflicts and there should be flashbacks to earlier interactions between Hunter and Max showing Max has previously accepted being dominated by Hunter – particularly since Max is the star athlete, not Hunter. Also, it seemed like there was no build up between the two of them that pointed to a Hunter that would take such severe advantage of Max. And how was it that hyper-vigilant Karen never noticed any characteristics in Hunter that were of concern? Are we to believe that she eliminated her critical thinking abilities because Hunter's Mother is one of her oldest friends? I didn't buy it. Perhaps the foreshortened sequence of events were for dramatic effect, but it feels rather that critical scenes were eliminated. There are very charged scenes between the two young men.
Anyone who was not overly distressed or offended by any of the scenes from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series should be okay with Golden Boy. All in all, I was glad to have had a chance to read the book and I'm sure it will lead me to doing additional research on the topic of intersexuality. If the author's sincere desire is for the reading public to have a more clear understanding of intersex issues, she should include a suggested reading list of articles and books that she feels accurately portray such individuals at the end of the book.
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