What do you think?
Rate this book
Doubting Thomas
Thomas McGurrin is a fourth-grade teacher and openly gay man at a private primary school serving Portland, Oregon’s wealthy progressive elite when he’s falsely accused of inappropriately touching a male student. The accusation comes just as Thomas is thrust back into the center of his unusual family by his younger brother’s battle with cancer. Although cleared of the accusation, Thomas is forced to resign from a job he loves during a potentially life-changing family drama.
Davison’s novel explores the discrepancy between the progressive ideals and persistent negative stereotypes among the privileged regarding social status, race, and sexual orientation and the impact of that discrepancy on friendships and family relations.
By turns rueful, humorous, angry, and wise, Doubting Thomas marks the debut of an important writer.
Davison’s novel explores the discrepancy between the progressive ideals and persistent negative stereotypes among the privileged regarding social status, race, and sexual orientation and the impact of that discrepancy on friendships and family relations.
By turns rueful, humorous, angry, and wise, Doubting Thomas marks the debut of an important writer.
272 pages, Paperback
First published June 8, 2021
10 people are currently reading
465 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Clark Davison
2 books56 followersMatthew Clark Davison is co-author (with bestselling writer Alice LaPlante), of The Lab: Experiments in Writing Across Genre (W.W. Norton ’25) and author of the novel Doubting Thomas (Amble Press ’21), which was hailed as one of “46 Must-Read Books by Queer Authors” in Esquire Magazine. He is creator and teacher of The Lab :: Writing Classes with MCD, a non-academic school started in 2007. Matthew is a member of The Writers Grotto and has served on the board of Foglifter Journal and Press. Matthew is Emeritus Faculty in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, where he also earned a BA and MFA.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
June 26, 2021
Complex, incredibly touching, painful at times, beautiful.
What does progressive mean when a gay teacher is falsely accused of touching a young boy, and is put away as a phedophile?
You’ll likely never teach again...
Parents will crawl out of the woodwork with made-up stories...They will portray you as a predator.
This story is so much better than I initially thought, and there’s is so much going on that I don’t even know where to begin.
Thomas is living in progressive Portland in 2013, teaching at a private school (ten kids a classroom!!) -where kids having two mom’s or two dad’s is normal-, and then suddenly getting falsely accused of touching a nine-year-old student. At the same time, Thomas is still missing his ex-boyfriend Manny and is dealing with his younger brother Jake’s cancer. The same brother who has been a heroin addict and met his wife Sheree in rehab.
This story is about so much more than a false accusation. It’s also about family and brotherhood, friendship, love and loss, illnesses like cancer and HIV, anger, memories and getting at peace with yourself.
The book shows us Thomas’ life, from the moment he finds out Jake is ill until the moment he has to rebuild his life after the false accusation. The writing is descriptive with a moving timeline within chapters. One second you’re in the now, and then the story is jumping back to one of Thomas’ memories from the past. This kind of writing can be confusing, but it helped me to get an insight in Thomas as a human being, beautifully portrayed by the author, as a real person with his insecurities, being an introvert, getting angrier and angrier with himself and the world, not expressing his feelings, reflecting on his own past.
Doubting Thomas is such a well written story and deserves many readers. So watch out for it when it gets published in June!
I received an ARC from Amble Press and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
What does progressive mean when a gay teacher is falsely accused of touching a young boy, and is put away as a phedophile?
You’ll likely never teach again...
Parents will crawl out of the woodwork with made-up stories...They will portray you as a predator.
This story is so much better than I initially thought, and there’s is so much going on that I don’t even know where to begin.
Thomas is living in progressive Portland in 2013, teaching at a private school (ten kids a classroom!!) -where kids having two mom’s or two dad’s is normal-, and then suddenly getting falsely accused of touching a nine-year-old student. At the same time, Thomas is still missing his ex-boyfriend Manny and is dealing with his younger brother Jake’s cancer. The same brother who has been a heroin addict and met his wife Sheree in rehab.
This story is about so much more than a false accusation. It’s also about family and brotherhood, friendship, love and loss, illnesses like cancer and HIV, anger, memories and getting at peace with yourself.
The book shows us Thomas’ life, from the moment he finds out Jake is ill until the moment he has to rebuild his life after the false accusation. The writing is descriptive with a moving timeline within chapters. One second you’re in the now, and then the story is jumping back to one of Thomas’ memories from the past. This kind of writing can be confusing, but it helped me to get an insight in Thomas as a human being, beautifully portrayed by the author, as a real person with his insecurities, being an introvert, getting angrier and angrier with himself and the world, not expressing his feelings, reflecting on his own past.
Doubting Thomas is such a well written story and deserves many readers. So watch out for it when it gets published in June!
I received an ARC from Amble Press and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
November 28, 2021
Matthew Clark Davison's debut novel,
Doubting Thomas
, is beautifully written and thought-provoking.
Thomas is an openly gay elementary school teacher at a progressive private school in Portland, Oregon. In a school and a city where many kids have same-sex parents, Thomas’ sexuality is far from an issue—it’s an asset to many, and one the school boasts proudly.
Until the day he is accused of inappropriately touching a male student, an accusation he’s ultimately cleared of. But the damage is done. He is forced to resign from the job he loves and is shunned by those who liked him, his every move and every word questioned and overanalyzed.
At the same time Thomas is dealing with the accusations and their aftermath, he is reeling from a recent breakup, and one of his brothers is facing a health crisis. Thomas rallies to support his brother as relationships change and dynamics shift, both within his family and among his friends. He needs to figure out how to chart his future without teaching.
This is a powerful story of finding yourself, of finding the strength to rebuild your life after it falls apart through no fault of your own. It’s also a story of family dynamics in the midst of crises, of finding allies and discovering those you can depend on. It’s a different story than I expected but it really blew me away.
My thanks to Amble Press for the complimentary (and signed!) copy, and thanks to Davison for the gift of this book.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
Thomas is an openly gay elementary school teacher at a progressive private school in Portland, Oregon. In a school and a city where many kids have same-sex parents, Thomas’ sexuality is far from an issue—it’s an asset to many, and one the school boasts proudly.
Until the day he is accused of inappropriately touching a male student, an accusation he’s ultimately cleared of. But the damage is done. He is forced to resign from the job he loves and is shunned by those who liked him, his every move and every word questioned and overanalyzed.
At the same time Thomas is dealing with the accusations and their aftermath, he is reeling from a recent breakup, and one of his brothers is facing a health crisis. Thomas rallies to support his brother as relationships change and dynamics shift, both within his family and among his friends. He needs to figure out how to chart his future without teaching.
This is a powerful story of finding yourself, of finding the strength to rebuild your life after it falls apart through no fault of your own. It’s also a story of family dynamics in the midst of crises, of finding allies and discovering those you can depend on. It’s a different story than I expected but it really blew me away.
My thanks to Amble Press for the complimentary (and signed!) copy, and thanks to Davison for the gift of this book.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
October 1, 2021
Thomas McGurrin is an openly gay elementary school teacher whose dream career at an elite Portland private school turns into a nightmare when he's accused of inappropriately touching one of his 4th-grade male students.
This unsettling premise initially had me thinking this would be a kind of social justice thriller about a wrongly accused gay man struggling to prove his innocence and defend his honor to a panicked mob of closed-minded parents.
And while I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to reading something like that, debut novelist Matthew Clark Davison has instead turned his provocative premise into a quieter, deeper, and more introspective reflection on gay identity and assimilation in the early 21st century, earning a cover blurb from Pulitzer-Prize winning author Michael Cunningham in the process.
Davison reminds us that old prejudices and ugly stereotypes are always lurking beneath the seemingly serene surface, able to be resurrected and weaponized even by those claiming to be "progressive" allies of the LGBTQ community.
But this external threat to Thomas's freedom, career, reputation, and even his relationship with his family, mainly serves as a convenient narrative catalyst for confronting his internal demons, guilt, and insecurities as a privileged, middle-aged white gay man who has been able to "pass" for much of his life, and therefore escaped the worst of what many in his community have been forced to suffer.
It's by turns reflective, infuriating, funny, thought-provoking, and deeply moving, but a gripping page-turner it is not. The writing too often gets bogged down in irrelevant details and clunky descriptive language, and jumps around in time a lot in a way that I found distracting and disorienting. I love some good, old-fashioned stream-of-consciousness rambling as much as the next English major, but this too often felt aimless and undisciplined rather than intentional and artistic.
Where the detailed writing worked best for me, however, was in the intimate, nuanced depictions of Thomas's family relationships. Davison brings to life a vivid and varied cast of secondary characters (parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, and nephew) that all feel like unique, believable, deeply flawed but still mostly likable human beings.
Ultimately this ends up being a slow-moving, character-driven family drama that strikes at something very raw and relatable about the ways even close, "happy" families can misunderstand, misjudge, and deeply hurt one another, all while still trying their best to love and support one another.
This unsettling premise initially had me thinking this would be a kind of social justice thriller about a wrongly accused gay man struggling to prove his innocence and defend his honor to a panicked mob of closed-minded parents.
And while I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to reading something like that, debut novelist Matthew Clark Davison has instead turned his provocative premise into a quieter, deeper, and more introspective reflection on gay identity and assimilation in the early 21st century, earning a cover blurb from Pulitzer-Prize winning author Michael Cunningham in the process.
Davison reminds us that old prejudices and ugly stereotypes are always lurking beneath the seemingly serene surface, able to be resurrected and weaponized even by those claiming to be "progressive" allies of the LGBTQ community.
But this external threat to Thomas's freedom, career, reputation, and even his relationship with his family, mainly serves as a convenient narrative catalyst for confronting his internal demons, guilt, and insecurities as a privileged, middle-aged white gay man who has been able to "pass" for much of his life, and therefore escaped the worst of what many in his community have been forced to suffer.
It's by turns reflective, infuriating, funny, thought-provoking, and deeply moving, but a gripping page-turner it is not. The writing too often gets bogged down in irrelevant details and clunky descriptive language, and jumps around in time a lot in a way that I found distracting and disorienting. I love some good, old-fashioned stream-of-consciousness rambling as much as the next English major, but this too often felt aimless and undisciplined rather than intentional and artistic.
Where the detailed writing worked best for me, however, was in the intimate, nuanced depictions of Thomas's family relationships. Davison brings to life a vivid and varied cast of secondary characters (parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, and nephew) that all feel like unique, believable, deeply flawed but still mostly likable human beings.
Ultimately this ends up being a slow-moving, character-driven family drama that strikes at something very raw and relatable about the ways even close, "happy" families can misunderstand, misjudge, and deeply hurt one another, all while still trying their best to love and support one another.
September 5, 2021
“If you wrote a book and called it ‘A Year in the Life of the McGurrins,’ editors wouldn’t buy it because too many bad things happen back to back,” says Thomas’s best friend Dana. I’m glad editors knew better than Dana and gave this book a chance, and a better title. Doubting Thomas is a minor key masterwork, brimming with understated intelligence.
Thomas McGurrin is a beloved fortysomething teacher in a wealthy progressive school in Portland, and yes, he’s having a bad year. In Thomas’s recent past is a bad break-up and the stress of his younger brother’s cancer. In his present is the unfounded allegation of inappropriately touching one his pupils. In his future are the repercussions of the claim, and further grief and tragedy.
If queer men leave home to find a place where being what they are will matter, then Thomas finds it in the liberal school’s welcoming embrace of his skills and perspective as an out gay teacher. Until the embrace proves hollow and the spurious allegation reveals the truth beneath the veneer of “Portland’s post-racial, pro-queer, Obama-bumper-sticker bubble of wealth.”
Once he sees how easily he can be torn down as a role model, even after demonstrating his innocence, Thomas begins to question the models around which he himself has built his sense of self, including two straight brothers with whom he has a gorgeous and complex relationship.
He navigates his way through a cruel year with a new compass, pondering which second chances are still available. Turns out grief can strike hard, again and again, whether it’s one person or a family (or say, a generation of gay men in the 80s and 90s). Grief brings not just pain but also new clarity: mourning his relationship, the school or a family member is also what allows Thomas to farewell the man he thought he was and become the one he knows he can be.
It is difficult for me to write about this book because it hit so close to home in a way I haven’t often found in gay literature. I had to pause several times to attempt to answer the same questions that plague Thomas. Why don’t I feel at home in queer communities? How much have I smoothed over my own queerness to please others, indulging their invisible homophobia? How do I transition away from the introspection I needed to come out yesterday so I can be useful to others today?
The novel flirts with melodrama but resists sentimentality at every turn. Matthew Clark Davison’s insights are as abundant as they are discreet, subtly woven into a story that pans the lies we tell ourselves to make it from one day to the next, to locate glints of life-changing truths. In Thomas’s thoughtful discussions with friends, lovers and family, there are moments of pure grace, elegant lines drawn between personal and collective grief, between two characters’ differences in away that brings them closer together despite their incompatible experiences.
I think Doubting Thomas has the potential to teach some of us how to be gentle and complicated and loving and accepting of others and of ourselves. It is about nothing less than the getting of wisdom, recalibrating our notions of right and wrong as we grow older, acknowledging privilege and being of use.
December 18, 2021
I've spent yesterday processing this wonderful debut novel, and I think I have some of the words to capture how I feel about it. It is easily one of the best novels I've read this year.
*Doubting Thomas* opens with a newspaper headline: "A single word printed over the picture of Thomas and his fourth-grade class asked Pedophile?" Thomas, a gay teacher who has devoted the biggest slice of his life to a prestigious elementary school called Country Day, is falsely accused of molesting a male student. The novel gives us some background on this event, but it doesn't detail the unraveling of a sensationalized trial. Instead, Davison turns the spotlight on its aftermath and the emotional unraveling of a man who, just before entering middle age, gets the rug pulled cruelly underneath him.
The relational threads that bind him to his brothers, his parents, his sister-in-law, his nephew and nieces, his ex-lover, his best friend, are the stuff of this novel. And it is compelling, deeply human stuff. For a novel of a fairly average length, readers are given so many threads and such deep glimpses not only into the protagonist but so many side characters. I loved Jake and Sheree and Maddy and Jerome, but of course it is still Thomas who I felt great affinity with; Thomas' challenge to know his own worth as a man, as a brother, as a lover, is the stuff of compelling literature.
Those who know me well know that I am knocked out by stories that challenge notions of masculinity or dare to imagine male relationships outside the "cult of masculinity." Like my favourite novels, this novel explores how we express love, and not only between brothers and between men, but between all of us and toward ourselves. It captures ordinary human relationships in moments of extraordinary crisis, proving that literature can guide us in being more loving human beings to one another. ❤❤❤
Reread for my book club, Dec 10 thru 18, 2021.
*Doubting Thomas* opens with a newspaper headline: "A single word printed over the picture of Thomas and his fourth-grade class asked Pedophile?" Thomas, a gay teacher who has devoted the biggest slice of his life to a prestigious elementary school called Country Day, is falsely accused of molesting a male student. The novel gives us some background on this event, but it doesn't detail the unraveling of a sensationalized trial. Instead, Davison turns the spotlight on its aftermath and the emotional unraveling of a man who, just before entering middle age, gets the rug pulled cruelly underneath him.
The relational threads that bind him to his brothers, his parents, his sister-in-law, his nephew and nieces, his ex-lover, his best friend, are the stuff of this novel. And it is compelling, deeply human stuff. For a novel of a fairly average length, readers are given so many threads and such deep glimpses not only into the protagonist but so many side characters. I loved Jake and Sheree and Maddy and Jerome, but of course it is still Thomas who I felt great affinity with; Thomas' challenge to know his own worth as a man, as a brother, as a lover, is the stuff of compelling literature.
Those who know me well know that I am knocked out by stories that challenge notions of masculinity or dare to imagine male relationships outside the "cult of masculinity." Like my favourite novels, this novel explores how we express love, and not only between brothers and between men, but between all of us and toward ourselves. It captures ordinary human relationships in moments of extraordinary crisis, proving that literature can guide us in being more loving human beings to one another. ❤❤❤
Reread for my book club, Dec 10 thru 18, 2021.
June 9, 2021
Thomas is a school teacher falsely accused of an improper act against a young student. His name is rightly cleared, but his life has been turned upside down; he can't stay at his job, and pretty soon he realizes he can't stay in Portland, his adopted city. At the same time, his family is in crisis, because his younger brother is battling cancer and his older brother may not entirely believe in Thomas's innocence. Most of that happens early in the book, and the rest of the story is about Thomas coming to terms with what happened and who he'll be in this aftermath.
This novel is about a gay man's honest confrontation with the ways in which he's accommodated the world -- family, job, community -- in order to be liked and tolerated. What he learns is that acceptance and being truly seen is much more elusive in a world still defined by suspicion about queer sexuality. What does he want? Does he even know? Why does Thomas keep doubting himself? How can he free himself of this pressure? These existential questions make for an unexpectedly suspenseful book grounded in the concrete choices we make every day of our lives.
Matthew Clark Davison is a great observer of detail: how people think, talk, interact and fall silent. He understands how secrets and lies fester and eventually surface. He isn't afraid to explore the treacherous side of ostensibly good people. And he's a great writer, full of wisdom and style. Highly recommended.
This novel is about a gay man's honest confrontation with the ways in which he's accommodated the world -- family, job, community -- in order to be liked and tolerated. What he learns is that acceptance and being truly seen is much more elusive in a world still defined by suspicion about queer sexuality. What does he want? Does he even know? Why does Thomas keep doubting himself? How can he free himself of this pressure? These existential questions make for an unexpectedly suspenseful book grounded in the concrete choices we make every day of our lives.
Matthew Clark Davison is a great observer of detail: how people think, talk, interact and fall silent. He understands how secrets and lies fester and eventually surface. He isn't afraid to explore the treacherous side of ostensibly good people. And he's a great writer, full of wisdom and style. Highly recommended.
December 1, 2021
In Matthew Davison's debut novel, Doubting Thomas, an openly gay man is wrongfully accused of inappropriately touching a student at an elite, "progressive" school in Portland, Oregon. Thomas' story explores inequality, gender, stereotypes, social status, race and more. The writing draws you in from the stunning first line all the way through to the end. I'm looking forward to Davison's next book!
August 17, 2021
You would think the story of an out gay man who is a teacher at an affluent progressive independent school in Portland who’s accused of inappropriately touching a student would be the whole book right? But instead Matthew Clark Davison uses this situation to launch the narrative forward following a year in the life of Thomas McGurrin, a year spent in introspection tinged with anger, resentment, and new beginnings. Set in the middle of the first term of Obamas Presidency, I found myself completely drawn into and identifying in many ways with Thomas.
And not just his plight with the school, but his continual evolution as a gay man. Perhaps its because Davison with this character touched off many of the same feelings I’ve personally felt, wondering where you fit in with this community, questioning if you’ve done enough, spoken up enough, and fight the way others have for rights and freedoms. In his relationships with women, I again found hitting close to home. “Thomas’s closest relationships had always been with women. Thomas wondered why. Perhaps his attraction to men would have been deeper had he found the courage to reveal more of himself, like he could within the safe bubble of platonic friendship with women.”
I felt this was one of the more realistic portrayals of a gay mans life that wasn’t absent of conflict by any means but somehow felt more nuanced especially in the realm of dating. I could see this as a series actually and that’s what struck me when reading it, a year of growth and change in this mans life that we get to witness firsthand. A really lovely novel and I’m excited to see what Davison writes next.
And not just his plight with the school, but his continual evolution as a gay man. Perhaps its because Davison with this character touched off many of the same feelings I’ve personally felt, wondering where you fit in with this community, questioning if you’ve done enough, spoken up enough, and fight the way others have for rights and freedoms. In his relationships with women, I again found hitting close to home. “Thomas’s closest relationships had always been with women. Thomas wondered why. Perhaps his attraction to men would have been deeper had he found the courage to reveal more of himself, like he could within the safe bubble of platonic friendship with women.”
I felt this was one of the more realistic portrayals of a gay mans life that wasn’t absent of conflict by any means but somehow felt more nuanced especially in the realm of dating. I could see this as a series actually and that’s what struck me when reading it, a year of growth and change in this mans life that we get to witness firsthand. A really lovely novel and I’m excited to see what Davison writes next.
January 28, 2022
Thomas’s life is upended after cleared of accusations of touching a student inappropriately. Thomas works for an elite private school in Portland teaching fourth grade. His brother was recently diagnosed with cancer. His boyfriend of two years left. Thomas is aimless in a world that seems to be accepting until it’s not.
At first, I had a hard time following the writing of this book. The author flips between present day to the past from paragraph to paragraph. I wasn’t sure when these events occurred and would have to reread passages. Eventually, I got into the groove of the structure and I really enjoyed it. This book explores the life of Thomas, and the way it’s written puts the reader directly in the head of the main character, so we get a full and complete view of Thomas.
Though the book starts with the accusation, which changes Thomas’s life, this book is about more than that. The book explores Thomas’s relationship with his two brothers, their wives, their children, their parents. We also learn about past friendships and relationships that have ended and been revived. The book is also haunted by the specter of HIV that affected his early years. It also explores race, sexuality, and the hypocrisy of woke liberal parents.
I really liked this book and it was like nothing I read before. At the end I felt this novel was the exploration of a flawed but complete life.▪️
At first, I had a hard time following the writing of this book. The author flips between present day to the past from paragraph to paragraph. I wasn’t sure when these events occurred and would have to reread passages. Eventually, I got into the groove of the structure and I really enjoyed it. This book explores the life of Thomas, and the way it’s written puts the reader directly in the head of the main character, so we get a full and complete view of Thomas.
Though the book starts with the accusation, which changes Thomas’s life, this book is about more than that. The book explores Thomas’s relationship with his two brothers, their wives, their children, their parents. We also learn about past friendships and relationships that have ended and been revived. The book is also haunted by the specter of HIV that affected his early years. It also explores race, sexuality, and the hypocrisy of woke liberal parents.
I really liked this book and it was like nothing I read before. At the end I felt this novel was the exploration of a flawed but complete life.▪️
October 21, 2021
I thought this book was original and engaging. The author addresses heavy social and political issues without letting it weigh down the narrative or slow the pace. I didn’t want the book to end; as I felt invested in Thomas, Max, and Maddy’s journeys.
August 20, 2021
There are times a novel comes along and it touches you, not ever so lightly, like a butterfly, but more like a comforting hand on your shoulder or soft brush against your cheek. “Doubting Thomas” is one of those novels. It made me ache in recognition, it made me feel like a voyeur, with access to the most intimate details of a year in the life of a man and his family. It touched me when I least expected it to, and I became so involved, it moved me to tears with, say, a descriptive paragraph, or just one sentence. I fell in love with a book for the second time this year.
Thomas is something of an enigma when we first meet him. Recovering from a bad breakup and his brother’s cancer diagnosis, he finds solace in his work as a teacher at a private primary school for the children of the wealthy. Devoted to his kids, loved by the parents and faculty, he suddenly, and without warning, finds himself accused of the sexual molestation of one of his favorite young students. Shaken to his core, he reflects on his life, his loves, his family, and his need to feel worthy. He is forced to make difficult decisions and forced to take an astringent, honest look at himself. Life is messy, it’s fragile, it heals you, it scars you. Love devastates you, it lifts you up, and it can just as handily knock you down. And just when you think you’re overtaken by it all, life and love pile on even more. And yet, you go on.
This is such a stunning debut novel, I was overwhelmed author Matthew Clark Davison could not only peel back the layers of his characters, but do the same to me, the reader.I found myself wanting to know these people, wanting to open up to them, wanting to see their hearts, and thanks to a magnanimous and caring writer, I did.
There have been so many beloved classics in gay literature and this one enters the pantheon. I’m ecstatic I found it.
Thomas is something of an enigma when we first meet him. Recovering from a bad breakup and his brother’s cancer diagnosis, he finds solace in his work as a teacher at a private primary school for the children of the wealthy. Devoted to his kids, loved by the parents and faculty, he suddenly, and without warning, finds himself accused of the sexual molestation of one of his favorite young students. Shaken to his core, he reflects on his life, his loves, his family, and his need to feel worthy. He is forced to make difficult decisions and forced to take an astringent, honest look at himself. Life is messy, it’s fragile, it heals you, it scars you. Love devastates you, it lifts you up, and it can just as handily knock you down. And just when you think you’re overtaken by it all, life and love pile on even more. And yet, you go on.
This is such a stunning debut novel, I was overwhelmed author Matthew Clark Davison could not only peel back the layers of his characters, but do the same to me, the reader.I found myself wanting to know these people, wanting to open up to them, wanting to see their hearts, and thanks to a magnanimous and caring writer, I did.
There have been so many beloved classics in gay literature and this one enters the pantheon. I’m ecstatic I found it.
July 31, 2021
I found myself reading as slowly as I could as I neared the conclusion of Doubting Thomas, wanting it to last as long as possible. Davison has a way with language that manages to simultaneously encapsulate levity and the full gravity of life's every complexity. I can't think of any reader who wouldn't identify with Thomas, the multiple directions he allows and doesn't allow himself to get pulled in, the ways in which he is both sure and unsure, the adult manifestations of his childhood relationships and experiences, and so much more. Can't recommend highly enough!
July 16, 2021
Doubting Thomas is a phenomenal read. At its core it is a story about family, love, and connection. Matthew has created in depth characters and relationships who navigate grief and loss with grace and integrity, humor and care. I highly recommend this book and remain impressed and inspired by the author's ability to have me feel like part of the process and journey with Thomas.
August 8, 2022
Doubting Thomas tackles the horrific emotional fallout its protagonist, Thomas, endures after a false accusation of child molesting. Davison's elucidation of the socio-political and economic milieu in which this occurs is admirably precise and nuanced, and his characterizations of the drama's principle players are thoroughly believable. Davison is prone to exhaustive description and his prose is always dead serious - very much NOT my cup of tea, but I didn't deduct any stars from my rating on that account as such things are really a matter of taste.
September 30, 2021
Doubting Thomas is a beautiful, vivid, honest story about relationships, love, faith, forgiveness and so much more. Matthew does an amazing job of exploring the complexities of progressivism, sexuality, family, and love with such depth and tenderness that I did not want to put the book down. I felt intimately connected to the characters, and to the outcome, which is great storytelling. Highly recommend.
August 13, 2021
Couldn’t put this book down
“Doubting Thomas” is a page-turner and yet I found myself reading this book more slowly than I often do because the writing is so vivid. Matthew Davison has an incredible feel for language, and his characters and settings in Oregon, California, and Colorado come alive on the page. (I guess it’s not surprising since he’s a longtime writing instructor.) The book deals with so many complex issues ¬— homophobia, racism, class, and family dynamics – in a remarkably sensitive way. We start off learning about the accusation against the main character, Thomas McGurrin; he’s a longtime fourth grade teacher at a private school who has been accused of inappropriately touching a student. We know from the start that he’s innocent, and yet Thomas begins to doubt himself. His confusion and anger are visceral, as school parents and one of his closest friends abandon him. The novel snowballs from there into his journey to rebuild his future, even as he must deal with an unforeseen family tragedy that radically alters his life. “Doubting Thomas” is a gorgeous book. I cannot wait to see what Davison writes next.
“Doubting Thomas” is a page-turner and yet I found myself reading this book more slowly than I often do because the writing is so vivid. Matthew Davison has an incredible feel for language, and his characters and settings in Oregon, California, and Colorado come alive on the page. (I guess it’s not surprising since he’s a longtime writing instructor.) The book deals with so many complex issues ¬— homophobia, racism, class, and family dynamics – in a remarkably sensitive way. We start off learning about the accusation against the main character, Thomas McGurrin; he’s a longtime fourth grade teacher at a private school who has been accused of inappropriately touching a student. We know from the start that he’s innocent, and yet Thomas begins to doubt himself. His confusion and anger are visceral, as school parents and one of his closest friends abandon him. The novel snowballs from there into his journey to rebuild his future, even as he must deal with an unforeseen family tragedy that radically alters his life. “Doubting Thomas” is a gorgeous book. I cannot wait to see what Davison writes next.
August 18, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫First off. This cover is amazing.
Thomas is an openly gay educator at a private elementary school working with more liberal and progressive children and families. He’s supported and accepted, until he’s quickly not. He is unfairly and falsely accused of touching one of his students and we watch how this dismantles his life in so many ways. This is a timely piece and shows just how quick and quietly prejudice can surface.
This was thoughtfully done, and although the accusation is pivotal to the storyline…there is so much more here. We witness Thomas as a son, sibling, uncle, friend, partner and coworker and how these relationships change and are really challenged.
This one took me awhile to get through and the beginning really slowed me down with some of the details I think and where I lost interest at times. It’s a heavily character driven piece and I appreciated the relationships.
That said, this book really makes you think and one I’d recommend. How would you support your friend during this? How would you would handle this if it was your child’s teacher? How would you handle this if you were accused?
Thomas is an openly gay educator at a private elementary school working with more liberal and progressive children and families. He’s supported and accepted, until he’s quickly not. He is unfairly and falsely accused of touching one of his students and we watch how this dismantles his life in so many ways. This is a timely piece and shows just how quick and quietly prejudice can surface.
This was thoughtfully done, and although the accusation is pivotal to the storyline…there is so much more here. We witness Thomas as a son, sibling, uncle, friend, partner and coworker and how these relationships change and are really challenged.
This one took me awhile to get through and the beginning really slowed me down with some of the details I think and where I lost interest at times. It’s a heavily character driven piece and I appreciated the relationships.
That said, this book really makes you think and one I’d recommend. How would you support your friend during this? How would you would handle this if it was your child’s teacher? How would you handle this if you were accused?
August 8, 2021
An astonishing debut from Matthew Clark Davison!
How does Thomas McGurrin deal with an accusation that completely derails his life?
Even when Doubting Thomas is difficult to read because of its intense description and analysis of a gay man reckoning with the slow-motion train-wreck of his own professional ostracization, the book is nearly impossible to put down, and this is a credit to Davison's lucid and gorgeous prose. From the almost ominous beauty of Portland, Oregon's arboreal landscape, to the loaded and endearing conversations between Thomas' just-this-side-of-dysfunctional family, to the realistic re-contextualization of seemingly innocent memories in light of gobsmacking homophobia, Davison manages a spectacular literary juggling act.
Pick up a copy today, bear witness to Thomas' surprising journey of self-discovery, and be amazed at how people learn to accept the unacceptable, make sense of the senseless, and find love when love's very roots appear poisoned. Bravo!
How does Thomas McGurrin deal with an accusation that completely derails his life?
Even when Doubting Thomas is difficult to read because of its intense description and analysis of a gay man reckoning with the slow-motion train-wreck of his own professional ostracization, the book is nearly impossible to put down, and this is a credit to Davison's lucid and gorgeous prose. From the almost ominous beauty of Portland, Oregon's arboreal landscape, to the loaded and endearing conversations between Thomas' just-this-side-of-dysfunctional family, to the realistic re-contextualization of seemingly innocent memories in light of gobsmacking homophobia, Davison manages a spectacular literary juggling act.
Pick up a copy today, bear witness to Thomas' surprising journey of self-discovery, and be amazed at how people learn to accept the unacceptable, make sense of the senseless, and find love when love's very roots appear poisoned. Bravo!
June 16, 2021
I love the nuance with which Matthew Davison approaches this sticky novel. Rather than focusing on the scandal created when the protagonist is falsely accused of molesting a student, he focuses on the domino effect this has in the protagonist's life, painfully bringing up all his own insecurities as a gay man who has spent his life trying to prove himself worthy. Doubting Thomas is ultimately not about his community doubting him, but his own self-doubt. Beautiful.
November 18, 2021
Real and heartbreaking and hopeful. I don't have the words to express how much I enjoyed reading this.
June 26, 2021
When Doubting Thomas opens, Thomas McGurrin has been having a pretty tough time. He is reeling from the aftermath of a breakup and dealing with his brother’s cancer diagnosis and treatment. Now he is falsely accused of touching a student at the posh private school where he teaches fourth grade.
Thomas’s family, both blood- and chosen, inhabit his life within an extremely tight orbit. Davison weaves the stories of this broad array of characters together masterfully.
Even though homophobia drives much of the conflict, both internal and external for Thomas, his story touches on issues of race, parenting, addiction, brotherhood, limousine-liberalism, trust, and betrayal. None of these are glossed or waxed over. Davison treats each theme with specific characterization and loving detail that make the novel deeply rich and complex.
Highly recommended.
Thomas’s family, both blood- and chosen, inhabit his life within an extremely tight orbit. Davison weaves the stories of this broad array of characters together masterfully.
Even though homophobia drives much of the conflict, both internal and external for Thomas, his story touches on issues of race, parenting, addiction, brotherhood, limousine-liberalism, trust, and betrayal. None of these are glossed or waxed over. Davison treats each theme with specific characterization and loving detail that make the novel deeply rich and complex.
Highly recommended.
June 10, 2021
ooooohhhhhh….. you know when you read a book cover to cover in 24 hours and then can’t stop thinking about it? Yup, that is THIS book by Matthew Clark Davison a wizard with words and a master storyteller. For me this book had everything I want in a great read….discomfort, intrigue, love, confusion, hope and good over evil. Days later I am still thinking about the subjects that were written about from being deceived on a professional level to the truth in being ourselves. Can’t wait to see what he writes next.
August 24, 2021
Matthew Clark Davison's Doubting Thomas is a coming an age of the novel. The themes of family, race, and sexuality are perfectly drawn out in this novel. Thomas’s sour times remind us that life is wasn’t always easy and to make the best of our endeavors. Reading Thomas’s journey about dealing with sexual allegations and his brother’s cancer treatments emphasizes the importance of perseverance. One of my favorite novels of this year!
June 11, 2021
The first sentence draws you in like a rush of super-oxygenated air and leaves you dizzy with excitement and anticipation. The canvass Matthew has painted is vast in its ambition and exquisitely executed. Utterly captivating.
August 26, 2021
A gracefully complex story of love, loss, and growth that is both relatable and intensely compelling. A gem of a debut novel.
August 27, 2021
Amazing character development. I felt at home in every scene. This is only his 1st book, can’t wait for the 2nd!
November 18, 2021
What a touching and complex tale!
I had the privilege of speaking with the author, Matthew, and what a talented and intentional author! The amount of research put into this novel to create a world so real is just incredible. How it can touch the hearts of someone from different walks of life is absolutely inspiring to aspiring authors. Loved this book!
I had the privilege of speaking with the author, Matthew, and what a talented and intentional author! The amount of research put into this novel to create a world so real is just incredible. How it can touch the hearts of someone from different walks of life is absolutely inspiring to aspiring authors. Loved this book!
December 31, 2021
Amid a large cast of characters and a zig-zag timeline, I was most swept up when this memorable debut novel grounded itself in the 'now' and zeroed in on Thomas' resonant anguish and intimate, revelatory relationships.
Life can change and end in seconds, and perhaps never more so than in our contemporary tech, capitalist, prejudiced, divisive, pandemic, clickbait, and chaotic culture. I admire how originally and powerfully Davison depicts the resulting nuances, layers, contradictions, wounds, and triumphs in Doubting Thomas.
Life can change and end in seconds, and perhaps never more so than in our contemporary tech, capitalist, prejudiced, divisive, pandemic, clickbait, and chaotic culture. I admire how originally and powerfully Davison depicts the resulting nuances, layers, contradictions, wounds, and triumphs in Doubting Thomas.
July 20, 2022
Beautiful prose, incredibly subtle and well-developed characters. Davison is a master-class in fiction writing. But what I loved most about this book is how introspective it demands the reader to be. I stopped several times upon a turn of phrase to allow it to roll around my mind. What a terrific read.
July 1, 2022
So good! emotional in good spots, but also deep and introspective - aware. I love how it feels real, authentic; that this could have been a real story, even with all the tragedy. No weepy bullshit. No eyeroll-worthy clichés.
Character arc is nice; I sense growth. Ending was good.
Character arc is nice; I sense growth. Ending was good.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews