vast fields of the ordinary-book review

This is Nick Burd's first novel. I can only hope to read more of his work in the future.

This is a novel set in mid-west Iowa where you don't think gay people would exist. Well, of course, they exist everywhere. You have some what of a sexy boy, Dade who reminded me a lot of the Lou Taylor Pucci type. Unfortunately, he isn't in the best of time, letting the school jock do him who has a nasty but haute girlfriend. Of course, we get the jest of the one side romance. Dade is the victim here. Its his last year at home before college, and Dade really wants to find someone to love him for who he really is. And he does. Meet drug dealing Alex Kincaid. This is the character I wanted to read more about. Of course, I love Dade. Love how they meet and come to be.

Honestly, I loved the book so much, I didn't want it to end. There were a few parts I felt were a wee bit like a text book at the end. Perhaps, I would have loved to have seen more of how rotten and confused Pablo came to be, this emotional wreck who needed Dade but swore he didn't. But this was in first person. So you get Dade's story.

It was a lovely gay fiction story. Lots of realism even if I didn't like the ending.

Let him have it

I'm not sure any of you have ever had a chance to see this little gem from 1991, Let him have it.

Its bloody worth it.

You have a simple gang in the city of UK. And as luck would have it, boys would be boys which means trouble. And there is Derrick who you aren't quite sure if maybe he might have a social problem. Anyway, he is such a follower and always getting by the skin of his teeth. As the story progresses you have to wonder if its based on a true story from another era.

A brother lands in jail for all his anti-authority. As far as the judicial system knows, this bugger has it in for the coppers. So he's off to the slammer for a very long time which makes his younger brother, Chris Craig played by Paul Reynolds (who was about 14 or 16 at the time) blood boil.

This really is Paul Reynolds' film. He is a tad devious, emotional, a wreck and his character's got a gun & he's making his last stand against the coppers who have his brother.

Let one line change the course of everything. "Let him have it". Reynold's character does the inevitable when a cop bust out on the roof. He let him have. One shot in the head, and he's dead.

Chris Craig is out to shoot everyone. I do wonder if perhaps the creators of Hollyoaks got their idea for Craig Dean from this character. Granted Craig had his mischief, but there was always the "me" factor about him. And that's what Chris Craig is all about. Fortunately, due to his age, he went to the slammer...while Derrick who was 19..who was just there and didn't do a thing, gets the execution.

This is a film, half the ingenuity of what gangs do back in the 50's while the rest is how the court takes care of these misfits. It always seems the bad guys still get away while the good gets punished.