Happier tale than the title would suggest
Emo teen Kyle Jackowski is a born and raised New Yorker living with his miserly, abusive step-father and his perennially dis-empowered mother. When Kyle runs afoul of the legal system, he's sentenced to a residential work-program on a dairy-farm upstate. It may well be the luckiest day of his life. His placement family are welcoming and nurturing in a way that Kyle has never experienced before. But when their biological son returns from college and Kyle recognizes the guy from his dream...
This book is a feel good tale of first-love and a young guy coming into his own when he finds an environment that is suited to him. The beginning scenes (and pretty much any scenes with his step father) are a bit over the top and the wholesomeness and acceptance that he finds in the rural family are almost too good to be true but still, this is a pleasure to read.
Some of the passages involving Kyle's first exposure to farm-fresh foods actually made me hungry (and a bit homesick.) The first time the boys spend the night alone under the open sky, the city-boy, country-boy thing is one of the sweetest romantic scenes I've read in yonks.
The title of this book DOES make sense but in a way it sets the wrong tone for the novel. At first glance, it sounds sad but one soon learns that "Last of the Summer Tomatoes" aren't necessarily a bad thing when a new crop is just around the corner. Just a bit nostalgic.
As a guy who grew up in the country and then moved to the city, I enjoyed this book a lot. Not sure if it will have the same impact on those that city slickers through and through.
Emo teen Kyle Jackowski is a born and raised New Yorker living with his miserly, abusive step-father and his perennially dis-empowered mother. When Kyle runs afoul of the legal system, he's sentenced to a residential work-program on a dairy-farm upstate. It may well be the luckiest day of his life. His placement family are welcoming and nurturing in a way that Kyle has never experienced before. But when their biological son returns from college and Kyle recognizes the guy from his dream...
This book is a feel good tale of first-love and a young guy coming into his own when he finds an environment that is suited to him. The beginning scenes (and pretty much any scenes with his step father) are a bit over the top and the wholesomeness and acceptance that he finds in the rural family are almost too good to be true but still, this is a pleasure to read.
Some of the passages involving Kyle's first exposure to farm-fresh foods actually made me hungry (and a bit homesick.) The first time the boys spend the night alone under the open sky, the city-boy, country-boy thing is one of the sweetest romantic scenes I've read in yonks.
The title of this book DOES make sense but in a way it sets the wrong tone for the novel. At first glance, it sounds sad but one soon learns that "Last of the Summer Tomatoes" aren't necessarily a bad thing when a new crop is just around the corner. Just a bit nostalgic.
As a guy who grew up in the country and then moved to the city, I enjoyed this book a lot. Not sure if it will have the same impact on those that city slickers through and through.
wow this book is amazing. I teared up when Hank was beating him for being gay. Kyle was dramatize until he meet Sam. Kyle was a trouble teen that almost went to juvie but this work program save him. He went to a farm to pay off a window he had broken. It was a culture shock because Walt and Glenda show him love that he never had at home and meet Sam, the guy of him dream. Kyle was very insercure with his sexuality and he aways think he did wrong. His mother finally left Hank and Kyle is working out the kinks of the new life of being gay and know how to feel cared for.
