Coming out, going places, and learning lessons… with some background music.
Genre: Y/A, Contemporary, Romance, LGBT+
No. of pages: 314
A story about finding the people who become your home.
Marty arrives in London with nothing but his oboe and some savings from his summer job, but he’s excited to start his new life–where he’s no longer the closeted, shy kid who slips under the radar and is free to explore his sexuality without his parents’ disapproval.
From the outside, Marty’s life looks like a perfect fantasy: in the span of a few weeks, he’s made new friends, he’s getting closer with his first ever boyfriend, and he’s even traveling around Europe. But Marty knows he can’t keep up the facade. He hasn’t spoken to his parents since he arrived, he’s tearing through his meager savings, his homesickness and anxiety are getting worse and worse, and he hasn’t even come close to landing the job of his dreams. Will Marty be able to find a place that feels like home?
What a cute little diddy! Stamper really knows how to craft a genuine coming of age tale harmonised with music, religion, and identity.
I felt the pacing was slow with ‘As Far As You’ll Take Me’ but I think it was due to me not connecting well with the material or the protagonist. Firstly there is a lot about music and musical instruments, which was fascinating and educational… but not something I’m not particularly interested in, so after a few chapters, my eyes started to glaze over with the depictions of music and instrumentation. Marty is anxious, quiet, a little bit of a mouse. A people pleaser. And I appreciate the experience of life from his perspective, but I can’t say my shoulders weren’t bunched up in frustration. I just wanted to yell at him to ‘get over it,’ or ‘wake up.’ Which is a great thing because as a writer you really want to pull emotion from your reader; but by the end of the novel I was, frankly, a little exhausted. But it does make for a great place for Marty’s character arc.
The background of the UK and Europe was magical – I wish there was as much time and care gone into painting the landscape as there was the musical elements of the story. I’d love to get lost in that ambience.
Marty felt whiny and without back bone for most of this read. Being an artsy type and fairly new to the gay scene, and the world at large, this innocence coupled with anxiety made it hard for me to get invested in his story. He’s the type of character I’d describe as ‘nice,’ not compelling, or cute. Other readers may love this type of character, but it didn’t connect with me so much. Maybe if the tone of ‘As Far As You’ll Take Me’ shifted to something more sarcastic or tongue-in-cheek I may have enjoyed it more. ‘As Far As You’ll Take Me’ is quiet, like its protagonist. Admittedly I put this book down a lot for breaks. I love the representation, but the cast were all a little vanilla for my tastes.
Marty spent most of the novel with blinders on. He ignored, or ran away from just about everything. Most of the novel is spent luring the reader away from tension, away from the interesting bits.
Pierce, as Marty’s love interest sent my alarm bells ringing from the first few sentences, I took an instant disliking to him. There were maybe a few moments where my opinion thawed from some cute scenes, but on the whole he never sat well with me from the get-go, so I think that was another aspect that had stopping me from really getting immersed in ‘As Far As You’ll Take Me.’ I just wasn’t invested in this couple.
All the things I’ve had issues with is what makes this book unique and a masterpiece in its own right. A realistic depiction of growing up gay and finding your tribe… and navigating all the potholes along the way. It just wasn’t the right narrative for me.
I predicted most of the book fairly early on, I was hoping for some more unexpected twists and turns, like I mentioned before, this book feels very vanilla.
I wanted more humour, more sass, more angst.
This is a soft recommendation for me. I think it does a great job for representation of gay youth, of mental illness like anxiety, eating disorders, and shed a light on social climbing and toxic relationships. With so many dark aspects in the narrative, I think that’s why I didn’t enjoy this as much as I was expecting to. But some readers may love this, but it’s not a story I’d recommend often.
Overall feeling: Unpretentious.
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I don’t waste time putting on a face full of make-up – sometimes I don’t even brush my hair. Most mornings, it’s a shower, throw on some comfortable clothes and sneakers, and then straight to the keyboard. No longer am I in tailored work attire and high heels, coiffed to perfection. I relax in my stretched out jeans and coffee mug permanently sitting on my right hand side. Every day is casual Friday!
I never have to travel far either. Some very rare days, I’ll write right there in bed on my lap top! No long hours stuck in traffic or squeezed in on public transport wondering who is responsible for that odorous smell or dodging that one man who is staring at you in a completely inappropriate way unabashedly.
I don’t get interrupted by people walking past, or popping their head into my office. I’m not continually putting out conceptual fires or managing clashing personalities. I have complete control over my work environment. I can unplug the phone and internet if I so desire. Or lament in a busy coffee shop with the soundtrack of gossip and top 40 pop hits – it’s whatever takes my fancy. I can say I LOVE no distractions! Especially when that muse whacks you upside the head with an anvil and you just have to get everything down on paper as quickly as you can.
I get to pick my hours – I can plan my writing around social visits or events. Some days I write better first thing in the morning, others in the evening hours… just as long as I write every day! I have a pretty much set schedule, but on those days when you are feeling shackled in, it is great to scream out the window and do what the heck you want. I could never have done that in an office or classroom. That adaptability definitely helps increase my productive hours writing.
I get to leave my desk in a mess – if I’m in a particular point in a piece of writing and need to call it quits for a day, I can leave my desk in a state of what may look like disarray, but everything is set up for ease of access to information. I can simply walk away and come back the next morning and start right off at the point I left the day before. I never have to worry about things being moved, the cleaner disrupting my files. This comes in handy when I nearing the end of writing a first draft or going through edits. I can be a messy worker in those times.
Lunch can be a quick trip to the kitchen or microwave. I no longer need to go find a good coffee shop, stand in line and find the perfect seat to consume said lunch – plus eating in public, and consuming food with onion, tuna and other odorous foodstuffs were always off the menu in consideration of my workmates. Now I can stick the place up to my heart’s desire!
Every day is take your pet to work day! It has been proven that having a four-legged companion can increase your productivity and lower your blood pressure – and I intend to embrace that whole-heartedly!
If you want to quickly google something completely unrelated to what you’re working on, you can without the internet Nazi’s scrutinizing your browser history (or how much time you spend watching cat videos.) So no time is waisted continually glancing over your shoulder to see if anyone can see what is on your screen, and then madly running through folders to empty your temporary folders… not that I ever indulged of ‘naughty’ internet activity at work ;p
Casey Carlisle 