Its heart is in the right place, but the execution leaves a bit to be desired. Ultimately, Fan Art is a bit like the comic in Gumshoe. Fan Art‘s long for a fluffy novel and I definitely had issues with the pacing. I wasn’t at all engaged whenever Jamie started working on the literary magazine. I found that all of that stuff really detracted from time that could have been spent on the emotional arcs. While I did really like one of them, the others totally bored me. On top of that, there are poems sprinkled throughout Fan Art, other entries in Gumshoe. It doesn’t help that, in the ARC at least, the comic is horribly drawn and written, so I found myself having to side with the people who didn’t want to include it even though in theory I am so behind that. A lot of time is spent on his work for the Gumshoe and, frankly my dears, I don’t give a damn. Jamie works on the magazine and is fighting to get the editor to include a comic with a gay kiss in the magazine. Where Fan Art rather lost me was in the whole plot about the Gumshoe, the high school’s literary magazine. There’s also diversity of race, which yay. There’s a rather large cast of gay and lesbian characters, in larger and smaller roles. The author may have included that comment, but the lack of stereotyping in the actual characters she presents suggests to me that there was nothing intended in that phrase. The LGBT elements were pretty well-handled I thought, Jamie’s brief stereotyping of gay guys aside. I’m not entirely sure what Jamie’s learned, since everything’s sort of handed to him at the end. That said, I think his emotional journey to self-acceptance could have been much more clearly defined. His heart ultimately seems to be in the right place. Plus, Jamie typically acts nicely, even if he’s a mess underneath. He’s not comfortable with his own sexuality and doesn’t know how to deal with anything or anyone. I was able to forgive Jamie his problems because they so obviously stem from his own lack of self-worth. Jamie’s not the sort of person who stands out in a crowd or an obvious hero. He’s not the most likable character in the world, and he isn’t particularly interesting, though he did feel real to me. He occasionally thinks or says things that don’t reflect well on him, including stereotyping of other gay guys early in the book. For me, though, while I didn’t emotionally attach to Jamie, I did feel for him. Some have found him hateful from the very beginning and, if that’s the case for you, the book will be torturous. The main character, Jamie, seems to be the main factor for whether or not you like this book.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |