Very interesting book.About james who came out to his family. It was interesting how the whole town didn't understand it and this was 1 year 2000. It's different in the real parts of ireland because I have family in history And the church. James is really hard for his family.So he starts to work with this man named dave delivering milk so he could buy his dinner at school. One of these stops he meets This boy named luke who's STANDI.N.G with this aunt and uncle. This was a really interesting part of the book.Because you see how james were in love with this man and he felt comfortable with them. Luke had a heart upbringing because his mother left him and his father didn't really understand him I like when they go to the Rugby club.This was interesting how everybody was drunk. Mother of james is much more easier to accept it than his father. His brother.
Ed did not know what was going on and he had medical conditions. This was interesting how the story played out. Everybody seemed to get along. The only people who do not understand was this classroom. It was hard because they were going to probably the same thing, but they didn't want to admit it. The title is interesting too.Because I guess god accepts everybody. I think this.
Would be a really good book to teach in school?How people can be different but at the same time be together

Open, Heaven was a beautifully written story of a young man's first crush. This is a quiet, character-driven novel. I really enjoyed the main character, James, and was rooting for him the entire time. The writing is just gorgeous, and I also really liked the setting. Not a lot happens in the 224 pages so I would recommend it for someone who does not need a lot of plot and appreciates getting to know a character really well. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy. 4.25 stars.

Open, Heaven is a coming-of-age story layered with yearning, tenderness, and a soft melancholy. It’s beautifully written—there’s no denying the lyricism in the prose—but something was missing for me.

The novel’s structure made it difficult for me to stay fully immersed, my mind drifting more often than I’d like. While I appreciated the writing, I went in expecting an emotional wrecking ball and instead came away feeling a little unsatisfied. Maybe it was the book. Maybe it was me and my current headspace.

If you’re in the mood for a quiet, introspective read and don’t mind a slower pace, this may resonate more deeply with you.

Open Heaven was a super interesting read. I loved the character study and the writing felt propulsive. I'd read more from the author.

Having loved Hewitt's previous book, a memoir plumbing the depths of his relationship with an ex during a period of time where the ex struggled with extreme depression, I just about clamored for a chance to read this one early. While I didn't get to finish it before its release, it was well worth waiting for a moment to sit and consume it in its entirety. This book is about desire and how that feels in the queer body and how others react to that desire. Hewitt masterfully details the teenage space and how first loves gets all wrapped up in the body and how, often especially in queer spaces, they pass into the realm of infatuation. James' love for Luke is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking and despite the latter, I enjoyed every moment I spent watching them grow together.

3.5 stars rounded up. This was a well-written, character-driven, emotional read. I found myself skimming a bit at times, but I liked it overall. It was kind of a quiet, floaty sort of book. I'm curious to see what the author writes next.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

I had high hopes for this, but unfortunately could not bring myself to like it. I have tried several times over the last few months to get through this book, but I only made it about halfway through on my latest attempt. The writing style was not for me, but would work better for someone who is used to the more lyrical writing. Thank you again for the ARC! I’m sad it wasn’t the right fit for me.

I just finished a good book. Open, Heaven by Sean Hewitt is available now and is one you should put on your list.

<i>Open, Heaven</i> is an exception to my rule about avoiding novels written by poets; Hewitt's prose is so splendiferous that I want to write rapturous odes about it. He is so able to convey the headiness of first infatuation that I was left feeling intoxicated.

Very highly recommended.

Received via NetGalley.

This book really feels like a testament to queer youth before public “acceptance” (I say loosely) became more mainstream.

The longing for romantic reciprocity and desire in those teenage years is a fucking whirlwind, and this author managed to capture those feelings so well.

I am so happy that queer lit exists. ❤️

I went completely blind into this books; I simply loved the cover with the pink and off-white background, and the childish drawings... I was like 'why not.'

This book was 50% harrowing 50% comforting. The comfort part was coming from the writing. I could feel the poetic soul through the lines. I have never read such an introspective point of view of a day character: how he lived his coming out, how lonely it was, how he was fighting his feelings on the daily, and how those feelings/thoughts/impulses were so strong he kept unintentionally hurting his own family.

The little brother storyline hit close to home; it was nice to talk about epilepsy and what a nightmare it is to navigate through this condition no one can still understand to this day: it comes and it goes and neither patients or lived ones can control it, until you're lucky enough to take medication that works for you (they don't always do).

A pleasant, demure reading that I recommend to anyone wanting to read gripping litfic.

Thank you NG and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange of my honest review.

DNF at 35%. all he talked about was how he was attracted to every single man on earth and that he delivered milk. i was 60 pages in and just couldn’t even anymore

I love the writing of Sean Hewitt so much—he has a unique capacity for nostalgia without the syrupy quality of overly saccharine prose. His writing is lovely and thoughtful, and the spaces that he writes into feel so real. I did find, however, that some of the buildup of this book was for naught; there was a climax, sure, but I don't feel like it was quite what the rest of the story was building towards. I had the opportunity to reflect on this book with a friend, and we both came away with the impression that it felt a bit like a wet firework. It still went off, but it didn't quite light up the sky or have the BANG that we were hoping for.

That said, Sean Hewitt has a talent for beautiful writing, and I hope he continues to bring us new stories. Thank you to Knopf for the opportunity to read and review!

Open, Heaven is a beautifully heartbreaking queer coming of age story. Seán Hewitt's prose feels so immersive and is (naturally) poetic through and through. I enjoyed that this didn't have the typical happy ending, and we're left with this empty feeling at the end, much like James feels as an adult, post-separation from a partner who could never live up to the love he has for Luke.
This entire story feels green, like running through a meadow, like bee stings, and nostalgia for a place i've never been.

Thank you NetGalley & Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the arc.

Sean Hewitt could writey grocery list and I would find it moving. The way he depicts relationships is absolutely gorgeous and heartbreaking. I loved this coming-of-age story and the tiny moments that balloon in significance at that age.

OPEN, HEAVEN is a beautifully written coming of age story. It captures that feeling of first love, when love is unevenly returned. The framework of looking back and returning home is effective. I loved the descriptions of place in this book. An exciting debut.

This was a beautifully written coming of age story told from the perspective of James, a gay teenager in a small village in the north of England. I think I needed to temper my expectations a bit because I thought this would be a romance but it’s really not. It’s about friendship and growing up in an unwelcoming environment as a young gay man.

There were a whole bunch of wonderful things within this book. But, to be perfectly honest, it left a bit to be desired in my opinion. I didn’t really understand the intensity of James and Luke’s friendship. We are told again and again about the power of this relationship but it reads as very tepid on the page.

I also thought the specter of Luke’s father was odd. I didn’t know what to make of that; it seemed to not fit with the rest of the story.

I was just left with a feeling of this being unfinished. James has let this one summer of friendship with Luke shape his entire life and yet we are supposed to believe he never tried to get in touch with him again???

I think this author is very talented. That shows through on the page. But I wish that I had enjoyed this a bit more.

i really liked a lot of the lush imagery and poetic prose of this novel. it was a deeply felt story that sometimes took me right back to those years of experiencing intense emotions as a queer teen - when you just want desperately to love someone and for them to love you back. some passages literally took my breath away because i was like wow, this is exactly what it’s like. there’s a deep interiority of the first person narrative that just sucks you in and makes you really feel the all encompassing and engrossing nature of jame’s obsession with luke. the story is sentimental and elegiac, full of intense retroactive reflection on jame’s and luke’s friendship.

that being said, i did also feel like there was a certain lack of depth in the characters and their relationship that i craved to be more present in the prose - maybe in lieu of some of the overly descriptive bits of setting, such as landscape and nature. (when i say you are there, you are THERE- Hewitt’s main focus is ensuring that you know exactly where you are with gorgeous imagery and sensory descriptions. it’s quite amazing to behold and I read some of the best sentences ever in this book… but it felt a bit overwrought).

for most of the novel, i didn’t really feel that james and luke’s relationship rang true for me. i was always left wanting more. the narrative lacked a lot of character development that would have yielded a more complex and rich portrayal of these boys and their bond. I felt that didn’t really know the characters that well by the novels conclusion. by the time i reached the end, i wasn’t really convinced of the lifelong duration of jame’s obsession with luke. parts of it felt genuine for sure, but the actual relationship itself left much to be desired in terms of specific characterization. unfortunately it was more of a disappointment than a stellar read for me.

but overall, i still found a lot of passages stunning - an atmospheric slow burn of longing, gay pining and agony.

This was such a stunning debut!! And it was so insanely bittersweet. This coming of age story that follows a sixteen-year-old boy was a real tear jerker. I honestly didn’t know what to expect going into this. I didn’t really read the blurb or anything and jokes on me, because my heart was ripped out.

I don’t want to give too much away but the prose in this was astoundingly poetic. I couldn’t put it down. It touches so deeply on loneliness, first love, and self doubt but also just so many emotions that aren’t necessarily spoken on unless you’ve dealt with the certain feelings spoken about in the book yourself and had to hide them within a small, judgmental community.

The fact that this novel spans over 20 years, and we see the MMC James experience everything from first love to bittersweet regrets later in life, makes this insanely raw and emotional. I’ll honestly be thinking about it for such a long time!!

Thank you to NetGalley & Knopf for the ARC.

This book is beautifully written. It is an elegy to first unrequited love. Read the book for the prose alone, however the plot seemed to fizzle and lead to no where.