Wittlinger, Ellen. Hard Love. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1999.
For my final project, I chose to focus on the LBGTQ underrepresented group and read books focused on that.
The first novel I read, Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger, was quite a different take than I expected the book to be about, after reading Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan. I assumed it to be about a love story between the main character and a supporting character, but based on the title I assumed it to be a complicated love story, none the less.
Hard Love focuses on John, the main character, who is a bitter and cynical high school junior, without many friends, and without focus, at the start of the novel. John's friend, Brian, is hitting puberty and interested in girls and dating, whereas John couldn't care less about the the other sex. The big goal of all the juniors was to go to prom, and Brian was able to find a date, but John, at the beginning, didn't want to.
John didn't find companionship or friendship with his parents either. They were divorced for many years, and his mother was apathetic and disinterested in him. She couldn't even touch him, and hadn't for many years. John's father was a 40-something trying to live the 20-something dream of hooking up, and cutting any strings that could be attached, so he never had time for John, either.
John was very interested in the 'zine' world, and that was his comfort in a world he didn't feel a part of. He found one 'zine' very intersting, "Escape Velocity," and felt entranced by the writer, whom he just had to meet. John arranged to meet Marisol, the author, and somehow led her to believe he was named "Gio." His first white lie.
John's initial interest wasn't romantic within Marisol, just one of a kindred spirit. Plus, the first the Marisol makes sure everyone knows about her is that she is a lesbian. Throughout the story, her and John have a tumultuous friendship, that is both complicated, confusing and unfair.
I felt the character John, gave Marisol everything, whereas she just took as she pleased and kept him dangling on a string throughout. Although the book was a fun read, I am unsure how it functioned as a text in the LBGTQ community. Apparently, it must have been a good representation to win the Lambda Literary Award, but I just don't see how it furthered the LBGTQ community because the Marisol wasn't a main character. I also didn't like her as a character, which probably hindered my understanding of the novel. I felt she was selfish and uncaring towards John, and flighty ---but this may also be because of the young age they are at [juniors in high school].
Apparently, by the end of the novel, John and Marisol were able to come to grips that the love that was between them - the deep connection - was mutual - although non-romantic, and quite complicated. I felt unfulfilled by the novel, and I don't feel my understanding of the LBGTQ community was deepened by this novel. I do think a big part of my distaste for it was also just my frustration with Marisol's character. I have to give it some kudos because of the award it won, but I suppose just coming off reading Boy Meets Boy I expected something more blatant? I'm not sure yet, I do feel it was a good read, and I could see how teenagers could relate to the issues it raises and works through, throughout the novel, but I just wasn't that satisfied with it, I suppose. Although I may not have had the most positive review for this book, I do believe this book is an authentic book, because its author, Ellen Wittlinger, is an avid member of the LBGTQ community and always tries to have at least one gay character in all her novels in order to make what may not be considered "mainstream" more mainstream for her readers and be blatant about how important it is for the LBGTQ community to be portrayed as they are, a part of the communities we all live in. I appreciate Wittlinger's honesty and "insider" perspective in this novel.
This will be my first blog about my first book for my text set created for the final project on the LBGTQ underrepresented group. Thanks!
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