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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2005)
lune 3. 2005 • jUSt OUt 53 BOOKS ............................. ••••••••••< or better or worse, more than 1 billion people are baptized into the Roman Catholic Church, making it the largest Christian religion in the world. Here is a kxik at two books about young men dealing with their sexuality under the broad shadow of Catholicism. F The Tragedy off Miss Geneva Flowers by Joe Babcock; Carroll <S? Graf, 2005; $14.95 softcover rick Taylor is a teen-ager at a Catholic school in Minneapo lis. He’s bullied by his peers, misunderstcxxl by his parents and threatened by his family priest. In a manner sure to make Pope Benedict XVI proud, the priest warns him: “Mark my words, young man, if you continue on this path of immorality, you’ll find yourself locked up with other delinquents. Furthermore, if you don’t repent your sins, you will most certainly be condemned by God.” For Erick, the path to immoral ity includes being gay, smoking pot and making snide remarks. With the help of Chloe, a drag queen diva and manager of a sunglass shop at the local mall, he struggles to find his inner queen. Chloe acts as a tme fairy gcxlmother, teaching Erick where to shop for fabulous clothes, intro ducing him to the club scene and encouraging him to use his artistic talents. E eatingout 5204 ML eatingout Life after Catholicism tells him it’s OK it they touch each other as j long as they think about girls while they are I doing it. Denial and repression, hallmarks of You can take the boy out of the church, ’ Cathol icism, help Gabriel get by for a while, but you can’t take the church out of the boy but eventually he can no longer deny his feel ings for men. When he at last outs himself to by K aren K udej his mother, she assures him it’s just a phase and marches him to Father McAtammney, who tells him: “If He has planned, that this isn’t a But the road to diva-hotxl is fraught with novel is well-paced and, overall, can be consid phase, then I will say this to you. If you’re not troubles. Erick’s first lover betrays him. His par ered a brave book by a young author. promiscuous, if you meet and settle down m a ents threaten to send him to Christian youth monogamous relationship with a man, then camp. He drops out of school, moves in with the Catholic Church will not condone the A Son Called Gabriel Chloe and turns to drugs. relationship.... But, it will not condemn it, Scxin, his newfound by Damian McNicholl; CDS Books, either.” Ultimately Gabriel finds acceptance friends introduce him to 2004; $22.95 hardcover from his family and leams he is not the only crystal meth, and not even one who has been keeping secrets. Chloe, who warns him to Iso recently out of the A Son Called Gabriel is a stay away from it, can help Catholic closet is skillfully written btxik with a him. He turns to G<xJ in Gabriel Harkin, an Irish tone reminiscent of Frank his darkest hour, proving boy growing up in Northern McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes. At that you can take the boy Ireland of rhe 1960s and times, Gabriel seems overly out of the Catholic ’70s. As the oldest son in a innocent, but McNicholl makes Church, but you can’t take farming family, he would up for that with depth of plot the Catholic out of the rather play with the girls and a rich setting that transports boy. than play football with the readers to Gabriel’s world. The Tragedy of Miss boys. As can be expected, Most satisfying about this Geneva Flowers is Joe Bab that causes him trouble with hxik is its wonderful complexity. cock’s first book. He does a the school bully. Gabriel’s More than a coming-of-age story, gcxxJ job following Erick’s father is of no help, insisting A Son Called Gabriel touches on descent as he makes his that Gabriel needs to class issues, family dynamics and mistakes, learns his lessons, “toughen up” on his own. the political conflict between takes responsibility for his As he ages, Gabriel Irish Catholics and Protestants. actions and grows from a punk teen to Miss struggles with his sexuality With this first novel, McNicholl Geneva Flowers, drag queen extraordinaire. at a time when homosexual establishes himself as a writer to At times, Babctxzk’s prose is clunky and his ity is an unmentionable sub watch for in the future. jm characters can be stereotypical. Erick's’“teen ject. A neighbor boy, N<xd, gives him his first talk” becomes tiresome. To his credit, Babc<x:k sexual experience in a hayloft. Later, Gabriel KAREN K udej is a Portland free-lance writer and does not shy from the drug and sex scenes. 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