“It takes strength to be proud of yourself and to accept yourself when you know that you have something out of the ordinary about you." - Abigail Tarttelin
For my Summer Reading Project, I decided to read Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin. To be honest, you don't see books like this everyday. In this novel, there is a "boy" named Max Walker. He is what I like to call the perfect stereotype for a boy. Max is the most popular kid in school, star of the county football team that plays at his high school, and is one of the smartest students in school. But as the world knows, nobody is perfect. In this particular case, he is also intersex. By dictionary definition intersex is, "the abnormal condition of being intermediate between male and female; hermaphroditism." Basically what this means is that you are half boy and half girl. You have some male private parts and some female private parts. Max and his family knew that he was intersex, but they didn't want the world to know because his parents are very popular with their town's newspaper.
When Max discovers that he is pregnant due to his female parts, his one and only goal is to find out what intersex really is. "I make a mental note to drag out my old textbooks at home and look up intersex diagnoses online...Studying for a medical degree in England, our curriculum never went into much depth about intersex disorders." (Tarttelin 51) This quote clearly demonstrates that Max is in fact trying to figure out more about his disorder. Before that time however, he only had a broad idea of what it really was.
He develops over the whole story because he knows he has to deal with the fact that he is a pregnant boy, in a school where everybody thinks he is a perfect boy. Like everyone in this world, if you are pregnant at age 16, high school just becomes 10x harder. He can't concentrate on his work, so his grades go from skyrocketing to failing. He can't do contact sports, isn't the star player of the football team anymore. In addition, he becomes less popular because now, he can't do what he used to do with ease. This is something else that develops the plot stated above.
Something else that I liked about this book is that it is set up exactly the same way as Wonder by R. J. Palacio. For those of you who haven't read it, each "chapter" is the point of view of a different person. Golden Boy is set up the same way. These types of books give you a more direct view of what is really happening in the story.
Below, I have found an article from the Austin Chronicle that gives you yet another overview of the entire novel and some characters. It also includes a review by the author and his reason why.
Last but not least, I discovered a Youtube video of Abigail Tarttelin giving you an inside look at Golden Boy.
I was thinking of reading this book over the summer as well, but I didn't really know where to look for it. But I must say that the way you described the book makes me yearn to read it even more. I had just a brief knowledge of what the book was about, but I do have a question.
ReplyDeleteDid Max get pregnant because he had a lover or was it some kind of disfunction with his body. Or should I figure out by myself and not have you tell me instead?
It is a main part of the book so it would be best if I didn't tell you because it would giveaway the whole story. And I found my copy at the Mason Memorial Library
DeleteWhat made you choose this book among the hundreds? What is the specialty of it in other terms?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was trying to pick my book for summer reading, I narrowed it down to 3 and this book was in the top 3. The summary of the book that I read made it sound really good. Who was you favorite character in the book?
ReplyDeleteThat book sounds very good Alex. I liked how good the description was of the book. I will remember this book so then maybe I will read it in the future.
ReplyDelete