Up until two days ago, I had only once before sobbed uncontrollably while reading a novel. It was Skallagrig, by William Horwood. It was the 1980s and I was in my twenties.
I’m now in my late fifties, and I’ve just finished Holden Sheppard‘s award-winning debut novel, Invisible Boys.
Set in Geraldton in WA’s Midwest, Invisible Boys follows three very different teenagers, Charlie, Hammer and Zeke, as they grapple with being gay in a very straight town.
This novel spoke directly to me like no other. The characters and I, although separated by nearly a generation, have a lot in common.
We share not only a hometown, but the fear, rejection, taunts and loneliness that came with being gay in it.
Finally, someone has put into words the trauma of my own experience growing up gay when I couldn’t.
When I finished Invisible Boys, I felt something crack, crumble and fall away deep inside. I’m still unpacking what that may have been. Possibly shame, maybe silence. I’ll need to work on it.
Is Invisible Boys only a book for gay men? Absolutely not. If nothing else, it’s also a great story, and I hope it becomes required reading in the high school curriculum.
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, but whatever you do, you won’t regret reading Invisible Boys.
My favourite laugh-out loud-moment would have to be the ‘onion rings’ reference.
Fremantle Press ISBN: 9781925815566
Andrew James Macleod 