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Forever Is Not Just Time
What does Forever even mean, anyway?
18-year-old Gibbon Mulcahy just ditched his high school graduation ceremony to hitchhike down to Louisiana. Even he isn’t sure why. His boyfriend, Leo, moved back down south months ago, but never called him again.
Until that afternoon.
Now Gibb has to deal with the consequences of his impulses, encountering people and places he could only have ever conceived in his imagination. But his safe illusions turn out to be no match against the reality of what it really means to love another person.
His favorite teacher and mentor once told him, “You can’t get away from your truth, Gibb. It’s with you wherever you go.” The longer he stays in Louisiana, though, the easier it is for Gibb to lose faith in whatever truth he thought he’d found.
“A story about love, not romance. Odd how those two concepts don’t always mix.”
Joe McKinstry
18-year-old Gibbon Mulcahy just ditched his high school graduation ceremony to hitchhike down to Louisiana. Even he isn’t sure why. His boyfriend, Leo, moved back down south months ago, but never called him again.
Until that afternoon.
Now Gibb has to deal with the consequences of his impulses, encountering people and places he could only have ever conceived in his imagination. But his safe illusions turn out to be no match against the reality of what it really means to love another person.
His favorite teacher and mentor once told him, “You can’t get away from your truth, Gibb. It’s with you wherever you go.” The longer he stays in Louisiana, though, the easier it is for Gibb to lose faith in whatever truth he thought he’d found.
“A story about love, not romance. Odd how those two concepts don’t always mix.”
Joe McKinstry
249 pages, Paperback
Published April 29, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 26, 2022
I received this from the author, who was a student of my mom's years ago and we had known each other a little bit growing up. He had taken some effort to get the book to me but wanted to ensure I got it as it was partially dedicated to my mother as a show of respect for the impact she had on his life. So going in, I thought "well, first time author and probably not a book I'd have grabbed off the shelves - I'll keep my expectations in check"....
And I loved it. It's a beautiful but very different coming of age story centered on two high school seniors in the early '80s with extraordinarily different backgrounds as Leo moves from Louisiana to upstate NY and finds himself friends with Gibb, who to that point had mostly been living a life of blandness. They become fast friends then more than that, but things are never a straight line in the story. There's a road trip with a new lifelong friend that helps Gibb center a lot of things, some tragedy that begets other tragedy for Leo, and a terrific ending that really isn't an ending so much as the normal "life is still going on and things are still changing" but with a cap to the part of the story the reader sees that makes sense.
Due to the 80's being such a different time for gay boys vs today, particularly in schools, this book really resonates in telling the story of then through the lens of now.
Highly recommend to anyone for a book that'll tug at your heart and at times try to teach you a little bit.
And I loved it. It's a beautiful but very different coming of age story centered on two high school seniors in the early '80s with extraordinarily different backgrounds as Leo moves from Louisiana to upstate NY and finds himself friends with Gibb, who to that point had mostly been living a life of blandness. They become fast friends then more than that, but things are never a straight line in the story. There's a road trip with a new lifelong friend that helps Gibb center a lot of things, some tragedy that begets other tragedy for Leo, and a terrific ending that really isn't an ending so much as the normal "life is still going on and things are still changing" but with a cap to the part of the story the reader sees that makes sense.
Due to the 80's being such a different time for gay boys vs today, particularly in schools, this book really resonates in telling the story of then through the lens of now.
Highly recommend to anyone for a book that'll tug at your heart and at times try to teach you a little bit.
July 11, 2022
Joe McKinstry’s novel about a young gay man’s cross-country journey to reunite with his boyfriend is not only a beautifully written story of first love but also an inspiring enthralling tale of courage and self-discovery. Unlike many novels and films featuring teenagers, McKinstry perceptively explores the fears, doubts, insecurity, and insights of his young characters, giving them a complexity and profundity that make them relatable for YA and adult readers. As the main character, Gibbon Mulcahy, hitchhikes from rural New York State to New Orleans, McKinstry vividly depicts the changing physical landscape and Gibbon’s growing self-awareness. Experiencing sorrow, joy, beauty and disillusionment along the way, Gibbon learns that love, like life, encompasses fluctuating perspectives, moments of darkness and light in an uncertain, ever-evolving journey.
November 8, 2022
This is a wonderfully unique story of a young man finding love -- in people, in places, and in himself. The author takes you on an emotional journey with Gibb, a sweet and misunderstood introvert living in a rough household, when he meets Leo, a new boy in town who is beautiful, tender, and understands Gibb in a way he never thought possible. What follows is a heartwarming, sometimes tragic story of first love, complicated family dynamics, and self-discovery. A beautifully written novel -- I couldn't put it down.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews