Rueben

Men of Science #1

by Naomi Aoki

Rueben would be the first to admit he was stubborn. He hated being told something wasn't possible when there was no scientific basis for their claims. So, when his peers told him searching for fossils in China wouldn't be a worthwhile endeavour, instead of quitting Rueben doubled down his efforts to raise the necessary funds to travel there.

But his arrival in Shanghai started with embarrassment and left Rueben fearing his distracted clumsiness had scared away his translator and guide, Yuan Xi, before they'd even left for their destination: the Taihang Mountains in Shanxi Province.

Yet Rueben hadn't imagined the most important discovery he'd make in those mountains would be about himself. An overwhelming and confusing discovery that had Rueben wanting to run... had him never wanting to leave Yuan's side.

Yuan Xi prided himself on being a sought-after translator, capable of hiding his anger despite the way his European employers treated him and his countrymen. Knew how to keep a smile on his face while being treated like a servant; remaining invisible until needed.

But this latest job could be hazardous to his health, and Yuan didn't mean physically. The endearingly clumsy scientist employing Yuan made him question whether he wanted more than emotionless, casual relationships... and whether taking a risk with his heart might be worth it.

174 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 16, 2019

Reviews

[Marie Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

This historical romance is set in China in 1878 and follows the adventures of Reuben Strang, English geologist on the hunt for dinosaur bones in rural China, and his long-suffering interpreter, Yuan. I very much enjoyed the culture clash between the two of them, especially as it is balanced in representing both cultures as having long-standing traditions of scholarship and art. I also enjoyed watching Reuben deal with his attraction to Yuan despite having never considered a relationship with a man before. Yuan is often a delightfully calm foil to Reuben's bumbling and his care and concern for Reuben's emotional well-being as their attraction becomes a physical relationship was wonderful.

What kept this from being a 5-star read for me was that the story kind of petered out just as the relationship between Reuben and Yuan reached that point. Encounters between them often occur "off screen" which was a bit...frustrating since the build-up was well-written and executed. The ending felt rushed as if the writer had reached a certain word-count and wrapped the book up with little to no sense of a satisfying conclusion for the reader.

Another issue I had was with the number of grammatical and typographical errors. This writer seriously needs to hire a proofreader. If you are the kind of reader who gets frustrated with these types of errors to the point where it distracts from the story, this probably isn't the book for you.

[R E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing m/m love story with wonderfully incisive, crisp, pitch perfect writing

What a glorious book! Set in China during the late 1800's, "Rueben" is the story of Rueben Strang, a British geologist who prefers rocks to people, and Yuan, handsome son of a Chinese official working as a translator for English visitors. Yuan has broken many a man's heart while Rueben, so focused on his scientific work, hardly realizes he prefers men until the two find themselves alone together far from urban Shanghai in the remote Taihang mountains. Throughout the novel, I felt like I was right there alongside the characters, experiencing morning mountain vistas, or the drone of familial obligations, or the feelings that a body has when it recognizes what it really needs, outstripping the comfort and familiarity of the mental boxes we lock ourselves in.

"Shards of glass slipped into his veins, raced toward his heart and threatened to slice it to pieces. That is if his heart was still beating."

The writing in this book is wonderful. Incisive analogies, crisp descriptions and pitch perfect pacing combine with elegant, recursively structured paragraphs to advance the story like the prose equivalent of a spiraling double helix. Reuben is one of those novels where I enjoyed reading the flow of the author's words as much as I enjoyed the engaging, at times riveting, storyline and characters.

In sum, I'm eagerly looking forward to my next Naomi Aoki novel, although I really don't want to say goodbye to Yuan and Reuben.

Note: There are some unusual editing issues with this book that some readers may find initially frustrating but which soon become almost unnoticeable and which, for me, did not interfere with enjoying the novel. In fact, they almost add to its charm. There are grammatical errors (e.g. 'to' for 'too', etc.), verb tenses that do not always match, word order that is sometimes backwards, and the occasional extraneous word in a sentence. Please don't let these minor hiccups stop you from enjoying this endearing story! The cumulative affect might lead one to conclude that the book has been poorly translated, and perhaps it was - or perhaps it was written in such a way to give English readers this impression. In any event, the writing is so good that any perceived issues soon become invisible, part of the texture of the story.