Well, if graphic depictions of underage preteen intercourse, glue-sniffing and incestual voyerism are your cup of tea, then this is the book for you!
Ambidextrous
The book is apparently semi-autobiographical, and tells the story of a young boy’s early sex and social life. It details how the main character loses his virginity at the age of eleven, and starts having sex with other boys not long after.
Recently I re-read the book for the first time in a long while. It’s a bit more than I remember it being. Yes, the sex scenes are what stuck in my mind, but now I’ve also began to see it as the story of a young writer first starting to learn what he wanted to do with his life.
My life is quite similar to the main character’s, despite the 30+ years that seperate us. I, too, was sexually active at a fairly young age (though not quite as early and not quite as far as he got). Like him, I also took an interest in Greek mythology (though I didn’t read Homer until much later and I never have read The Illiad despite having a copy at home). And, like him, I’ve gone on to be a writer (though not as good, not as well-published and I don’t write borderline porn. There’s nothing borderline about what I write [but don't post on this site]). I can understand the protaganist’s annoyance and frustration at having a story rejected because I’ve been through that myself.
This book also offers a much more detailed slice of 1950’s life than I recall from my first reading, though again, it was about twelve years ago. Even though my childhood happened 30 years after his, there’s still a lot that I recognize, and I’m assuming the same is true for kids who are eleven or twelve now.
Ultimately I liked this book much better on my more recent reading and even more highly recommend it than before (even if I’m not sure about the grammar in that sentence).
