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The Brothers Bishop
Tommy and Nathan Bishop are as different as two brothers can be. Carefree and careless, Tommy is the golden boy who takes men into his bed with a seductive smile and turns them out just as quickly. No one can resist him—and no one can control him, either. That salient point certainly isn’t lost on his brother. Nathan is all about control. At thirty-one, he is as dark and complicated as Tommy is light and easy, and he is bitter beyond his years. While Tommy left for the excitement of New York City, Nathan has stayed behind, teaching high school English in their provincial hometown, surrounded by the reminders of their ruined family history and the legacy of anger that runs through him like a scar.
Now, Tommy has come home to the family cottage by the sea for the summer, bringing his unstable, sexual powder keg of an entourage—and the distant echoes of his family’s tumultuous past—with him. Tommy and his lover Philip are teetering on the brink of disaster, while their married friends, Camille and Kyle, perfect their steps in a dance of denial, each partner pulling Nathan deeper into the fray. And when one of Nathan’s troubled students, Simon, begins visiting the house, the slow fuse is lit on a highly combustible mix.
During a heady two-week party filled with drunken revelations, bitter jealousies, caustic jabs, and tender reconciliations, Tommy and Nathan will confront the legacy of their twisted family history—their angry, abusive father and the tragic death of their mother—and finally, the one secret that has shaped their entire lives. It is a summer that will challenge everything Nathan remembers and unravel Tommy’s carefully constructed facade, drawing them both unwittingly into a drama with echoes of the past…one with unforeseen and very dangerous consequences.
Now, Tommy has come home to the family cottage by the sea for the summer, bringing his unstable, sexual powder keg of an entourage—and the distant echoes of his family’s tumultuous past—with him. Tommy and his lover Philip are teetering on the brink of disaster, while their married friends, Camille and Kyle, perfect their steps in a dance of denial, each partner pulling Nathan deeper into the fray. And when one of Nathan’s troubled students, Simon, begins visiting the house, the slow fuse is lit on a highly combustible mix.
During a heady two-week party filled with drunken revelations, bitter jealousies, caustic jabs, and tender reconciliations, Tommy and Nathan will confront the legacy of their twisted family history—their angry, abusive father and the tragic death of their mother—and finally, the one secret that has shaped their entire lives. It is a summer that will challenge everything Nathan remembers and unravel Tommy’s carefully constructed facade, drawing them both unwittingly into a drama with echoes of the past…one with unforeseen and very dangerous consequences.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2005
37 people are currently reading
2689 people want to read
About the author
Bart Yates
8 books379 followersAuthor also writes as Noah Bly
Bart Yates was born in Cheyenne, WY, raised in Lamoni, IA, educated in Boston, MA, and now lives in Iowa City, IA, with the world's finest and most discerning cat.
In addition to writing, Yates is a musician, and plays clarinet, saxophone, and bass guitar.
His latest novel is THE VERY LONG, VERY STRANGE LIFE OF ISAAC DAHL, available in stores on July 23, 2024.
For personal blogs, reviews, and info about upcoming events, readers can visit his website: bartyates.com
Bart Yates was born in Cheyenne, WY, raised in Lamoni, IA, educated in Boston, MA, and now lives in Iowa City, IA, with the world's finest and most discerning cat.
In addition to writing, Yates is a musician, and plays clarinet, saxophone, and bass guitar.
His latest novel is THE VERY LONG, VERY STRANGE LIFE OF ISAAC DAHL, available in stores on July 23, 2024.
For personal blogs, reviews, and info about upcoming events, readers can visit his website: bartyates.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 272 reviews
April 1, 2018
5+ Stars
And straight on my favourite shelf it goes...
I've literally just finished this and have never written a review so soon after finishing something....but if I don't get some words written about this now,I'm not sure I ever will.
I can't take credit for finding this book or this Author ( I wish I could....I'd be so smug....).If I hadn't seen this on a friend's tbr shelf I would never have come across it......and I would have missed something pretty damn special.
I'm going to start by saying please,please don't read any reviews because a few have massive spoilers...
This isn't a story of romantic love but it most definitely is about love.....it's raw,it's brutal,it's compelling,it had my emotions all over the place.
Nathan and Tommy are brothers,as different as night and day.Tommy shines brightly,like the Sun.Blonde,beautiful,with a zest for life.Nathan is dark,broody,a bit reclusive.He lives in a cottage by the beach and teaches at the local school.He's reasonably content with his life but when Tommy announces he's coming to visit,one summer,with some friends.....life is destined never to be the same again...
The story is told only from Nathan's pov.He's brutally honest,makes no apologies,and his thoughts and words pack a powerful punch.Even though you don't get Tommy's pov the Author still manages to fully convey the kind of man he is.
There are some very emotive issues in this story and if you want sunshine and roses this book won't be for you.
The setting by the beach,in scorching summer heat is quite beautiful and very apt....you can feel the oppressive heat as tensions rise,lines get blurred and crossed and all the time the ghost of Nathan and Tommy's father is ever present in the men's lives.
Highly Recommended...
And straight on my favourite shelf it goes...
My life is not an apology,but a life
I've literally just finished this and have never written a review so soon after finishing something....but if I don't get some words written about this now,I'm not sure I ever will.
I can't take credit for finding this book or this Author ( I wish I could....I'd be so smug....).If I hadn't seen this on a friend's tbr shelf I would never have come across it......and I would have missed something pretty damn special.
I'm going to start by saying please,please don't read any reviews because a few have massive spoilers...
This isn't a story of romantic love but it most definitely is about love.....it's raw,it's brutal,it's compelling,it had my emotions all over the place.
Nathan and Tommy are brothers,as different as night and day.Tommy shines brightly,like the Sun.Blonde,beautiful,with a zest for life.Nathan is dark,broody,a bit reclusive.He lives in a cottage by the beach and teaches at the local school.He's reasonably content with his life but when Tommy announces he's coming to visit,one summer,with some friends.....life is destined never to be the same again...
The story is told only from Nathan's pov.He's brutally honest,makes no apologies,and his thoughts and words pack a powerful punch.Even though you don't get Tommy's pov the Author still manages to fully convey the kind of man he is.
There are some very emotive issues in this story and if you want sunshine and roses this book won't be for you.
The setting by the beach,in scorching summer heat is quite beautiful and very apt....you can feel the oppressive heat as tensions rise,lines get blurred and crossed and all the time the ghost of Nathan and Tommy's father is ever present in the men's lives.
Love doesn’t “grow.” It doesn’t wait for you to discover it, it doesn’t fall like a gentle rain from the sky, it doesn’t tiptoe into your heart like a happy little bunny, and it doesn’t have a fucking thing to do with familiarity. Love is neither patient nor kind. Love attacks.
Highly Recommended...
December 31, 2019
Nine days later and i still don't know what to properly say about this book.
Who the fuck comes up with a story like this? Well!! Umm! clearly Bart Yates.
This is one fucked up story about one fucked up family and i loved every second of it.
I make no apologies for being a hermit. My choice to live alone has been deliberate and entirely voluntary. As a general rule, people piss me off and I’m a much happier man when I’m by myself. I should mine the front yard and buy a couple of Dobermans and then maybe I could finally get some privacy.
I am still thinking about Nathan and Tommy.
The writing is flawless, poetic and you can just feel it your bones. Mr. Yates can sure write a scene that makes you feel you are there. He doesn't shy away from some very taboo topics, i think he danced around them well, i just wish he had gone a little bit deeper. I kinda wanted more exploration.
So basically what i am trying to say is: I hated Nathan, I hated Tommy, I hated their father, I hated their friends and their town. Oh and Simon? I hated him too. AND! I freaking loved this story. Best taboo book ever. Not for everyone of course.
I will forever remember this book and these despicable, awful, best characters ever created. Books like this are rare and should be cherished forever.
Thank you Jan and Moony for holding my hand through this and the 3 am venting.
Thank you so much Judith for gifting me this book. It took me a whole year to read and was totally worth it.
Who the fuck comes up with a story like this? Well!! Umm! clearly Bart Yates.
This is one fucked up story about one fucked up family and i loved every second of it.
I make no apologies for being a hermit. My choice to live alone has been deliberate and entirely voluntary. As a general rule, people piss me off and I’m a much happier man when I’m by myself. I should mine the front yard and buy a couple of Dobermans and then maybe I could finally get some privacy.
I am still thinking about Nathan and Tommy.
The writing is flawless, poetic and you can just feel it your bones. Mr. Yates can sure write a scene that makes you feel you are there. He doesn't shy away from some very taboo topics, i think he danced around them well, i just wish he had gone a little bit deeper. I kinda wanted more exploration.
So basically what i am trying to say is: I hated Nathan, I hated Tommy, I hated their father, I hated their friends and their town. Oh and Simon? I hated him too. AND! I freaking loved this story. Best taboo book ever. Not for everyone of course.
I will forever remember this book and these despicable, awful, best characters ever created. Books like this are rare and should be cherished forever.
Thank you Jan and Moony for holding my hand through this and the 3 am venting.
Thank you so much Judith for gifting me this book. It took me a whole year to read and was totally worth it.
December 19, 2018
**** 4.5 Stars ****
I finished this very early this morning and went straight into mulling over mode. My reaction at the end wasn’t the same as my buddy reader and my two supporters while reading this. Therefore, I decided to give it some time to process it all.
I didn’t shed a tear. In fact, I finished this feeling quite pissed and very frustrated with the unfairness of it all.
For some unknown reason, apart from being a resentful bitch, I couldn’t sympathize with one of the MC - aka Tommy. The anger I felt was stronger than any other feeling.
So, I thought, let’s cool down a bit. Perhaps the coin will drop later?
However, the day is gone, and I am still pissed. I guess it is all about different intakes and perspectives. Therefore, here is my spoiler rant and I believe only those who have read this will get me.
As Rosalinda very well pointed in her review, “the author has not written his story for you to like it.”
Rant over, I need to give all the praise to the writing. It’s brilliant. The Brothers Bishop is a train wreck you see coming miles away, but you can’t stop reading because the writing is compelling.
It invites you to listen. It flows naturally and easily, in an intimate tone. Nathan, the narrator, hides nothing, telling us the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s not a happy voice. It’s crude, it’s bitter, sometimes snarky to the point of making me read the same sentence twice and question how the hell he came up with this? And I just had to laugh. Other times, this voice become resigned and that’s the sad part of it because we realize how little affection Nathan had received his whole life.
Just one more thing, I loved the secondary characters. Cheri, Caleb, Camille, Kyle, Philip and yeah, Simon the little shit. The imperfections and weaknesses they were fleshed out with made them unique and added a lot of character to the story.
The Brothers Bishop is not a romance. It’s a perfect picture of life being a bitch when you choose the wrong path.
Thanks a million to Vir for having me as a partner, to Rosalinda for all her poker faces and support and to Judith who kept checking up on us every now and then.
I had a blast girls!!!
I finished this very early this morning and went straight into mulling over mode. My reaction at the end wasn’t the same as my buddy reader and my two supporters while reading this. Therefore, I decided to give it some time to process it all.
I didn’t shed a tear. In fact, I finished this feeling quite pissed and very frustrated with the unfairness of it all.
For some unknown reason, apart from being a resentful bitch, I couldn’t sympathize with one of the MC - aka Tommy. The anger I felt was stronger than any other feeling.
So, I thought, let’s cool down a bit. Perhaps the coin will drop later?
However, the day is gone, and I am still pissed. I guess it is all about different intakes and perspectives. Therefore, here is my spoiler rant and I believe only those who have read this will get me.
As Rosalinda very well pointed in her review, “the author has not written his story for you to like it.”
Rant over, I need to give all the praise to the writing. It’s brilliant. The Brothers Bishop is a train wreck you see coming miles away, but you can’t stop reading because the writing is compelling.
It invites you to listen. It flows naturally and easily, in an intimate tone. Nathan, the narrator, hides nothing, telling us the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s not a happy voice. It’s crude, it’s bitter, sometimes snarky to the point of making me read the same sentence twice and question how the hell he came up with this? And I just had to laugh. Other times, this voice become resigned and that’s the sad part of it because we realize how little affection Nathan had received his whole life.
Just one more thing, I loved the secondary characters. Cheri, Caleb, Camille, Kyle, Philip and yeah, Simon the little shit. The imperfections and weaknesses they were fleshed out with made them unique and added a lot of character to the story.
The Brothers Bishop is not a romance. It’s a perfect picture of life being a bitch when you choose the wrong path.
Thanks a million to Vir for having me as a partner, to Rosalinda for all her poker faces and support and to Judith who kept checking up on us every now and then.
I had a blast girls!!!
October 30, 2017
This is probably the best book I have read this year.
This being said, be careful because it’s not for everyone. My review won’t contain major spoilers at all but I am including some warnings, I think you need them if you decide to give this a go.
So, I finished it last week and I have not been able to start anything else, not to mention I have been thinking about the characters since I finished. Their story consumed me. Just in case you want to laugh at me, the night I finished my hubby was watching this documentary about Fukushima and I started crying like a baby so he thought I was crying because of the documentary and I could not even explain to him why I was crying because I could not even speak (don’t take me wrong, I am not saying the documentary wasn’t sad, I was just crying for a completely different reason)
This is the story of two brothers that could not be any more different. Nathan is the mature one, with a stable life and Tommy is the carefree, don’t-give-a-fuck about anything one.
This book is worth it just to enjoy how Nathan tells you the story. I have never ever read a character that is more honest than him, he never sugar coats anything at all, he doesn’t care whether you like him or not, the author has not written his story for you to like it.
Nathan is a teacher who lives alone in the family cottage and Tommy wants to visit him for a few days with a couple friends and his latest conquest. Add in Simon, one of Nathans students, who is being apparently abused by his father.
So basically this is the premise of the book, what happens once they all get together is one of the best journeys I have ever read in my entire life. Don’t expect romance, this is a book about LOVE but it’s not your typical romance. This is also a book about broken people who didn’t have the best childhood and who got affected for this reason. This is a book about humans who make mistakes, there are no villains or good ones here, they all are just real and they all make mistakes at some point.
If you think of it, we all make mistakes in life, some mistakes you can cover easily. However, other mistakes change your life forever.
If you feel brave enough I’d say give this one a try but you need to be in the mood and you need to be prepared for this beautiful yet painful story.
Kudos to the author for making me empathize with all characters, I specially loved how everything came full circle at the end.
This being said, be careful because it’s not for everyone. My review won’t contain major spoilers at all but I am including some warnings, I think you need them if you decide to give this a go.
So, I finished it last week and I have not been able to start anything else, not to mention I have been thinking about the characters since I finished. Their story consumed me. Just in case you want to laugh at me, the night I finished my hubby was watching this documentary about Fukushima and I started crying like a baby so he thought I was crying because of the documentary and I could not even explain to him why I was crying because I could not even speak (don’t take me wrong, I am not saying the documentary wasn’t sad, I was just crying for a completely different reason)
This is the story of two brothers that could not be any more different. Nathan is the mature one, with a stable life and Tommy is the carefree, don’t-give-a-fuck about anything one.
This book is worth it just to enjoy how Nathan tells you the story. I have never ever read a character that is more honest than him, he never sugar coats anything at all, he doesn’t care whether you like him or not, the author has not written his story for you to like it.
Nathan is a teacher who lives alone in the family cottage and Tommy wants to visit him for a few days with a couple friends and his latest conquest. Add in Simon, one of Nathans students, who is being apparently abused by his father.
So basically this is the premise of the book, what happens once they all get together is one of the best journeys I have ever read in my entire life. Don’t expect romance, this is a book about LOVE but it’s not your typical romance. This is also a book about broken people who didn’t have the best childhood and who got affected for this reason. This is a book about humans who make mistakes, there are no villains or good ones here, they all are just real and they all make mistakes at some point.
If you think of it, we all make mistakes in life, some mistakes you can cover easily. However, other mistakes change your life forever.
If you feel brave enough I’d say give this one a try but you need to be in the mood and you need to be prepared for this beautiful yet painful story.
Kudos to the author for making me empathize with all characters, I specially loved how everything came full circle at the end.
April 23, 2019
OK, I’m feeling the absolute impossibility of reviewing this book. Mostly because everything I want to say about it would be better experienced by going in blind... even mentioning the masterful use of certain literary elements would be spoilery.
But. I know a lot of people wouldn’t be down with this kind of experience. So, here are my disclaimers:
* This isn’t a romance.
* It’s intensely uncomfortable and frustrating.
* You can’t even see the morally ambiguous line from here.
* You won't like some of the characters some of the time, or maybe any of the characters ever. But you'll still feel compassion for them. You'll feel conflicted. You won't be able to stop thinking about them.
The writing is exceptional. I didn’t go to sleep until after finishing it at 3:30am.
But. I know a lot of people wouldn’t be down with this kind of experience. So, here are my disclaimers:
* This isn’t a romance.
* It’s intensely uncomfortable and frustrating.
* You can’t even see the morally ambiguous line from here.
* You won't like some of the characters some of the time, or maybe any of the characters ever. But you'll still feel compassion for them. You'll feel conflicted. You won't be able to stop thinking about them.
The writing is exceptional. I didn’t go to sleep until after finishing it at 3:30am.
April 5, 2008
Incest, paedophilia, child abuse, suicide: The Brothers Bishop is just another tale of everyday life in Connecticut. If this story ever makes it to silver screen, prepare for outraged demonstrations of the moral majority outside a cinema near you.
The book's central characters are Nathan Bishop, a reclusive gay school-teacher and Tommy, his fun-loving brother, also queer, who’s made an art form of promiscuity. Nathan's still living in the seaside cottage where he grew up, while Tommy never grew up and set off to sow his wild oats in New York City. But for one week only, Tommy's back, up-ending Nathan's comfort zone with his unsettling presence, and bringing an entourage of an unhappy couple (Kyle and Camille) and Tommy's latest flame, Philip.
It's hardly the dream team: Kyle's closeted, Camille’s frustrated, Tommy’s horny, Philip’s enfatuated and Nathan’s volcanic. As if this Molotov cocktail in-the-making weren't bad enough, enter Simon, one of Nathan’s students whose father is a little too useful with his fists. Once Simon enters Tommy's orbit, it seems only a matter of time before both will crash and burn.
Hovering over the smouldering stew like a bad smell is the Bishop brothers’ father. Long dead, but ever-present in their memories, he's the loving dad who turned abusive after their mother’s sudden death. Nathan is constantly being likened to his father, a, comparison that ignites his temper, which only serves to heighten the resemblance.
It would have been all too easy for the author to create suspense for the reader by hinting at a sexual dimension to the brothers' relationship. But there's no such device. He just comes right out with it, using Nathan's voice to make the matter-of-fact admission. Distasteful? Scandalous? Unacceptable? Perhaps. Except, the author seems to challenge the reader: who is going to cast the first stone?
And so the relationships pile on top of each other: Kyle and Camille, Kyle and Nathan, Nathan and Tommy, Tommy and Simon. There's even room for a neighbour, Cheri, whose archaeological dig represents a not-so-subtle metaphor for raking up the past. The characters are well drawn, the dialogue is sharp, and Nathan excels in the role of narrator.
No emotion is spared in this novel, and the author seems ever-ready to pour another cauldron of oil on the fire of hate, guilt, love and lust. And yet, as I neared its conclusion, I wondered if Yates would have the courage to face up to the inevitable. As it turns out, he didn’t, and although part of me was relieved that a phoenix was salvaged from the ashes, another part felt I'd been short-changed.
But The Brothers Bishop is a haunting story, and one that manages to combine those two imposters - tears and laughter - in beautiful, economically written prose. The book reminds us of that eternal verity: everything is relative.
The book's central characters are Nathan Bishop, a reclusive gay school-teacher and Tommy, his fun-loving brother, also queer, who’s made an art form of promiscuity. Nathan's still living in the seaside cottage where he grew up, while Tommy never grew up and set off to sow his wild oats in New York City. But for one week only, Tommy's back, up-ending Nathan's comfort zone with his unsettling presence, and bringing an entourage of an unhappy couple (Kyle and Camille) and Tommy's latest flame, Philip.
It's hardly the dream team: Kyle's closeted, Camille’s frustrated, Tommy’s horny, Philip’s enfatuated and Nathan’s volcanic. As if this Molotov cocktail in-the-making weren't bad enough, enter Simon, one of Nathan’s students whose father is a little too useful with his fists. Once Simon enters Tommy's orbit, it seems only a matter of time before both will crash and burn.
Hovering over the smouldering stew like a bad smell is the Bishop brothers’ father. Long dead, but ever-present in their memories, he's the loving dad who turned abusive after their mother’s sudden death. Nathan is constantly being likened to his father, a, comparison that ignites his temper, which only serves to heighten the resemblance.
It would have been all too easy for the author to create suspense for the reader by hinting at a sexual dimension to the brothers' relationship. But there's no such device. He just comes right out with it, using Nathan's voice to make the matter-of-fact admission. Distasteful? Scandalous? Unacceptable? Perhaps. Except, the author seems to challenge the reader: who is going to cast the first stone?
And so the relationships pile on top of each other: Kyle and Camille, Kyle and Nathan, Nathan and Tommy, Tommy and Simon. There's even room for a neighbour, Cheri, whose archaeological dig represents a not-so-subtle metaphor for raking up the past. The characters are well drawn, the dialogue is sharp, and Nathan excels in the role of narrator.
No emotion is spared in this novel, and the author seems ever-ready to pour another cauldron of oil on the fire of hate, guilt, love and lust. And yet, as I neared its conclusion, I wondered if Yates would have the courage to face up to the inevitable. As it turns out, he didn’t, and although part of me was relieved that a phoenix was salvaged from the ashes, another part felt I'd been short-changed.
But The Brothers Bishop is a haunting story, and one that manages to combine those two imposters - tears and laughter - in beautiful, economically written prose. The book reminds us of that eternal verity: everything is relative.
November 27, 2018
**MILD SPOILERS AHEAD**
Nathan Bishop is grouchy, sarcastic and somewhat reclusive. He spends his days between a teaching job he dislikes and a withdrawn life in the family cottage he owns in the ocean resort of Walcott.
His younger brother Tommy may appear to be his opposite: confident, athletic and outgoing, he jumps from one lover to the next easily and carelessly.
One summer, Tommy decides to leave New York to go visit Nathan in Walcott. He's accompanied by Philip, his current boyfriend, and by Kyle and Camille, a married couple.
The arrival of this group of visitors, along with the appearance of Simon, one of his students, and an impromptu archaeological dig in his back garden, will bring complete havoc to Nathan's carefully controlled life. There are a series of crucial events happening in The Brothers Bishop and each one of them has the power of a seismic shift.
Through Nathan's drily ironic narration, we come to discover all the secrets living underneath the surface of the Bishop's family: suicide attempts, abuse, incest, depression mark the characters' life and things start to unravel with the pace of an unstoppable avalanche all the way to the shocking finale.
Bart Yates' second book can be a real punch in the stomach: it deals with some seriously heavy topics (insert trigger warning here) and because of the way the writer constructed the novel's narrative, all that is dramatic and controversial gets mixed up in unexpected ways with the more relaxing moments in the story. Throughout the book, there is a clear sense of threat and oncoming tragedy and I proceeded in my reading almost holding my breath.
Nathan is an astonishing narrator: his self-deprecating musings, the rage he still feels towards his abusive father and the genuine - and mutual - love he feels for Tommy make him at the same time grating and sympathetic, harsh and brittle.
Tommy, initially depicted as a sort of foolish, sexually hyperactive golden boy, hides depths of fragility and confusion and all the scenes in the book - either in the present or as a flashback - where the two brothers are together, were incredibly heartbreaking.
The cast of secondary characters - from Simon, who becomes the catalyst for many of the events in the novel, to the ghostly presence of Nathan and Tommy's father, passing through the NYC trio and the local historian Cheri Tipton - provides a resonance chamber for the drama unfolding in the life of the two main characters and also triggers reactions, arguments, confrontations and confessions.
I truly loved The Brothers Bishop. It's not an easy read but Yates' writing style and his beautiful and tormented characters are amongst the best things I've read so far this year.
Really highly recommended.
Nathan Bishop is grouchy, sarcastic and somewhat reclusive. He spends his days between a teaching job he dislikes and a withdrawn life in the family cottage he owns in the ocean resort of Walcott.
His younger brother Tommy may appear to be his opposite: confident, athletic and outgoing, he jumps from one lover to the next easily and carelessly.
One summer, Tommy decides to leave New York to go visit Nathan in Walcott. He's accompanied by Philip, his current boyfriend, and by Kyle and Camille, a married couple.
The arrival of this group of visitors, along with the appearance of Simon, one of his students, and an impromptu archaeological dig in his back garden, will bring complete havoc to Nathan's carefully controlled life. There are a series of crucial events happening in The Brothers Bishop and each one of them has the power of a seismic shift.
Through Nathan's drily ironic narration, we come to discover all the secrets living underneath the surface of the Bishop's family: suicide attempts, abuse, incest, depression mark the characters' life and things start to unravel with the pace of an unstoppable avalanche all the way to the shocking finale.
Bart Yates' second book can be a real punch in the stomach: it deals with some seriously heavy topics (insert trigger warning here) and because of the way the writer constructed the novel's narrative, all that is dramatic and controversial gets mixed up in unexpected ways with the more relaxing moments in the story. Throughout the book, there is a clear sense of threat and oncoming tragedy and I proceeded in my reading almost holding my breath.
Nathan is an astonishing narrator: his self-deprecating musings, the rage he still feels towards his abusive father and the genuine - and mutual - love he feels for Tommy make him at the same time grating and sympathetic, harsh and brittle.
Tommy, initially depicted as a sort of foolish, sexually hyperactive golden boy, hides depths of fragility and confusion and all the scenes in the book - either in the present or as a flashback - where the two brothers are together, were incredibly heartbreaking.
The cast of secondary characters - from Simon, who becomes the catalyst for many of the events in the novel, to the ghostly presence of Nathan and Tommy's father, passing through the NYC trio and the local historian Cheri Tipton - provides a resonance chamber for the drama unfolding in the life of the two main characters and also triggers reactions, arguments, confrontations and confessions.
I truly loved The Brothers Bishop. It's not an easy read but Yates' writing style and his beautiful and tormented characters are amongst the best things I've read so far this year.
Really highly recommended.
April 10, 2018
5 stars because I’m not forgetting this story soon.
5 stars because the narrator has one of the most honest voices ever written.
5 stars because I’ve been up almost all night incapable of puting this heartbreaking story down.
Is it perfect? No, not entirely or maybe it is and the reason is all the symbolism it contains, all the ways conducting the plot to a meaningful end... the thing is, for me, it is unthinkable to give The Brothers Bishop less than 5 stars.
I’m gonna keep this as vague as I can to save you the pleasure to discover this special story by yourself. I entered it blind (completely, I didn’t even read the blurb) just knowing some friends loved it to bits. My other piece of knowledge was that it could have a sad or bad ending. And that was it, and that’s also what I think you need to know if you decide to read these bothers messed up story.
A story that starts with Nathan Bishop showing the reader who is he and how he sees the world around him. This complex man lives alone, in his quiet island with his beautiful sights and his darkish insides. He’s not the best man ever (although probably one of the best characters) but it’s ok. He minds his own business and calls a spade a spade. He is that lonely beach, beautiful and compelling even if hiding a lot of secrets and unknown threats. If only that shore would have been deserted for the rest of his life, without tourists bursting in the studied calm...
So refreshing to know the story from a voice like Nathan’s. So honest, blunt, sometimes gloomy, most of the time funny and always powerful and unforgettable. This is undoubtedly a story to remember and not only —but mostly— because the narrator is a masterpiece himself, also because what it’s told is sincere, complicated and addictive. So hypnotic. Not my usual reading either (why? I’m asking myself now.) and for sure not a Romance. And that’s important: this is not a romantic book per se, it contains love in a savage, crude way but this is not a love story.
“Love doesn’t grow. It doesn’t wait for you to discover it, it doesn’t fall like a gentle rain from the sky, it doesn’t tiptoe into your heart like a happy little bunny, and it doesn’t have a fucking thing to do with familiarity. Love is neither patient nor kind.
Love attacks. It sneaks up like a pride of lions or a pack of hyenas and eats your heart out while you watch. Love is the bully on the playground who takes your lunch money and gives you a black eye in return, the arsonist who burns your house down with you in it, the witch who lures you into her home with candy and boils you alive for dinner. Love is raw, and violent, and instantaneous. You don’t fall in love; you get trapped by it”
One of the strengths of this book is how the expectation is built, how well the suspense about what is coming is done. You know something is gonna happen, you have hints everywhere, some of them deafening even if not touchable, but you don’t know what exactly, you don’t know when, how or who. It’s there, menacing, telling you that anytime, that big wave is going to arrive this peaceful but troubled beach and it’s going to devastate the well constructed walls. *sighs and almost cries*
Thank you Jan for this great and oh so needed BR, a pleasure my lady! We still have a lot to rant and vent.
And a big thank you to our sponsors in this addiction, also known as Rosalinda and Judith. For your poker faces and your laughing at our theories. You’ve been amazing partners in crime and now I understand why you loved this story so much. I’m in love too now. And a bit obsessed. Probably more than a bit.
Reviews for Book Lovers
5 stars because the narrator has one of the most honest voices ever written.
5 stars because I’ve been up almost all night incapable of puting this heartbreaking story down.
Is it perfect? No, not entirely or maybe it is and the reason is all the symbolism it contains, all the ways conducting the plot to a meaningful end... the thing is, for me, it is unthinkable to give The Brothers Bishop less than 5 stars.
I’m gonna keep this as vague as I can to save you the pleasure to discover this special story by yourself. I entered it blind (completely, I didn’t even read the blurb) just knowing some friends loved it to bits. My other piece of knowledge was that it could have a sad or bad ending. And that was it, and that’s also what I think you need to know if you decide to read these bothers messed up story.
A story that starts with Nathan Bishop showing the reader who is he and how he sees the world around him. This complex man lives alone, in his quiet island with his beautiful sights and his darkish insides. He’s not the best man ever (although probably one of the best characters) but it’s ok. He minds his own business and calls a spade a spade. He is that lonely beach, beautiful and compelling even if hiding a lot of secrets and unknown threats. If only that shore would have been deserted for the rest of his life, without tourists bursting in the studied calm...
So refreshing to know the story from a voice like Nathan’s. So honest, blunt, sometimes gloomy, most of the time funny and always powerful and unforgettable. This is undoubtedly a story to remember and not only —but mostly— because the narrator is a masterpiece himself, also because what it’s told is sincere, complicated and addictive. So hypnotic. Not my usual reading either (why? I’m asking myself now.) and for sure not a Romance. And that’s important: this is not a romantic book per se, it contains love in a savage, crude way but this is not a love story.
“Love doesn’t grow. It doesn’t wait for you to discover it, it doesn’t fall like a gentle rain from the sky, it doesn’t tiptoe into your heart like a happy little bunny, and it doesn’t have a fucking thing to do with familiarity. Love is neither patient nor kind.
Love attacks. It sneaks up like a pride of lions or a pack of hyenas and eats your heart out while you watch. Love is the bully on the playground who takes your lunch money and gives you a black eye in return, the arsonist who burns your house down with you in it, the witch who lures you into her home with candy and boils you alive for dinner. Love is raw, and violent, and instantaneous. You don’t fall in love; you get trapped by it”
One of the strengths of this book is how the expectation is built, how well the suspense about what is coming is done. You know something is gonna happen, you have hints everywhere, some of them deafening even if not touchable, but you don’t know what exactly, you don’t know when, how or who. It’s there, menacing, telling you that anytime, that big wave is going to arrive this peaceful but troubled beach and it’s going to devastate the well constructed walls. *sighs and almost cries*
Thank you Jan for this great and oh so needed BR, a pleasure my lady! We still have a lot to rant and vent.
And a big thank you to our sponsors in this addiction, also known as Rosalinda and Judith. For your poker faces and your laughing at our theories. You’ve been amazing partners in crime and now I understand why you loved this story so much. I’m in love too now. And a bit obsessed. Probably more than a bit.
Reviews for Book Lovers
November 25, 2008
To be honest, this book deals with a very hard, difficult, disturbing subjects. It involves incest, pedophilia, and domestic/child abuse, depressive states that lead to suicide attempts, and the list go on and on. But Mr. Yates, that have amazed me with his debut Leave Myself Behind once again proved that BOY, he can woven those words and writes something that actually readable for such dark subjects. The story grips you from the get go and you can't help sympathize with brothers despite everything. It's not a happy book but boy, the journey of finishing it, is totally worth every minutes.
June 18, 2013
I cannot remember the last time a book left me sobbing at the end -- especially a book that had me chuckling well past the beginning. The whole day is shot for me. This is a painfully profound and brilliant piece of work, the most affecting I've read since The Madness of a Seduced Woman, and "awarding" it a handful of stars seems both presumptuous and demeaning.
My biggest question is, how did Yates manage to write this without lacerating himself to shreds? Goddamn...
My biggest question is, how did Yates manage to write this without lacerating himself to shreds? Goddamn...
September 27, 2011
As stated in some of my other reviews, I have been greatly disappointed in the choice of quality gay literature and the talent of gay authors that we have to choose from to date. I was pleasantly surprised by Bart Yates. In all actuality, I give his writing style and ability five stars. He is clever, intelligent, witty, sarcastic--a master story teller. There is only one flaw in this book (and in some ways it is a strength). Albeit unfair, I judge gay books by a higher standard than I do the more mainstream fiction. I feel that gay authors have an obligation to write about gay men and women who are moral, relatively well adjusted, and non-suicidal, alcoholic, drug infested wastes of space. I take away one star simply for that reason. Again, the examples put out of gay men in this novel are nothing I would ever want any human being to become. That being said, Yates proves his talent by having such flawed, seemingly selfish, corrupt character that you can not help but fall in love with. Even as you are repelled by some of their actions and choices, you care about their lives. That is what I look for in a book. Make me love the unlovable. Help me understand their motives and reasons in spite of myself. Yates did this beautifully. I respect an author that can make me uncomfortable in my own skin and still entice me to continue to turn the pages. I have ordered his first book and I look forward to seeing how it compares. While I still hope to find quality crafted literature with uplifting, realistic gay men, I am proud to have Bart Yates be one of the authors that represents the talents and passion within the gay community. Be prepared to fall in love, be horrified, laugh out loud, shed some tears, and not be able to put this book down. Truly an outstanding work of art.
January 30, 2022
ETA: I went with 4 stars because of:
- stellar writing
- honest, real characters who you might hate but are real anyways.
This book..... I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, but I will not forget it easily. Hence the 4 stars.
I have no idea how to rate this.
This book made my heart hurt.
It made my gut clench
It made me very uncomfortable
It made me angry
It made me sad
It made me just plain confused
When I say that this book is not for everybody I mean it. It has SO MANY TRIGGERS.
I'll put them in a spoiler tag...
One of the positive points of the book was how HONEST the narrator of the book, Nathan, is. His self confidence, self depreciation, morals, thoughts, memories.... everything about him was genuine. He knew what he was and had no qualms about it.
Tommy was just, for me, a sad lost kid who got handed a crappy hand in life. Same as Simon who was the catalyst for the most heartbreaking events of this book.
The friends, Philip, Kyle and Camille added depth to the story.
I'm just really uncomfortable with this book but I also couldn't put it down until I was all done. This book is tragic and scary and dark.
- stellar writing
- honest, real characters who you might hate but are real anyways.
This book..... I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, but I will not forget it easily. Hence the 4 stars.
I have no idea how to rate this.
This book made my heart hurt.
It made my gut clench
It made me very uncomfortable
It made me angry
It made me sad
It made me just plain confused
When I say that this book is not for everybody I mean it. It has SO MANY TRIGGERS.
I'll put them in a spoiler tag...
One of the positive points of the book was how HONEST the narrator of the book, Nathan, is. His self confidence, self depreciation, morals, thoughts, memories.... everything about him was genuine. He knew what he was and had no qualms about it.
Tommy was just, for me, a sad lost kid who got handed a crappy hand in life. Same as Simon who was the catalyst for the most heartbreaking events of this book.
The friends, Philip, Kyle and Camille added depth to the story.
I'm just really uncomfortable with this book but I also couldn't put it down until I was all done. This book is tragic and scary and dark.
May 9, 2018
:O Are you kidding me?????? This is how the story ends? That's tragic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 stars. The writing is good, I just wish the characters could have been happy. So many lives were impacted as a result of this story (it took place over roughly 2 weeks I think).
4 stars. The writing is good, I just wish the characters could have been happy. So many lives were impacted as a result of this story (it took place over roughly 2 weeks I think).
January 22, 2015
Love doesn’t "grow." It doesn’t wait for you to discover it, it doesn’t fall like a gentle rain from the sky, it doesn’t tiptoe into your heart like a happy little bunny, and it doesn’t have a fucking thing to do with familiarity. Love is neither patient nor kind.
Love attacks. It sneaks up like a pride of lions or a pack of hyenas and eats your heart out while you watch. Love is the bully on the playground who takes your lunch money and gives you a black eye in return, the arsonist who burns your house down with you in it, the witch who lures you into her home with candy and boils you alive for dinner. Love is raw, and violent, and instantaneous. You don’t fall in love; you get trampled by it.
I totally lost myself in this book, all the boundary between WRONG and RIGHT, all my understandings and beliefs about RIGHT and WRONG becomes blurred. I don't want to have long discussions about philosophy of life, but this book made me question some very serious subjects.
One week of one hot summer that will change everything. One week and a whole life.
The Brothers Bishop is a soulful moving and emotional story. I cried me a river at the end, but I LOVED IT to pieces.
This book will stay with me forever! It was not just a book, it was a new reading experience!
I want now to read EVERYTHING that Bart Yates wrote and everything he'll write.
Highly recommended!!!
December 17, 2018
Probably the best book I have read this year. It's shocking and disturbing but it is also so well-written it was impossible for me to put the book down. It's beautiful, heartwrenching and evocative.
I can't stop thinking about all of the characters Bart Yates created. They all have obnoxious flaws. I wanted to simultaneously strangled them all and make them feel special and worth living.
I liked Nathan's voice as the narrator. He's bitter but honest to a fault and he does absolutely nothing to endear himself.
It could easily have been a repulsive read yet I found this book absorbing - a real insight into raw human emotions and social behavior.
I can't stop thinking about all of the characters Bart Yates created. They all have obnoxious flaws. I wanted to simultaneously strangled them all and make them feel special and worth living.
I liked Nathan's voice as the narrator. He's bitter but honest to a fault and he does absolutely nothing to endear himself.
It could easily have been a repulsive read yet I found this book absorbing - a real insight into raw human emotions and social behavior.
May 13, 2010
"Sometimes you hurt people for no reason. Just because you can."
The Brothers Bishop is an intense, masterfully written and stunning tale of relationships. The issues tackled are dark, powerful, and very effecting as the story shows the intricate and complicated relationship between two brothers, shaped by an abusive, depressed father. The writing is incredible and really draws the reader into the emotion and drama of the characters. Although the subject matter is intense and heavy, the riveting narration keeps you glued to the story. Not a light read, but one that will stay with you for a very long time.
The extended blurb does a very good job of summarizing the main action. The story takes place over a period of weeks as irresponsible, carefree lover Tommy decides to bring his latest boy toy and new best friends to the cottage he owns with his brother Nathan. Tommy’s take no prisoners and no responsibility actions cause friction among everyone but his undeniable charm burns away most anger and resentment. When Tommy starts to get involved with Nathan’s underage student, his actions could have long reaching repercussions, forcing everyone to examine their lives past and present.
The writing is first person from Nathan’s perspective. He weaves current actions with memories of his dysfunctional childhood and explanations. Nathan attempts to explain his dual reaction of intense frustration and absolute devotion to Tommy by way of memories and glimpses into their past. Many of these revolve around their cruel and emotionally abusive father, which has numerous parallels to Nathan’s tightly controlled anger and depression issues. Nathan also states quite plainly that he was involved sexually with his brother. Perhaps this is scandalous or distasteful but the narrator offers these facts baldly and without regret or remorse. They are simply events that happened in his past similar to his father throwing him through a glass door. You soon come to realize that even as honest as Nathan appears to be in telling his story, he also lies and becomes unreliable because he is flawed and only human as well.
Nathan’s voice is unique and very engaging. The superb writing brings out the emotions of the characters so incredibly well I found myself getting angry when Nathan did, yet understanding how quickly that anger fell away in the face of Tommy’s charm. There are a lot of issues tackled from incest, abuse, pedophilia, suicide, depression, and it questions the reader to decide what is right and wrong. The characters are very complex with parallels frequently made. No character is insignificant from the wife Camille that drinks too much yet offers unexpected support and sympathy to her husband Kyle, a deeply closeted gay man that is making tentative steps to self discovery in all the wrong ways, and even the boy toy Phillip Tommy uses. Each of these and other characters highlight and expose the personalities of the main characters, Tommy and Nathan. Each comes to live with a humanity that you can’t help but relate to, whether you like the characters or not.
There are a lot of themes and issues tackled in the book as I’ve said and for the majority, each of these is handled with a mastery that is sometimes breathtaking. The incest theme is very strong and essential to the story as the two brothers yearn desperately for love and acceptance, something denied to them as children and seek it in each other. Yet that doesn’t satisfy either brother even as it remains an important piece of their past and future. The story offers no apologies for the themes of incest, abuse, and pedophilia but instead lays the characters and their actions bare for the reader to absorb and understand. The writing is sometimes haunting and poignant with sharp punches of emotion and despair. The topic of depression and despair are very prevalent as they exist within both men but handled very differently. If anything due to this the ending is almost unbelievable, at least for me, as I think Nathan’s final decisions are a bit unrealistic given his character.
There is a subplot about excavating Nathan’s backyard for potential relics of a lost tribe that has many parallels to the story yet is somewhat clunky and distracting. The storyline doesn’t tie in very well to the main focus on brothers’ relationship and eventually reveals information that is somewhat contradictory to the story. This is one of the few missteps in an otherwise intense, dramatic story that remains chilling and interesting. Some of the glimpses back are also clunky and awkwardly integrated with the current action, yet the solid writing and compelling story helps smooth over rough spots.
The story is really about love, despair, and acceptance as told through the intense relationship of two brothers. They each deal with their pain in very different ways and are dependant on each other in both necessary and yet hurtful ways. Their love and pain are laid out in an honest and brutal portrayal that you simply can’t look away from while offering a fascinating look at the complexity of many different characters. This may sound like an emotionally heavy book and it is to an extent, it’s not always easy to read yet the narration is never too dark and depressing. It feels honest and real without manipulated drama in a way few novels achieve. It delves into difficult issues without depressing the reader, a skill that is incredible and hard to find. If you’re looking for a complicated, incredible book about the difficult relationship between brothers, check this out. It’ll stay with you.
The Brothers Bishop is an intense, masterfully written and stunning tale of relationships. The issues tackled are dark, powerful, and very effecting as the story shows the intricate and complicated relationship between two brothers, shaped by an abusive, depressed father. The writing is incredible and really draws the reader into the emotion and drama of the characters. Although the subject matter is intense and heavy, the riveting narration keeps you glued to the story. Not a light read, but one that will stay with you for a very long time.
The extended blurb does a very good job of summarizing the main action. The story takes place over a period of weeks as irresponsible, carefree lover Tommy decides to bring his latest boy toy and new best friends to the cottage he owns with his brother Nathan. Tommy’s take no prisoners and no responsibility actions cause friction among everyone but his undeniable charm burns away most anger and resentment. When Tommy starts to get involved with Nathan’s underage student, his actions could have long reaching repercussions, forcing everyone to examine their lives past and present.
The writing is first person from Nathan’s perspective. He weaves current actions with memories of his dysfunctional childhood and explanations. Nathan attempts to explain his dual reaction of intense frustration and absolute devotion to Tommy by way of memories and glimpses into their past. Many of these revolve around their cruel and emotionally abusive father, which has numerous parallels to Nathan’s tightly controlled anger and depression issues. Nathan also states quite plainly that he was involved sexually with his brother. Perhaps this is scandalous or distasteful but the narrator offers these facts baldly and without regret or remorse. They are simply events that happened in his past similar to his father throwing him through a glass door. You soon come to realize that even as honest as Nathan appears to be in telling his story, he also lies and becomes unreliable because he is flawed and only human as well.
Nathan’s voice is unique and very engaging. The superb writing brings out the emotions of the characters so incredibly well I found myself getting angry when Nathan did, yet understanding how quickly that anger fell away in the face of Tommy’s charm. There are a lot of issues tackled from incest, abuse, pedophilia, suicide, depression, and it questions the reader to decide what is right and wrong. The characters are very complex with parallels frequently made. No character is insignificant from the wife Camille that drinks too much yet offers unexpected support and sympathy to her husband Kyle, a deeply closeted gay man that is making tentative steps to self discovery in all the wrong ways, and even the boy toy Phillip Tommy uses. Each of these and other characters highlight and expose the personalities of the main characters, Tommy and Nathan. Each comes to live with a humanity that you can’t help but relate to, whether you like the characters or not.
There are a lot of themes and issues tackled in the book as I’ve said and for the majority, each of these is handled with a mastery that is sometimes breathtaking. The incest theme is very strong and essential to the story as the two brothers yearn desperately for love and acceptance, something denied to them as children and seek it in each other. Yet that doesn’t satisfy either brother even as it remains an important piece of their past and future. The story offers no apologies for the themes of incest, abuse, and pedophilia but instead lays the characters and their actions bare for the reader to absorb and understand. The writing is sometimes haunting and poignant with sharp punches of emotion and despair. The topic of depression and despair are very prevalent as they exist within both men but handled very differently. If anything due to this the ending is almost unbelievable, at least for me, as I think Nathan’s final decisions are a bit unrealistic given his character.
There is a subplot about excavating Nathan’s backyard for potential relics of a lost tribe that has many parallels to the story yet is somewhat clunky and distracting. The storyline doesn’t tie in very well to the main focus on brothers’ relationship and eventually reveals information that is somewhat contradictory to the story. This is one of the few missteps in an otherwise intense, dramatic story that remains chilling and interesting. Some of the glimpses back are also clunky and awkwardly integrated with the current action, yet the solid writing and compelling story helps smooth over rough spots.
The story is really about love, despair, and acceptance as told through the intense relationship of two brothers. They each deal with their pain in very different ways and are dependant on each other in both necessary and yet hurtful ways. Their love and pain are laid out in an honest and brutal portrayal that you simply can’t look away from while offering a fascinating look at the complexity of many different characters. This may sound like an emotionally heavy book and it is to an extent, it’s not always easy to read yet the narration is never too dark and depressing. It feels honest and real without manipulated drama in a way few novels achieve. It delves into difficult issues without depressing the reader, a skill that is incredible and hard to find. If you’re looking for a complicated, incredible book about the difficult relationship between brothers, check this out. It’ll stay with you.
January 18, 2012
This was a very difficult book to read not because of its writing but its subject. Two brothers, one in his late 20's and the other in his very early 30's come together over a summer break when the younger brother, Tommy, comes to stay with three friends, a married couple and his boyfriend. As the story unfolds it becomes clear that both brothers are gay but whilst Tommy is, for want of a better word, a total slut who picks up and discards partners every couple of weeks (the old, 'I have yoghurt in my fridge which would last longer than any of Tommy's boyfriends' comment would spring to mind) Nathan, a high school teacher lives as closeted and carefully as is possible.
The arrival of his unexpected house guests opens up all sorts of issues and unresolved anger and confusion for the first person narrator, Nathan. He is an angry and frightened man, bitter and unfulfilled, clinging on to security of place, his childhood home whilst hating so many of the memories that swirl around. His mother, dead when he was four or five, lives on in a wispy, shimmering veil of maternal perfection, his father, much more recently dead, is rememberd only with anger, hate and fear. Because we see all the characters and the action through Nathan's eyes it makes for uncomfortable reading especially as the story develops and the incestuous nature of their early relationship and the appalling irresponsibility and promiscuity of Tommy becomes ever more clear. From early on in the narrative the inability of Tommy to keep his 'brain' within his trousers hangs like a sword of Damocles and when it falls it spears the brothers through the heart.
The sea is a major character in the story whether as a place of bonding and fun, of reflection and quiet or of seduction and destruction but, to carry on the loose metaphor, the waves of moral questions and accusations build up and up until, like a Tsunami,it sweeps over the friends and rips them apart.
There are many things i greatly respected about this narrative. Incredibly difficult questions were lifted up and offered, without answer, for the reader to address. There was no attempt to gloss over or polish away the massive flaws in the men's characters and, for a book circling around the whole area of gay love and its expression, Bart Yates has, I think very successfully, created a narrative in which any descriptions of love making or sex is necessary for the plot and is in no way dominant.
The drawbacks are mainly ones of character creation. Nathan is the narrator and so all is seen through his eyes, this inevitably impoverishes the rounded nature of other characters because his envisaging them, his experience of them will be flawed but it is with his description of Tommy that I really struggled. Tommy is startingly beautiful but that cannot possibly be enough to account for the ridiculous way in which he gets away with being totally without principles or a sense of loyalty or honesty. His behaviour throughout the novel is appalling and totally self-centred whether it be the simple selfish expressions like turning up at his brother's house with three guests having given him one days notice or then leaving his brother to deal with the fall out from his behaviour towards his boyfriend or other guests just becuase Tommy wanted to do something else and not bother with his friends to the much more serious expressions of self-absorption when he blatantly lies about his predatory approach to a 15 year old. Nathan, incomprehensively, defends and forgives, normally after his brother turns his startingly blue eyes to look at him or smiles or does something equally manipulative. If it were only Nathan who succumbed then this could be put down to Nathan's controlled infatuation but it appears all are taken in. This I always find annoying in novels. Lazy writing, where we are told what to see or believe with no real showing how this could be possible rather than making the effort to draw a more believable character. Tommy is a horrible person and yet, I think, we are supposed to find him endearing or attractively mischievous at least until the denoument; this is what I struggled over. I never liked Tommy. He was loathsome.
However, having said all that i would say that Yates creates an amazing last few chapters which, even allowing for my dislike of Tommy, brought me to tears. This, for me, was an incredibly unexpected reaction and interestingly made me look back over the story with surprise. (The fact that my CD had just started playing Barber's Adagio for strings as I reached these chapters might account in part for the reaction but I do not think wholly so).
The subject was a difficult and uncomfortable one. Yates dealt with it bravely and powerfully. I found this impressive.
The arrival of his unexpected house guests opens up all sorts of issues and unresolved anger and confusion for the first person narrator, Nathan. He is an angry and frightened man, bitter and unfulfilled, clinging on to security of place, his childhood home whilst hating so many of the memories that swirl around. His mother, dead when he was four or five, lives on in a wispy, shimmering veil of maternal perfection, his father, much more recently dead, is rememberd only with anger, hate and fear. Because we see all the characters and the action through Nathan's eyes it makes for uncomfortable reading especially as the story develops and the incestuous nature of their early relationship and the appalling irresponsibility and promiscuity of Tommy becomes ever more clear. From early on in the narrative the inability of Tommy to keep his 'brain' within his trousers hangs like a sword of Damocles and when it falls it spears the brothers through the heart.
The sea is a major character in the story whether as a place of bonding and fun, of reflection and quiet or of seduction and destruction but, to carry on the loose metaphor, the waves of moral questions and accusations build up and up until, like a Tsunami,it sweeps over the friends and rips them apart.
There are many things i greatly respected about this narrative. Incredibly difficult questions were lifted up and offered, without answer, for the reader to address. There was no attempt to gloss over or polish away the massive flaws in the men's characters and, for a book circling around the whole area of gay love and its expression, Bart Yates has, I think very successfully, created a narrative in which any descriptions of love making or sex is necessary for the plot and is in no way dominant.
The drawbacks are mainly ones of character creation. Nathan is the narrator and so all is seen through his eyes, this inevitably impoverishes the rounded nature of other characters because his envisaging them, his experience of them will be flawed but it is with his description of Tommy that I really struggled. Tommy is startingly beautiful but that cannot possibly be enough to account for the ridiculous way in which he gets away with being totally without principles or a sense of loyalty or honesty. His behaviour throughout the novel is appalling and totally self-centred whether it be the simple selfish expressions like turning up at his brother's house with three guests having given him one days notice or then leaving his brother to deal with the fall out from his behaviour towards his boyfriend or other guests just becuase Tommy wanted to do something else and not bother with his friends to the much more serious expressions of self-absorption when he blatantly lies about his predatory approach to a 15 year old. Nathan, incomprehensively, defends and forgives, normally after his brother turns his startingly blue eyes to look at him or smiles or does something equally manipulative. If it were only Nathan who succumbed then this could be put down to Nathan's controlled infatuation but it appears all are taken in. This I always find annoying in novels. Lazy writing, where we are told what to see or believe with no real showing how this could be possible rather than making the effort to draw a more believable character. Tommy is a horrible person and yet, I think, we are supposed to find him endearing or attractively mischievous at least until the denoument; this is what I struggled over. I never liked Tommy. He was loathsome.
However, having said all that i would say that Yates creates an amazing last few chapters which, even allowing for my dislike of Tommy, brought me to tears. This, for me, was an incredibly unexpected reaction and interestingly made me look back over the story with surprise. (The fact that my CD had just started playing Barber's Adagio for strings as I reached these chapters might account in part for the reaction but I do not think wholly so).
The subject was a difficult and uncomfortable one. Yates dealt with it bravely and powerfully. I found this impressive.
Read
March 22, 2013From the online promos..."Tommy and Nathan Bishop are as different as two brothers can be. Carefree and careless, Tommy is the golden boy who takes men into his bed with a seductive smile and turns them out just as quickly. No one can resist him—and no one can control him, either. That salient point certainly isn’t lost on his brother. Nathan is all about control. At thirty-one, he is as dark and complicated as Tommy is light and easy, and he is bitter beyond his years. While Tommy left for the excitement of New York City, Nathan has stayed behind, teaching high school English in their provincial hometown, surrounded by the reminders of their ruined family history and the legacy of anger that runs through him like a scar."
I found the subjects of the novel difficult at times to read; incest, child abuse, pedophilia, yet the author handles them so well and draws the reader deeper and deeper into the lives of these two brothers; I wanted to smack Tommy for his absoulte disregard of other's feelings and smack his brother, Nathanial, as well for brooding in his hometown since he had chosen to stay behind, to be the responsible one. The relationship the boys had with their father is painful, life altering and scaring, but is essential to the deep exploration of emotions in the novel...
Certainly, not light beach reading; more a deeply, emotional journey that will leave its mark on you long after turning that final page.
I found the subjects of the novel difficult at times to read; incest, child abuse, pedophilia, yet the author handles them so well and draws the reader deeper and deeper into the lives of these two brothers; I wanted to smack Tommy for his absoulte disregard of other's feelings and smack his brother, Nathanial, as well for brooding in his hometown since he had chosen to stay behind, to be the responsible one. The relationship the boys had with their father is painful, life altering and scaring, but is essential to the deep exploration of emotions in the novel...
Certainly, not light beach reading; more a deeply, emotional journey that will leave its mark on you long after turning that final page.
April 8, 2018
Me ha gustado muchísimo. La voz de Nathan te engancha y simplemente no puedes parar de leer hasta el final.
No es un romance, y los personajes no son un modelo de virtud (Nathan es muy cínico y por momentos hasta cruel y Tommy es un impresentable y un egoísta) pero esta historia te agarra y no te suelta.
No alcanzo a expresar por qué me ha gustado tanto, creo que en gran parte se debe a que los personajes son muy humanos, el autor sabe dar vida a Nathan y contarnos la historia desde su punto de vista de una manera muy acertada. Vamos conociendo su mundo a través de lo que nos cuenta y de lo que nos oculta, a través de los momentos en que nos presenta la realidad con toda su crudeza y de aquellos en que se miente hasta a sí mismo. Y todo ello con mucho sarcasmo (se me escaparon unas cuántas carcajadas)
En definitiva, que la voz de Nathan es excepcional, mi cutre-reseña no le hace justica, pero es fascinante acompañarle.
La he disfrutado muchísimo, un placer de lectura. Gracias Rosalinda por la rec y por la compañía.
No es un romance, y los personajes no son un modelo de virtud (Nathan es muy cínico y por momentos hasta cruel y Tommy es un impresentable y un egoísta) pero esta historia te agarra y no te suelta.
No alcanzo a expresar por qué me ha gustado tanto, creo que en gran parte se debe a que los personajes son muy humanos, el autor sabe dar vida a Nathan y contarnos la historia desde su punto de vista de una manera muy acertada. Vamos conociendo su mundo a través de lo que nos cuenta y de lo que nos oculta, a través de los momentos en que nos presenta la realidad con toda su crudeza y de aquellos en que se miente hasta a sí mismo. Y todo ello con mucho sarcasmo (se me escaparon unas cuántas carcajadas)
En definitiva, que la voz de Nathan es excepcional, mi cutre-reseña no le hace justica, pero es fascinante acompañarle.
La he disfrutado muchísimo, un placer de lectura. Gracias Rosalinda por la rec y por la compañía.
Want to read
February 14, 20202/14/20 currently $1.99 on amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JU7FZRM/...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JU7FZRM/...
March 13, 2009
Wow. There are a lot of things going on in this novel, but it's never confusing. I couldn't put it down. No emotion is spared, be it love, hate, guilt, lust, or depression. It touches on sensitive issues but in an unsentimental and un-creepy way. Tears and laughter in beautiful, economically-written prose. The dialog is youthful, straightforward, and salty. As much as the principal characters are gay or gay-freindly, this isn't about the sex (of which there's plenty) -- it's mainly about the love between the title brothers, Nathan and Tommy, past and present. Highly receommended.
September 10, 2014
This is one of the most compelling stories I've ever read. Although the story shifts between past and present, the author wrote it cohesively enough to avoid being confusing.
The writing itself draws you in and the main character's Tommy and Nathan were so broken that you'd feel for each of them. Even though both men were subjected to their father's abusive tendencies at a young age, it was Nathan who couldn't let go of his hatred even into adulthood.
I was also more than a little disturbed after finding out the secret that the brothers shared since their teenage years. The story is mostly devoid of humor and has a very serious overall tone. There are also no hints of romance even with the story lines from the supporting characters.
Ghosts from the past coupled with bad choices in the present creates a turbulent finale that broke my heart and left me haunted. For those who aren't into , heavy angst and sex between an adult and a minor then I suggest you give this one a miss.
As for me, this book proved to be among the memorable ones I've read so far. Hats off to Bart Yates!
The writing itself draws you in and the main character's Tommy and Nathan were so broken that you'd feel for each of them. Even though both men were subjected to their father's abusive tendencies at a young age, it was Nathan who couldn't let go of his hatred even into adulthood.
I was also more than a little disturbed after finding out the secret that the brothers shared since their teenage years. The story is mostly devoid of humor and has a very serious overall tone. There are also no hints of romance even with the story lines from the supporting characters.
Ghosts from the past coupled with bad choices in the present creates a turbulent finale that broke my heart and left me haunted. For those who aren't into , heavy angst and sex between an adult and a minor then I suggest you give this one a miss.
As for me, this book proved to be among the memorable ones I've read so far. Hats off to Bart Yates!
March 19, 2021
Oh my heart. My second Bart Yates’ novel and the guy really has a way with words and feelings and depicting relationships. I’m not sure it was absolutely necessary to have the brothers conjugate the verb that’s all. But a marvellous read in any event.
January 19, 2022
Reread Jan 2022
"Loneliness is just a permanent fact of life. And if you buy into the illusion that you can somehow escape it, you’re in for a world of hurt."
Still as fcked up, but my reading experience is even better in 2022. Don't know why I never put it in my faves shelf but it sure is going in now. I shall really come back to give this a much-deserved proper review.
"Emerson was an innocent man, and hope is for the innocent."
Nathan, I'm with you... always.
---------------------------------
Original review 2019
I always find it hard to put my feelings into words after reading a book but this story has made it even more impossible.
I seriously dont know what to say, not to mention what to feel. This book is not romance and definitely not an easy read. But I recommend it to everyone who is in for a ride.
Very beautiful writing, Mr. Yates.
I shall come back with a more sensical review after all these overwhelming feelings.
"Loneliness is just a permanent fact of life. And if you buy into the illusion that you can somehow escape it, you’re in for a world of hurt."
Still as fcked up, but my reading experience is even better in 2022. Don't know why I never put it in my faves shelf but it sure is going in now. I shall really come back to give this a much-deserved proper review.
"Emerson was an innocent man, and hope is for the innocent."
Nathan, I'm with you... always.
---------------------------------
Original review 2019
I always find it hard to put my feelings into words after reading a book but this story has made it even more impossible.
I seriously dont know what to say, not to mention what to feel. This book is not romance and definitely not an easy read. But I recommend it to everyone who is in for a ride.
Very beautiful writing, Mr. Yates.
I shall come back with a more sensical review after all these overwhelming feelings.
July 2, 2018
Holy crap that was insane.... Like “Silver Cage” on steroids. 😳
December 18, 2019
Simply a beautiful book...
I read it in 2013 -was still available on Kindle- and the book still haunts me.
A word of warning: this is not a fluffy Christmas romance!
I read it in 2013 -was still available on Kindle- and the book still haunts me.
A word of warning: this is not a fluffy Christmas romance!
April 24, 2014
The book included incest, suicide, child abuse, gay sex, liars, cheaters, pouters, criers -- and kitchen sink full of clichés.
Nathan is the "responsible gay son" who has stayed in the town where he grew-up, unhappily teaching school and living a lonely sexless life. Tommy, his brother, has escaped to New York City. He is the beautiful sex-crazed young man for whom everything comes easily. His boyfriend of the moment, Phillip, is a rather dim character who never makes much of an impression. Joining Tommy and Phillip from New York is a young couple consisting of a closeted (but not for long) gay man and his new wife, who is realizing her husband is also gay. Rounding out the cast is Simon, a young boy from Nathan's remedial English class. So, we have the beard, the closeted husband, the gay slut, the airhead, and the miserable undersexed gay narrator. We get incest flashbacks between Nathan and Tommy, flashback sex between Nathan and his high school boyfriends, sex between Tommy and Phillip, forbidden sex between Tommy and Simon, desired sex between Phillip and Nathan, threats to Nathan's job, an archeological dig that goes nowhere, and various revelations about Tommy & Nathan's violent father. The revelations about family are handled in a pretty ham-handed way and the relationship between the brothers seems more a matter of the author's obvious plotting and narration rather than a natural outcome of the story.
Nathan's future is a bit ambiguous at the end, but other key plot lines are tied up a little too neatly. The book would have been stronger if the brothers' characters weren't so cartoonish and if the responsible Nathan didn't behave so unbelievably in protecting his brother. It also would have helped to jettison a few a cliches and let the characters drive the plot rather than imposing so many obvious plot devices. The gay sex was much too graphic for my taste and permeated the book whenever the author seemed to have nothing else to say.
His portrayal of women is terrible. They are either fat and ugly or entirely passive, emotional wrecks. There is not one good characterization of a strong female character in the whole book. The women are cheaters or being cheated on or fat and ugly and completely desexualized.
Nathan is the "responsible gay son" who has stayed in the town where he grew-up, unhappily teaching school and living a lonely sexless life. Tommy, his brother, has escaped to New York City. He is the beautiful sex-crazed young man for whom everything comes easily. His boyfriend of the moment, Phillip, is a rather dim character who never makes much of an impression. Joining Tommy and Phillip from New York is a young couple consisting of a closeted (but not for long) gay man and his new wife, who is realizing her husband is also gay. Rounding out the cast is Simon, a young boy from Nathan's remedial English class. So, we have the beard, the closeted husband, the gay slut, the airhead, and the miserable undersexed gay narrator. We get incest flashbacks between Nathan and Tommy, flashback sex between Nathan and his high school boyfriends, sex between Tommy and Phillip, forbidden sex between Tommy and Simon, desired sex between Phillip and Nathan, threats to Nathan's job, an archeological dig that goes nowhere, and various revelations about Tommy & Nathan's violent father. The revelations about family are handled in a pretty ham-handed way and the relationship between the brothers seems more a matter of the author's obvious plotting and narration rather than a natural outcome of the story.
Nathan's future is a bit ambiguous at the end, but other key plot lines are tied up a little too neatly. The book would have been stronger if the brothers' characters weren't so cartoonish and if the responsible Nathan didn't behave so unbelievably in protecting his brother. It also would have helped to jettison a few a cliches and let the characters drive the plot rather than imposing so many obvious plot devices. The gay sex was much too graphic for my taste and permeated the book whenever the author seemed to have nothing else to say.
His portrayal of women is terrible. They are either fat and ugly or entirely passive, emotional wrecks. There is not one good characterization of a strong female character in the whole book. The women are cheaters or being cheated on or fat and ugly and completely desexualized.
September 6, 2013
Nathan and Tommy Bishop, brothers... lost their mother at a young age, raised by their father. After their father dies (also at a fairly young age), they're trying to come to terms with their family situation.
Nathan is a freshman high school English teacher in the small vacation village, Walcott, where they grew up. His brother, Tommy, in from NYC, brings his bf, Phillip, and his married friends Camille and Kyle along for a couple weeks vacation here.
Simon Hart, Nathan's student, forms a unique bond with the clan... but a bigoted father complicates the equation.
An archeology dig on Nathan's property parallels how the novel unfolds as more and more flashback stories are revealed.
Keep digging and issues come up.
Nathan is a freshman high school English teacher in the small vacation village, Walcott, where they grew up. His brother, Tommy, in from NYC, brings his bf, Phillip, and his married friends Camille and Kyle along for a couple weeks vacation here.
Simon Hart, Nathan's student, forms a unique bond with the clan... but a bigoted father complicates the equation.
An archeology dig on Nathan's property parallels how the novel unfolds as more and more flashback stories are revealed.
Keep digging and issues come up.
February 11, 2011
Suppress your suppositions. Ignore the reviews for this book and read it for yourself. From one reader to another I promise you a thought-provoking, sometimes predictable but at other times an incalculable ride that is skillfully told. I hesitate to categorize it as a romance; in the traditional sense it isn't. But the Brothers Bishop IS about love and I suspect Yates' goal is to make the reader ponder that. Disturbing but riveting read!
April 16, 2021
Tommy ti ho odiato tanto. Una lettura devastante ma bellissima. Presto la recensione sul blog 😎
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