A Bou at the Edge of the World by David Kingston Yeh. The cover pretty much had me wanting the book. The book itself immediately hooks you from beginning to end. I’d recommend this book to anyone

This story is packed with truth, desire and fun. Indeed, A Boy in the Edge of the World is an easy and quick read. I'll probably get this book and do a reread when I'll go to the beach.

Tolle Geschichte eines jungen schwulen Mannes, der an der Uni erste Erfahrungen in Liebe und Leben macht. Sympathischer Protagonist!

This was a wonderful and intense slice of life story.
Yeh chose a very original way of telling us what happens in Daniel's life and inside his mind. It was overall really fun.

The Boy at the Edge of the World is so entirely everything that I might cry flipping through it and trying to tell you why you should read it. I missed these people SO much when this ended. I couldn't get them out of my head. It felt like I'd lived lifetimes with them, and in some sense I had. It's a romance adventure through a young man's exploration after university. He goes through phases and flings and family hilarity and heartache and a happily-ever-after that fills my heart to the brim! Ugh, LOVE!!! Also it made me NEED to go to all these places in Toronto. (It's set in Canada) It doesn't seem like it, but I am playing it veeery lowkey about this book. My feelings run DEEP.

So deep that I included it in my Love in Panels 2018 favourites, (here: http://www.loveinpanels.com/prose/andreas-best-of-2018) and literally still think about going to Canada purely based on the stories in here. I wish I could give it like ten times more stars!!!

I was okay with the synopsis of the book but I was a bit skeptical with the sexual feeling I got when reading it.

Then I was just gross-out but all the explicit sexual encounters. I mean, I know they happen and people experience that, but this was just too grafical and I couldn't get into it. Then all the text again was jumble up and I just gave up... too much sex...

I started this book months ago....like....months and months ago. and I gave up on it because I just wasn't invested. Today I wanted to try and give it another go. I hate quitting a book, especially when I was given a copy for review, but I just couldn't finish.

My first problem with this book that had me thrown off for awhile was the synopsis does not align with the actual story. I went into this thinking I was going to get a love triangle, but almost half way through it was basically just a telling of Daniel's love life so far. We hadn't even met the third piece to this triangle. And because of that, it took me awhile to get into the story. I actually stopped reading and went back to the synopsis to made sure I was reading the right book.

Once I got over that confusion, I realized that I just didn't care about Daniel as a character. There isn't really any meat to him or what he's going through. The flow was easy and the characters were fun, but they were only skin-deep and I found myself just not caring. That was a big part of why it took me so long to get back to reading this. I didn't care about Daniel's story and that, to me, is the worst thing that could happen. If I'm not invested in the character, why continue to read about his journey?

But I tried anyway. I did. I got another two chapters in before I realized I was just skimming. I was skipping parts and going to the dialogue. That's when I made the decision to let this one go.

If you are looking for something light and easy, you could read this. My suggestion would be to not read the synopsis first. Just go into this knowing that this will be a journey of Daniel and his boyfriends/sexual discovery. But if you are looking for something more meaty, with deeper characters, don't fall for the synopsis because you will be disappointed.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a fast and easy read. It kept me interested until the very end. The characters were likeable. I enjoyed the writer's style.

Rating: 2.5 Stars

A pretty difficult book to rate and review... It definitely feels like a memoir, but it's told in a series of anecdotes over several years, which often meant the narrative was meandering and disconnected. It wasn't until about halfway through that I understood where the book was going and what it's goal was.
There wasn't really a plot running throughout - which is fine because I enjoy a character driven story - except I never completely connected with any of the characters either? I enjoyed some of the characters, but this story was very much reliant on its dialogue (which made for an entertaining read as I love some good dialogue), with little insight or development when it came to our main character. Of course he had come a long way by the end of the novel, but the reader doesn't necessarily see how or why or when he actually developed.
Due to the nature of the way the story was told, there were also far too many characters to keep track of. The heaps of incidental characters worked well in terms of the novel's anecdotal structure, they just felt unnecessary in a lot of cases.

The book was overtly explicit, which I understand was used at times for realism (the book does do it's realism well in its own way, not that I know much about modern Canadian culture) but at other times just felt like it was being used for shock factor, or due to lazy writing. Sometimes this was uncomfortably so: there is a graphic rape scene as well as a lot of other sexual content, copious amounts of drug taking, and characters voicing taboo topics very openly.
I did however enjoy the way the novel really explored and basked in the modern LGBT scene.

So overall: I didn't hate this book, I didn't love this book, and I kind of enjoyed my time reading it? It was just a weird one; vaguely chaotic with lack of structure. The only thing it reminds me of that i've read before would be fan fiction, which isn't necessarily an insult.

3/5 stars. Chaotic is the first word that comes to mind when describing this book. At times the book feels more like a series of vignettes than a story woven together with a plot. The main character, Daniel was, for me, endearing at times but more often than not, I felt unable to relate to him as deeply as I wanted to.

The dialogue was snappy and well written but overall I felt this story was a little too disjointed to feel fully invested in it.

Thankyou to Netgalley for providing the ARC copy for review.

Super relatable coming of age tale. A fast and entertaining read. Highly recommend. Look forward to future works from this author.

I really wanted to like this - the premise is cool and I'm all about supporting Own Voices books. Unfortunately I just couldn't get past the first chapter. I found the writing so annoying, and Daniel in particular was a very unsympathetic character for me. I'm sure there are people out there who do not feel the same way, but it was clear that this is just not the kind of book I like and I put it down almost as soon as I could.

Again, thank you NetGalley. What an entertaining book I highly suggest to read. I used to live in Toronto and it was very nice to follow the story to all the familiar places around the city.

I've been struggling with how to formulate my thoughts about this book and how to word my review. When I first starting reading, I had trouble getting into the story. The author just jumps into the story with not much of an introduction, at least it felt that way to me. So, I put the book aside with the intention of coming back around to it when I felt I could give it the attention it deserved for an honest review. The second time was a bit better than the first. But, as I progressed further into the book, I lost connection with the characters and story. So much happens in this book and the author jumps from one plot point to the next, I was left wondering what I should focus on and what I should push to the side. And there are so many minor characters and love interests that I had trouble keeping everyone straight in my head. Basically, this book is what I imagine someone with ADHD goes through on a daily basis. There's lots of jumping from one thing to the next, again, having me question what's really important to the overall plot. Perhaps the author's intention was for everything to be important and, if so, that's not the kind of book for me as my overworked brain couldn't handle it. I think this book would have held my interest better if it were in a journal or diary format because it kinda reads like that to me.

Overall, I felt the book went off on too many tangents for me to connect with anything but the sub-plots (there didn't seem to be a main plot) had the potential to be interesting. .

I really liked this book. It could be looked at as a 'slice of life' but through all the chaos and turbulence, Daniel's coming out and coming of age-- explores the many layers of self acceptance and reconciliation with the past that haunt many people throughout life.

In spite of family and friends that totally support Daniel, he struggles with an overwhelming disconnect that affects all his relationships. I love how author David Yeh tells this story and takes us along Daniel's journey of love and loss, searching to find himself. Yeh cleverly reveals Daniel's growth (or maturing) without hitting us in the face with it. It happens gradually as the story unfolds. The difference in how Daniel sees and experiences things at the beginning compared to where he is at the end of the book, shows the tremendous changes that happen as people move through the unforeseen circumstances of life.

The people in Daniel's life are an eclectic bunch of characters, richly drawn by Yeh-- adding so much depth and diversity to the story. I thoroughly enjoyed them and the challenges and impact they placed on Daniel's journey.

I found A Boy at the Edge of the World to be a fascinating and engaging experience; full of life's truths and the appreciation for the fact that every person's journey is very different and an exciting story to tell.

I received an ARC copy of this wonderful book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found this story too hard to get into. It was very chaotic and all over the place, and the lack of plot just does not work for me. Sorry :(

Describing the life of Daniel Garneau, A Boy at the Edge of the World is an intense, fast=paced, at times ridiculous story about a boy who is gay and living in Canada. A coming-of-age novel, Yeh writes in a chopped, non-linear narrative style which aims to showcase the chaos that is life, and of course, Daniel's life. Daniel himself was quite a likeable character. I found him to be raw, honest and trying to figure out who he actually is.

Although I wouldn't quite say there was a 'main' plot, this book is written more 'slice-of-life' and you, as the reader, are embarking on a journey of Daniel and a cast of awesome and crazy characters, as they go through life. The cast of characters have an incredible chemistry, and thus, this novel is character driven and focuses on character development. As for the ridiculous, the novel concentrates on Daniel, his friends, his family and ultimately, have strange dinner conversations, strange experiences overall; but it makes for a hilarious story. Although, Yeh does not gloss over the shocking, and does quite well in respectfully writing about those scenes and the aftermath.

Although, I would say this book would not be for everyone; it is a great read and I recommend branching out and immersing oneself in this world.

Cute story and lovable characters, but there really wasn't a plot. I did feel it started to get repetitive at the halfway mark and the lack of an actual story wasn't enough to keep me reading.

A Boy at the Edge of the World is a novel by David Kingston Yeh, detailing the life of Daniel Garneau, the oldest of triplets. The story takes us from Daniel’s senior year, right up to his fifth year of university as he trains to be a medic, in a slice of life format.

I knew I was going to love this book from the first couple of paragraphs. Daniel comes out to his best friend Karen, a popular and sarcastic girl, who I instantly adored. I’d just finished reading The Art of Escaping, where everyone was very twee and nice, and it was a fantastic relief to start reading incredibly bitchy characters who I loved.

This book doesn’t hold back. There is a rape scene early on in the story that shows the danger in the gay community of drug taking, and there are explicit sex scenes between all sorts of people. There are threesomes, and public handjobs, and the three Amigas (don’t ask), and bathhouses. There are drugs, and suicide attempts, and grandma’s masturbating in the front room. It’s a delicious fucked up story, and I enjoyed every minute.

What was a breath of fresh air was that nothing ‘bad’ happened. Of course, there are low points, Daniel’s brother Liam is severely depressed, Marcus falls off the balcony, Daniel’s grandmother has Alzheimer’s. But there’s no death, no Aids, no fucked up trauma. As someone who reads A Little Life every summer like a rite of passage, I am used to reading gay stories where awful terrible things happen. This book is honestly a relief.

I also loved the short choppy way that Yeh writes. It’s much like my own writing, with random snippets of events and conversations, so I slipped easily into the book. I can see how other readers might not like this, but I really enjoyed it, as I didn’t have to read pages of exposition, I could just get right into the story.

I honestly have no complaints with the book. I loved every moment I was reading it, adoring Daniel, Pat, Liam, Blonde Dawn, Karen, David, and all the other host of characters. It was a completely mental book, with descriptions of cock rings at the dinner table, and performances in pig intestines. I don’t think that the blurb does it justice, but by god, was this an excellent story.

Thank you to Netgallery for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this is a weird book to give a rating to. It’s not bad? But I wouldn’t exactly say it’s good. If I were to describe it in one word, I would probably choose “interesting”. Or maybe, more accurately, striving to be interesting.

A Boy at the Edge of the World tells the story of Daniel and his romantic & sexual adventures since he was seventeen and kicked off a hockey team for getting into a fight with a bunch of homophobes. He was also in a relationship of sorts with his married coach... So that’s where we first meet him & that also kind of sets the tone for the whole novel.

By which I mean, it feels like the author goes out of his way to shock the audience. Maybe it wasn’t the goal, maybe he really was just trying to describe the Canadian lgbt youth. But it’s one thing to have stories of sex and love from a bunch of young people and another thing to have a bunch of stories from one single guy. The comparison to Sex and the City? It’s so spot-on.

In more than the first half of the book, we’re just introduced to one boyfriend after another with a myriad of one-night stands scattered in between. Like, sure, that happens and it’s perfectly ordinary. But when a novel is written in this very simple style that feels almost like a newspaper article; when the dialogues are unreal & artificial and making it almost impossible to take the characters serious half the time; when the characters themselves are either not fleshed-out at all or just made into caricatures of some trait or another – when you put all that together with descriptions of various sexscapades, it really starts to seem like it’s just done for the shock value.

It’s honestly impossible to have any kind of emotional connection with anything that happens here or with any of the characters. I’m pretty sure the only one I actually liked was David and that’s just because he was, well, nice. None of the characters, including the main one, feel real. They do things, of course, they do so many things, and Daniel describes everyone to us, down to every little quirk, but that’s it. What they do doesn’t exactly always match up with their descriptions and anyway, how do I feel anything for a description? Because none of them ever become more than that! There’s just no time for that in the novel! There are so very many relationships to recount, there’s no space left for making the characters into actual people.

In way of tw for future readers: there’s the relationship with an older, married man (somewhat romanticized), a rape scene at the very beginning (he consented to the act but then blackouted for some time?), straight girls fetishizing gay guys (never really called out but the narrator/mc is grossed out by it).

It’s a weird book because on one hand it’s interesting, it grips your attention – it starts on a wild (illegal, let’s be honest) note and goes wilder & wilder from there so that you keep reading to find out just how wild will it get – but on the other hand, it’s not well written nor really interesting. I appreciate the author’s effort to paint a realistic portrait of the lgbt community in Toronto but, again, packed into one small book it starts to just be lowkey grotesque. Which is such a shame because it could have been a great book, if only given some more words and revision.