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Jerome
Marco and Katy, devastated by the sudden death of their friend Jerome and separated by thousands of miles, turn to each other for comfort and answers. In a series of online chats, faxes, and E-mail messages, denial gives way to truth as both friends explore the nature of their relationship with Jerome. William Taylor has once again created a moving portrait of teenage self-discovery that rings with humor, a recorder's ear for dialogue, and a resounding authenticity.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 2, 2013
Written in 1999 when email was still something of a plaything, not today’s serious social media, that in itself makes the book visionary for it has not stood with time but moved with time. It’s as relevant, poignant and beautiful today as it was 14 years ago. So much so, that the last few copies I'm now trying to buy because it is such an important international social comment.
It follows a social media and chat room conversation between Marco (the guy on the front cover) in New Zealand and Kate his friend now settling in California, about the death of their friend Jerome who accidentally shot himself when out hunting for rabbits.
It is a mega powerful read, at the speed of email and chat, and the reader can’t help but fall in love with all of the characters. As with all correspondence, surrounding circumstances, events and people are also revealed, that which makes social history so captivating, so alluring. And Taylor has done the same here as he gives us a glimpse of Marco’s dad, 34 with a 17 yr old drop dead gorgeous son, who busts his marriage because of his compulsive adultery. You sense the guy just can't help but poke whatever comes his way; the wretched religious fundamentalist Johanson family – comical and tragic all in one – the Winters, Jerome’s parents, the sub story (one of several) of Nathan Smart who comes in for merciless homophobic bullying by Marco and Jerome at school but which Taylor brings to one of his typical uplifting and surprising conclusions.
Kate and her friends in the USA – a very happy lesbian couple giving to Kate all the love and affection that the Johansons couldn’t and wouldn’t give despite their so called beliefs. Her own falling in love with Ann and her fierce rebuke of Marco as she boots into touch the stench of racism in one of his more trying moments; this guy on the front cover going apeshit as he tries to warn her through his truly awful keyboard skills that she’s jumping from the frying pan into the fire and would be better back with the Johanson family after all. It’s one hell of a bumpy ride – that sort of ride that has onlookers desperate to peer over their neighbour’s shoulder to the next instalment.
This is not soap. This is literature. Powerful literature. Stripped of descriptive prose, it’s in your face and which is exactly where it should be.
There are many tender moments. And you become intimately involved with three very, very beautiful young people – Marco, Kate and Jerome – and a host of other great characters along the way, but all through the medium of the screen and keyboard until the last chapter when Kate and Marco finally meet up and take their planned walk to the cemetery. It is uplifting, gloriously so, but a scourge for those with closed and narrow minds – but that is the stuff of all Taylor’s writing over some 35 years.
This book should not be taken off the library lists. It should be going into its 2nd edition.
My only advisory comment? I've alluded to it because I don’t want readers making the same mistake I did. The cover is very powerful and I’d naturally assumed that the guy on the front is Jerome. So it came as a shock to discover it’s Marco, and of course my brain being what it is, it’s taken quite a while to derail that thought line! The book is compulsive reading and should be on the list of every right thinking national curriculum for schools here in the UK, in New Zealand, in Australia, in the USA and in Canada. These guys are just 17!
The book also shows Taylor’s own extraordinary ability to read and understand children and young people, bringing into this his lifetime as a teacher and primary head teacher. Keep writing Will!
Oh – and did it move me? Yep it did. It broke me.
It follows a social media and chat room conversation between Marco (the guy on the front cover) in New Zealand and Kate his friend now settling in California, about the death of their friend Jerome who accidentally shot himself when out hunting for rabbits.
It is a mega powerful read, at the speed of email and chat, and the reader can’t help but fall in love with all of the characters. As with all correspondence, surrounding circumstances, events and people are also revealed, that which makes social history so captivating, so alluring. And Taylor has done the same here as he gives us a glimpse of Marco’s dad, 34 with a 17 yr old drop dead gorgeous son, who busts his marriage because of his compulsive adultery. You sense the guy just can't help but poke whatever comes his way; the wretched religious fundamentalist Johanson family – comical and tragic all in one – the Winters, Jerome’s parents, the sub story (one of several) of Nathan Smart who comes in for merciless homophobic bullying by Marco and Jerome at school but which Taylor brings to one of his typical uplifting and surprising conclusions.
Kate and her friends in the USA – a very happy lesbian couple giving to Kate all the love and affection that the Johansons couldn’t and wouldn’t give despite their so called beliefs. Her own falling in love with Ann and her fierce rebuke of Marco as she boots into touch the stench of racism in one of his more trying moments; this guy on the front cover going apeshit as he tries to warn her through his truly awful keyboard skills that she’s jumping from the frying pan into the fire and would be better back with the Johanson family after all. It’s one hell of a bumpy ride – that sort of ride that has onlookers desperate to peer over their neighbour’s shoulder to the next instalment.
This is not soap. This is literature. Powerful literature. Stripped of descriptive prose, it’s in your face and which is exactly where it should be.
There are many tender moments. And you become intimately involved with three very, very beautiful young people – Marco, Kate and Jerome – and a host of other great characters along the way, but all through the medium of the screen and keyboard until the last chapter when Kate and Marco finally meet up and take their planned walk to the cemetery. It is uplifting, gloriously so, but a scourge for those with closed and narrow minds – but that is the stuff of all Taylor’s writing over some 35 years.
This book should not be taken off the library lists. It should be going into its 2nd edition.
My only advisory comment? I've alluded to it because I don’t want readers making the same mistake I did. The cover is very powerful and I’d naturally assumed that the guy on the front is Jerome. So it came as a shock to discover it’s Marco, and of course my brain being what it is, it’s taken quite a while to derail that thought line! The book is compulsive reading and should be on the list of every right thinking national curriculum for schools here in the UK, in New Zealand, in Australia, in the USA and in Canada. These guys are just 17!
The book also shows Taylor’s own extraordinary ability to read and understand children and young people, bringing into this his lifetime as a teacher and primary head teacher. Keep writing Will!
Oh – and did it move me? Yep it did. It broke me.
August 6, 2011
A book really for all ages if you're not put off by realistic teenage swearing. Teenagers say the f word, just not on facebook. I'm not surprised many people have not read this book, it is a short read, like a 2 hour read, and is told in an unconventional way, through emails/letters, but the ending is worth getting to quickly because it's the best part. Don't want to give it away, but it's definitely a shocker and makes you want to go out and live life to the fullest, because wasting the short time you have on earth because of what others might think of you is just not ok. Don't ever sacrifice your happiness to conform to social standards. Fight the man, don't join him!
October 22, 2010
In light of the recent spike gay teen suicides, I think that this book deserves a wider readership.
Jerome, a young New Zealand man has shot himself. The police ruled it an accident but...
Whatever the case, his two best mates are grief-stricken and trying to deal. Kate his best gal pal is away in America on a student exhange program and Marco is at home with his dad.
The two communicate by fax, and letter and e-mail and chat session. As the discuss their respective relationships with Jerome, rage and denial give way to truth and understanding.
Jerome, a young New Zealand man has shot himself. The police ruled it an accident but...
Whatever the case, his two best mates are grief-stricken and trying to deal. Kate his best gal pal is away in America on a student exhange program and Marco is at home with his dad.
The two communicate by fax, and letter and e-mail and chat session. As the discuss their respective relationships with Jerome, rage and denial give way to truth and understanding.
January 11, 2026
1.75 This was my third time reading, and first time I really hated this. Two teenagers have just lost their best friend, and email back and forth as one is in Aotearoa, the other in the USA. This book is filled with homophobic and racist slurs, and though that's on purpose for the characters to learn and grow, it was very difficult to read. It was VERY progressive for 1990's Aotearoa, but there's no reason for me to read this in the current day.
June 1, 2014
Jerome is a fast-moving story where an American girl Kate and a New Zealand boy Marco talk to each other about their lost friend Jerome, from phone calls to emails to chatting with each other in person. It, however contains frequent use of language that may offend some readers. So if you're reading this book, just watch out for the rude words used, okay?
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews