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Jack

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Jack

By: A M Homes
Narrated by: Thomas Judd
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About this listen

Jack is a teenager who wants nothing more than to be normal - even if being normal means having divorced parents and a rather strange best friend. But when Jack's father takes him out rowing on a lake and tells his son that he's gay, nothing will ever be normal again. Out of Jack's struggle to redefine 'family', comes a work of enormous humour, charm and resonance.

©1989 A M Homes (P)2014 W F Howes Ltd Literature & Fiction

Critic reviews

"From the prize-winning author of May we be Forgiven, Jack is a poignant and hilariously truthful coming of age novel"
"A moving novel and a very refreshing one. Jack. is such an engaging, attractive human being, it’s a pleasure to believe in him’" ( David Foster Wallace)
"Honest, uncompromising and savagely funny" ( Madison Smartt Bell)
All stars
Most relevant

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

its ok for a gap filler but there isnt much point to the story

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

how he reacts to his dads situation

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

thought the child was bratty

Do you think Jack needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

no because its a bit flat

Any additional comments?

story jumped from place to place with no point

No A bad little story

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"May we be forgiven" was very funny in places but fell apart particularly at the end. This book is amusing rather than hilarious, but the story hangs together. I was surprised that this was her first book.
It is not about homophobia, it is about emerging into adulthood.

Short and sweet bildungsroman

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Maybe good in the 1980s, now luckily the world is different and the reactions do not seem to come from a real teenager

Predictable and dated. Good voice, but lame Story

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I found it really, really hard to care about Jack's life. The style of writing is like a teenager had written it; so if you're an adult, you probably want to stay away from this one. For example, the amount of "he said" "she said" in one paragraph is overused. Also there lacks any kind of description. He receives a book for his birthday and he says he actually liked it but doesn't describe what kind of book he liked. There's similes and metaphors that are just plain and don't provide much to the imagination. E.g the ball made a noise like a ball to the wall.

Nothing really happens. It's like a soap episode. Small things happen here and there but nothing substantial. Nothing to give you suspense, nothing to look forward to or to make think about outside of listening.

Little to no description and no plot = very dull soap-style story

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