Haithem Humaid Humaid itibaren Parbatipur Upazila, Bangladeş itibaren Parbatipur Upazila, Bangladeş

** spoiler alert ** Okay but not as good as Nick & Nora's or the Gingerbread/Shrimp/Cupcake series. The problem for me was that the main characters were too unlikeable or clueless. They seemed a little lacking in redeeming qualities. Naomi and Ely have been best friends for years, and to make things more convoluted, an affair among their parents led to Naomi's parent's divorce. So they've shared a lot of growth and pain over time. She's known he was gay since he was 15 and that his penis has been in almost constant use with guys for the past 4 years. Yet, at 19, she's still clinging to this romantic fantasy that they'll get married and has decided he's going to be the one to take her virginity. I'm not a 19 year old girl, but if I knew Ely's penis had already been in a number of guy's assorted body parts, it would lose its attraction as the Holy Grail that was going to someday be poking itself into me! It literally takes her until the end of the book for the clue meter to go off and figure out it's never going to happen. Can she really be that obtuse (maybe that's why she's flunking out of college)? Ely is no better. He is the admitted master of the "F and run." He kisses Bruce the Second (Bt2), which starts the whole drama, because he wants to, regardless of the fact that he's Naomi's boyfriend. He decides he's going to take it slow with Bt2,which apparently means everything but full intercourse, but doesn't share this information. So Bt2 is left wondering why Ely won't go all the way with him. Then Ely takes a guy who barely has a foot out of the closet to an over-the-top event, ditches him to be the life of the party, and doesn't notice for an hour that Bt2 has given up and left. Then it never occurs to him that he might have treated Bt2 badly and he never apologizes for abandoning him. And he wonders why things turn frigid? And when he goes to his dorm to try to salvage the relationship, when Bt2 opens the door the first thing Ely does is start mentally critiquing the clothes he's wearing. What a jewel! Bt2 was the most sympathetic character, a bit of a puppy for both Naomi and Ely to lead around. Bt1 was a little on the creepy side. Having Naomi as his favorite masturbation fantasy and spying on her with binoculars doesn't make you feel warm and fuzzy about him. Gabe the doorman made a valient effort to attract Naomi which appears to have paid off in the end. Overall, it was okay, just needed to put the brain in neutral over some of the less plausible sections.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, it was absorbing, cleverly written and educational. The narrative is quite slow at times but that adds to the dark, haunting atmosphere and the impact of the story. I love historical novels and this is a great example, it brings the time and place to life and gives an emotional understanding of events that textbooks and newspapers cannot. This book is definitely one that you'll be thinking about long after you've finished it, and that's always a good thing.