Fotografía de autor

James Klise

Autor de The Art of Secrets

3 Obras 349 Miembros 17 Reseñas

Sobre El Autor

James Klise is an author who wrote The Art of Secrets which won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel in 2015. (Bowker Author Biography)

Obras de James Klise

The Art of Secrets (2014) 190 copias
Love Drugged (2010) 125 copias

Etiquetado

Conocimiento común

Miembros

Reseñas

This was a decent, quick read, but not very engaging for me. It was less crime thriller than the summary lead me to expect and more of a slice-of-life, queer coming-of-age, which was fine by me, I'm just as interested in historical queer stories. However, I couldn't connect well with the characters and didn't find much interest in their relationships. The importance of building a queer community or support network was given lip service, but it never got flesh out and the underground queer culture was not shown all that much.… (más)
 
Denunciada
solenophage | 2 reseñas más. | Jul 29, 2023 |
I enjoyed this one! It did take a bit before the story really hooked me but once it did, I had a hard time putting it down. Joe goes to Chicago to make some money to send back home to his mother and save their farm. Times are hard and Joe is not afraid of hard work but he is soon drawn into a less-than-honest way to make some real money. I was incredibly worried about how things would work out for Joe before this book drew to a close.

I liked Joe right away but I cannot say the same thing for his cousin, Bernie. I feel like he grew and learned a lot about himself over the course of the story. Joe has always tried to do what is expected of him but while he is in Chicago he is able to explore his true feelings and what he really wants out of life. He spent time with two very different young men, Raymond and Eddie. Things aren’t always what they seem and Joe learns a lot about the kind of man he wants to be. I thought that the fact that the book was set in the 1930s made the story even more interesting.

I would recommend this book to others. I found this to be a very well-done coming-of-age story. I really liked the characters and loved the way the setting came alive. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that there were a few twists that made the story even more interesting. I would not hesitate to read more of James Klise’s work in the future.

I received a review copy of this book from Algonquin Young Readers.
… (más)
 
Denunciada
Carolesrandomlife | 2 reseñas más. | Mar 9, 2023 |
I really liked this book, despite it starting slow.
Unlike a lot of historical works, this one actually feels like it's set in the past. Everything from the slang, the expressions and the movie references feel like they're part of the setting. The only thing that made raise my eyes was the word 'sayonara' which i'm not sure would have been in use in 1930s America.

The blurb made it sound like a gay romance, but the romance was more of a side thing. It's mainly about Joe getting tangled up in various problems, and the more he lies the more gripping the book becomes. Through Joe's experiences, the book discusses the ethics of the era. When is a person rich enough to steal from? And how responsible is the middle man for the crimmes committed indirectly through him?
In the second half of the book I really wanted to know how it would end and which parts of Joe's lies would withstand the consequences.

I read an ARC of this book so things might be sifferent in the published version.
… (más)
½
 
Denunciada
MYvos | 2 reseñas más. | Feb 26, 2023 |
2.75 stars

Bah. There should have been far more consequences all around, especially for Dr. Gamez, who is the epitome of the stereotypical amoral and unethical scientist who is more concerned about his research than about the results and negative aspects of the pills he's creating and their affects on the people he's using to conduct his research, including his own daughter. His interactions with the MC, Jamie were teeth grindingly annoying. As for Jamie? While I do get that accepting oneself is really hard, the way he went about trying to deny his sexuality was, to be quite honest, breathtakingly stupid.… (más)
 
Denunciada
fuzzipueo | 6 reseñas más. | Apr 24, 2022 |

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Estadísticas

Obras
3
Miembros
349
Popularidad
#68,500
Valoración
½ 3.6
Reseñas
17
ISBNs
22

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