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The Boy I Love #3
Paper Moon
From the writer of the highly acclaimed novel The Boy I Love - Paper Moon explores the complexities of love and loyalty against a backdrop of a world transformed by war.
The passionate love affair between Spitfire pilot Bobby Harris and photographer’s model Nina Tate lasts through the turmoil of World War Two, only to be tested when Bobby is disfigured after being shot down. Wanting to hide from the world, Bobby retreats from Bohemian Soho to the empty house his grandfather has left him, a house haunted by the secrets of Bobby’s childhood. Here the mysteries of his past are gradually unravelled and he discovers that love is not only skin deep.
Following on from The Boy I Love and All The Beauty of The Sun, Marion Husband’s highly acclaimed debut novel, Paper Moon explores the complexities of love and loyalty against a backdrop of a world transformed by war.
The passionate love affair between Spitfire pilot Bobby Harris and photographer’s model Nina Tate lasts through the turmoil of World War Two, only to be tested when Bobby is disfigured after being shot down. Wanting to hide from the world, Bobby retreats from Bohemian Soho to the empty house his grandfather has left him, a house haunted by the secrets of Bobby’s childhood. Here the mysteries of his past are gradually unravelled and he discovers that love is not only skin deep.
Following on from The Boy I Love and All The Beauty of The Sun, Marion Husband’s highly acclaimed debut novel, Paper Moon explores the complexities of love and loyalty against a backdrop of a world transformed by war.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 3, 2010
When I volunteered to write a review of Paper Moon by Marion Husband, Erastes said, “Oh, wonderful! Another gay historical!” While the story is historical (it takes place in 1946) and does feature gay characters, I’m not sure that gay historical is the best description. Historical fiction that describes the experience of being gay in the mid-20th century might be more apt. Yes, that’s mouthful but it’s meant to convey that this is a story firmly rooted in reality in terms of the tale that is told; for those of us who enjoy “gay historical” be they romances, war stories, mysteries or whatever, it is probably a worthwhile exercise to touch base with reality every now and then and Paper Moon is an excellent book for that endeavor.
By way of context, I was rummaging around on the Amazon gay and lesbian best seller list and came across The Boy I Love, also by Husband. Having never heard of it, I did a little research and discovered the excellent review of it at Speak Its Name.
I immediately downloaded the book (I have an e-reader, hooray!) and read it in 48 hours. Hooked, I dived right into the sequel, Paper Moon, as soon as I finished the first. Both are excellent but I would give Paper Moon an edge as being more well-written and slightly more satisfying, overall.
The stories take place 26 years apart and share a common theme: men coming home after the war and struggling to pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives. In The Boy I Love, the central characters were Paul Harris, his lovers Adam Mason and Patrick Morgan and Patrick’s injured brother, Mick; the war was World War I. Paper Moon is Bobby Harris’s story set in the year following the end of World War II. Like his father Paul, Bobby has come home from the war injured but his disfigurement is worse: Paul lost an eye but Bobby has been horribly burned when he crashed his plane. He describes his hands as claws and his face has melted away, crudely repaired by surgeons who have taken skin grafts from all over his body. His psychic pain is deep, too, but we learn as the story progresses that his self-loathing began long before the loss of his “beautiful face.”
In the first book, the homosexual characters were central; in Paper Moon they play a more tangential role, which probably is accurate for the time and setting. There are a few flamboyant “queens” (the “artsy” crowd) but for the most part, the gay characters are invisible and exist on a continuum from tolerated to despised. They work hard to keep their sexuality in the closet and blend in with “normal” society. One character from the first book has gone so far as to enter into a marriage of convenience, something I wouldn’t have expected of him.
This is a character driven story, which I enjoy. There’s not a lot of action, just the overlapping and interweaving tales of Bobby, Hugh, and Nina and the other people in their lives: parents, friends, former lovers, children, siblings. Not everyone is present in physical form but everyone is present in the story and with each turn of the page, a new layer is revealed, deftly told and subtly nuanced.
If there is any weakness in Husband’s writing is that her female characters are not nearly as complex as the men; Nina is the most fleshed out but still, she remains a cipher. One character who comes into the book at about the halfway point has potential, but even she is given short shrift. The rest of the women are like cardboard cutouts and one character from the first book never even gets mentioned—and her absence bothered me. Husband could have fixed it with a sentence, ie, "She got run over by a bus," but she didn’t. Oh well, it is a minor irritation and didn’t strongly detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. To be perfectly honest, I find the men more interesting to read about, anyway.
All in all, I highly recommend this book. It had an incredibly satisfying, if slightly bittersweet ending that stayed with me long after I closed the cover.
NB: While this can be read as a standalone, I recommend reading it with The Boy I Love. Knowing the backstory of the characters who reappear in Paper Moon will enhance your overall reading experience, in my opinion. Conveniently, the two books are together in an omnibus that is available from various booksellers. E-book readers, like me, will have to buy both books separately.
(originally posted on Speak Its Name, 4/29/2009)
By way of context, I was rummaging around on the Amazon gay and lesbian best seller list and came across The Boy I Love, also by Husband. Having never heard of it, I did a little research and discovered the excellent review of it at Speak Its Name.
I immediately downloaded the book (I have an e-reader, hooray!) and read it in 48 hours. Hooked, I dived right into the sequel, Paper Moon, as soon as I finished the first. Both are excellent but I would give Paper Moon an edge as being more well-written and slightly more satisfying, overall.
The stories take place 26 years apart and share a common theme: men coming home after the war and struggling to pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives. In The Boy I Love, the central characters were Paul Harris, his lovers Adam Mason and Patrick Morgan and Patrick’s injured brother, Mick; the war was World War I. Paper Moon is Bobby Harris’s story set in the year following the end of World War II. Like his father Paul, Bobby has come home from the war injured but his disfigurement is worse: Paul lost an eye but Bobby has been horribly burned when he crashed his plane. He describes his hands as claws and his face has melted away, crudely repaired by surgeons who have taken skin grafts from all over his body. His psychic pain is deep, too, but we learn as the story progresses that his self-loathing began long before the loss of his “beautiful face.”
In the first book, the homosexual characters were central; in Paper Moon they play a more tangential role, which probably is accurate for the time and setting. There are a few flamboyant “queens” (the “artsy” crowd) but for the most part, the gay characters are invisible and exist on a continuum from tolerated to despised. They work hard to keep their sexuality in the closet and blend in with “normal” society. One character from the first book has gone so far as to enter into a marriage of convenience, something I wouldn’t have expected of him.
This is a character driven story, which I enjoy. There’s not a lot of action, just the overlapping and interweaving tales of Bobby, Hugh, and Nina and the other people in their lives: parents, friends, former lovers, children, siblings. Not everyone is present in physical form but everyone is present in the story and with each turn of the page, a new layer is revealed, deftly told and subtly nuanced.
If there is any weakness in Husband’s writing is that her female characters are not nearly as complex as the men; Nina is the most fleshed out but still, she remains a cipher. One character who comes into the book at about the halfway point has potential, but even she is given short shrift. The rest of the women are like cardboard cutouts and one character from the first book never even gets mentioned—and her absence bothered me. Husband could have fixed it with a sentence, ie, "She got run over by a bus," but she didn’t. Oh well, it is a minor irritation and didn’t strongly detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. To be perfectly honest, I find the men more interesting to read about, anyway.
All in all, I highly recommend this book. It had an incredibly satisfying, if slightly bittersweet ending that stayed with me long after I closed the cover.
NB: While this can be read as a standalone, I recommend reading it with The Boy I Love. Knowing the backstory of the characters who reappear in Paper Moon will enhance your overall reading experience, in my opinion. Conveniently, the two books are together in an omnibus that is available from various booksellers. E-book readers, like me, will have to buy both books separately.
(originally posted on Speak Its Name, 4/29/2009)
March 4, 2017
What a whirlwind this book is, so evocative of its time and compelling. It has an unexpected - and understated - intensity that quite bowled me over.
The book is a sequel to The Boy I Love. While it stands on it's own, as I read, I enjoyed knowing some of the tangential past behind a few of the characters. In no small part this is because an important part of the narrative is the reminiscences of our main characters. The pair of books actually compliment each other very well. In a way, the resolution to Paper Moon is a resolution of The Boy I Love, as well.
Something that was striking to me is that it's one of the few books I could "see" characters as I was reading them, and oddly, the more reticent the character, the more vivid the visual image. It's not through laboured description on the author's part, but rather a deft ability to hone in on the action or remark that speaks volumes about the character acting. In may books I like or dislike characters, but I can think of few where they became so visual to me.
There is also, tucked in, what I think is among the most beautiful love letters I've read in a long time. Having been written by one fictional character to another doesn't diminish it a bit.
The book is a sequel to The Boy I Love. While it stands on it's own, as I read, I enjoyed knowing some of the tangential past behind a few of the characters. In no small part this is because an important part of the narrative is the reminiscences of our main characters. The pair of books actually compliment each other very well. In a way, the resolution to Paper Moon is a resolution of The Boy I Love, as well.
Something that was striking to me is that it's one of the few books I could "see" characters as I was reading them, and oddly, the more reticent the character, the more vivid the visual image. It's not through laboured description on the author's part, but rather a deft ability to hone in on the action or remark that speaks volumes about the character acting. In may books I like or dislike characters, but I can think of few where they became so visual to me.
There is also, tucked in, what I think is among the most beautiful love letters I've read in a long time. Having been written by one fictional character to another doesn't diminish it a bit.
May 21, 2019
The blurb for this book is slightly misleading as it is so much more than just the 'passionate affair.' This is my favourite of the three in the trilogy. Somehow, it works better and at last there is a slither of hope amidst the misery and general messed upness!
Some characters I couldn't like, sorry Patrick and Adam, but the others, despite their flaws, I completely fell for. Husband writes women so well, and ones that are full of contradiction, pain, jealousy and bitterness, and still are sympathetic.
And the story has hope through the sadness and sometimes you just want a bit of hope and not resoundingly bleak misery!
Another gorgeously described anatomy of passion, love and desire. Just perfect.
Some characters I couldn't like, sorry Patrick and Adam, but the others, despite their flaws, I completely fell for. Husband writes women so well, and ones that are full of contradiction, pain, jealousy and bitterness, and still are sympathetic.
And the story has hope through the sadness and sometimes you just want a bit of hope and not resoundingly bleak misery!
Another gorgeously described anatomy of passion, love and desire. Just perfect.
February 1, 2008
I was given this book for my birthday as my husband knew that I loved Husband's first novel The Boy I Love (a fabulous read, by the way). Read it very self-indulgently over the weekend with cat & box of Dairy Milk on my knee and loved every minute. All Husband's characters are sympathetic but Bobby Harris the novel's main character is wonderful - flawed but loveable. Hughly readable.
March 10, 2015
You find out what happens to the characters from The Boy I Love. This is a beautiful book in it's own right though and can be read on it's own. But for optimum enjoyment I'd read The Boy I Love first.
November 6, 2011
Absolutely marvelous !!! I was enthralled. I hated to see it end. I read 'The Boy I loved' and 'Paper Moon' both in the past week. "Paper Moon' is wonderful in it's own right, but your pleasure will be much greater if you read 'Boy' first. Highly recommended.
January 21, 2013
I really enjoyed this book! I loved all of the characters, learning about their lives in the past up to the present. Looking forward to reading it again after I've read 'The Boy I Love', then I'll follow it up with the last book 'All the Beauty of the Sun'. Can't wait!
December 31, 2013
This is the third of a trilogy. It is the story of Paul Harris' son, Bobby. It is a small world - the characters all connect in some way and it makes for a very good story. You'll enjoy this book more if you begin at the beginning of the trilogy, with "The Boy I Loved."
April 12, 2018
Lovely, and unmistakably Husband, with angst-ridden young men, the women who fall for them, troubled intergenerational bonds, unrequited (and sometimes requited) yearning, and sexiness. The least same-sex focused book in the trilogy, but still with homosexual characters aplenty.
October 6, 2017
Very well written. A haunting, angsty and melancholic read. I liked the characters though wish some of them were as fleshed out as the others.
April 8, 2014
Good to have some closure at last. Great series of books, really enjoyable reads.
March 23, 2020
A beautiful ending to a beautiful franchise, the ending alone worth five stars. Outstanding, the characters (the incredible connection to the previews generation), the background, the memories. Especially thrilled about the confrontasion (that a word?) of Bobby and his father, Paul aka the love of my life (except for Patrick aka the love of my life). When discovered Francis=Paul my mouth was open wide for like five minutes. Didn't see that coming. I even didn't realize, till the very end, Bobby was raped when fifteen or so. Was that a rape? Never read a story about a boy whose father is gay and was raped by a gay person. That's so tragic, and so like Marion the author, whom I read every book. I love the author and I will love forever Paul and Patrick's story, although why give him Cancer? I want them to live happily ever after.
Thank you Marion, for three beautiful books. Recommend to Everyone.
Thank you Marion, for three beautiful books. Recommend to Everyone.
June 22, 2023
Excellent read, sad and heart-breaking bits with an interesting outcome. Must read the complete trilogy!
August 11, 2014
The title is derived from a WW#2 Song that crops up frequently in the story. Similar in theme to the Boy I Loved but not specifically a sequel introducing new characters. Bobby is impossibly handsome and knows it, guys and girls mooning over him, a photographer paying him to play model and fans snapping up his photos. What happens when he is hideously disfigured in a plane crash and can’t bear to look at his own reflection in a mirror or bear the stares of those around him. With the best of intentions we hurt the people we love most. Once more I wish someone had done some closer editing but it’s an okay read.
January 10, 2015
Fantastic. I couldn't put the book down.
April 12, 2010
Great follow up to The Boy I Love.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews