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Out: A Schoolboy's Tale
When 15 year old Jonathan Peters falls in love for the first time, it is as unwelcome as it is unexpected because he falls in love with another boy. As his love deepens, his internal struggle with being homosexual spills into the open, impacting on his relationships with family, friends and teachers, who must all adjust their ambitions for him and the way they relate to him.
599 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 25, 2015
46 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 14, 2016
The idea for this story was great and there were parts that were really enjoyable. Unfortunately this was let down by the confusing time setting and the large amount of unnecessary detail included. It felt a little like a first draft that was in need of editing.
March 29, 2016
Forget the details. This story goes straight to your heart!
Ok we can all agree Brining got lots of minutiae wrong. Nuking the Germans in WWII? Out is set mostly in the 1980s but some details are off. A picky editor could have done some useful pruning.
It's the kind of story I wish I'd have lived back in the late 50s. As others here have rightly pointed out, the --sanctioned, socially-approved-- beatings and bullying was just life as we lived it then.
Brining is exactly right when he says this book was needed now because there were no books like it when they were needed then. It's certainly opened up old wounds: being the Senior Sixer kicked out of summer camp for being a faggot. My father having to take time off work to bring me back home. The decades of raw hate that followed. The 'straight experiments'. The suicide attempts.
Like Kermit says it's not easy being green. Or gay. JP has a rough go of it. One way or another every gay guy does. This is why I so strongly relate to Brining's Out: a schoolboy's tale.
Sure now nine-year-olds come out on Youtube giving their complete real names to the world. Even so they will experience unavoidable and painful consequences for being gay.
Brining captures this universality of experience applicable to any generation of gay boys: mine in the 1950s, his protagonists of the 1980s or those brave Youtube kids this week.
Forget the details.
This story goes straight to your heart!
Ok we can all agree Brining got lots of minutiae wrong. Nuking the Germans in WWII? Out is set mostly in the 1980s but some details are off. A picky editor could have done some useful pruning.
It's the kind of story I wish I'd have lived back in the late 50s. As others here have rightly pointed out, the --sanctioned, socially-approved-- beatings and bullying was just life as we lived it then.
Brining is exactly right when he says this book was needed now because there were no books like it when they were needed then. It's certainly opened up old wounds: being the Senior Sixer kicked out of summer camp for being a faggot. My father having to take time off work to bring me back home. The decades of raw hate that followed. The 'straight experiments'. The suicide attempts.
Like Kermit says it's not easy being green. Or gay. JP has a rough go of it. One way or another every gay guy does. This is why I so strongly relate to Brining's Out: a schoolboy's tale.
Sure now nine-year-olds come out on Youtube giving their complete real names to the world. Even so they will experience unavoidable and painful consequences for being gay.
Brining captures this universality of experience applicable to any generation of gay boys: mine in the 1950s, his protagonists of the 1980s or those brave Youtube kids this week.
Forget the details.
This story goes straight to your heart!
September 22, 2024
It comes alive, and I am envious of the characters
I loved the second half. For me it comes alive there. The characters have three dimensions, even the ones I dislike. The plot is real, the setting is of its time. I watched our young hero mature, felt pride in his achievements.
One star dropped because the start of the book made me read with determination rather than the enjoyment of the end chapters. Finally I knew why I was reading it, but the beginning almost made me put it down. I’m glad I persevered.
I loved the second half. For me it comes alive there. The characters have three dimensions, even the ones I dislike. The plot is real, the setting is of its time. I watched our young hero mature, felt pride in his achievements.
One star dropped because the start of the book made me read with determination rather than the enjoyment of the end chapters. Finally I knew why I was reading it, but the beginning almost made me put it down. I’m glad I persevered.
March 18, 2021
Teenage love
I hope that all the young men that read this fantastic book take the heart and love that the author has portrayed via young Jonathan, Ali and all the other young guys and run with it. This book shows the true story of how we as teenagers go through mental and physical anguish trying to and getting those close to us to accept the way we naturally are born. Read this book with the good intentions with which it was written.
I hope that all the young men that read this fantastic book take the heart and love that the author has portrayed via young Jonathan, Ali and all the other young guys and run with it. This book shows the true story of how we as teenagers go through mental and physical anguish trying to and getting those close to us to accept the way we naturally are born. Read this book with the good intentions with which it was written.
January 25, 2025
WOW
An amazing coming of age book that will tear you apart and when you think thing can't get any worse for Jonathon, they do , but is so worth the journey to get to his happy ever after
An amazing coming of age book that will tear you apart and when you think thing can't get any worse for Jonathon, they do , but is so worth the journey to get to his happy ever after
June 24, 2017
I might have enjoyed this story if it had been written in American English. In its current form of "British-ese", it's an intolerable read.
September 18, 2018
Good reading
Good reading did not I've it 5 stars as felt it was a bit long winded at times but the relationships in The book were first rate and we'll described
Good reading did not I've it 5 stars as felt it was a bit long winded at times but the relationships in The book were first rate and we'll described
August 4, 2020
Set in the 1980s 15 year old Jonathan a talented musician and field sports player lives with a huge dilemma popular with the girls but his attraction was to other boys something he found hard to deal with and didn't want to believe even though he had a girlfriend there were occasions he would flirt with boys even kissing another boy at a party in a drunken dare When he does find the courage to come out so begins a battle with classmates and staff and even his own Mother to be accepted This story was of course set in a decade where being gay was a big secret and if discovered led to so much homophobic abuse and even violence as Jonathan was to discover But through sheer courage and fighting back his journey to be accepted changed things for the better and helped others to accept that there was nothing to be afraid of an amazing tale on standing up to bullying and being proud of who you are
March 26, 2022
There is so much to enjoy here that to gripe over the bizarrely included pages of minutiae feels mean spirited.
So give this book a chance and if you get bogged down by inclusion of school boy maths formulae or history, well just skip ahead, like I did, and you won't miss anything. But oddly, I liked that those pages were there, because like good period costuming, they helped establish time, place and mood.
So give this book a chance and if you get bogged down by inclusion of school boy maths formulae or history, well just skip ahead, like I did, and you won't miss anything. But oddly, I liked that those pages were there, because like good period costuming, they helped establish time, place and mood.
December 8, 2016
Good book in a slightly standard format. Good description of the confusion of a teenager starting to understand his sexuality, coming out, suffering bullying and abuse from school and parents. The book translates very nicely (in my opinion) the manner in which I would expect a teenager to be writing, evolving throughout the book as he grows and matures.
November 22, 2016
Great read
This book is a great coming of age story that I think plenty off LGBT people could relate to. I just wish there was a follow up to it as I want to know what happens next.
This book is a great coming of age story that I think plenty off LGBT people could relate to. I just wish there was a follow up to it as I want to know what happens next.
April 26, 2017
It was from my forum's books-to-read list. It is quite new for me to read British novel, so many references that I have to look up for (usually reading American novels, so yeah).
This book is so great (apparently I just realised that it was published nearly 2 years ago) I found many current references on songs (also the chapter's title referred to some popular songs). Quiet describing what a coming out phase about (the main character spent like more than 3 pages (e-book version) to drive his mind from his crush) when their ages are barely legal (in my country, 17 is legal). I also found music references, mostly classics, and also literature references (both, non-fiction and fiction )
One thing to take a note for is too much physics, chemistry, and mathematics information there. I felt like I went back to 9 - 10 grade to learn about them, again -.-
Anyway, this book has a good well-described process about coming out the closet and I learned few things there! Enjoy or leave XD
This book is so great (apparently I just realised that it was published nearly 2 years ago) I found many current references on songs (also the chapter's title referred to some popular songs). Quiet describing what a coming out phase about (the main character spent like more than 3 pages (e-book version) to drive his mind from his crush) when their ages are barely legal (in my country, 17 is legal). I also found music references, mostly classics, and also literature references (both, non-fiction and fiction )
One thing to take a note for is too much physics, chemistry, and mathematics information there. I felt like I went back to 9 - 10 grade to learn about them, again -.-
Anyway, this book has a good well-described process about coming out the closet and I learned few things there! Enjoy or leave XD
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews