Contains potential plot spoilersWhile 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.
…more 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. (less)
