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Reading: Boyfriend Material
The weekend before last, my entire Twitter feed appeared to be reading Alexis Hall's new novel, Boyfriend Material, and exclaiming over how funny and delightful and escapist it was, and given how much life right now demands delightful, funny, escapist fiction I downloaded a copy, even though I don't normally read contemporary romance with no fantasy elements*. And it is indeed delightful, funny, and escapist, even if the contemporary (pre-pandemic) London setting felt more unreal than any of the SF and fantasy I've been reading lately**.
The main character, Luc, is the son of two 80s rock stars, and in today's celebrity culture, that makes him fair game for paparazzi and gossip columnists. When an out-of-context photo threatens his job as a charity fundraiser, he needs to clean up his act by being seen out and about with a nice, respectable boyfriend. Enter Oliver, the only other gay man Luc's Straight Best Friend knows, who needs a date for his parents' anniversary party. The only trouble is, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common, and really don't like each other very much, so they agree to pretend to be going out together instead - only somehow, real feelings start to intrude on their fake relationship.
Oliver and Luc are likeably flawed main characters (and despite being two decades older than them, and female, I could see a lot of myself in them both), and there's a fantastic supporting cast of friends, co-workers and family (I particularly loved Luc's well-meaning but terminally dim upper-class colleague). Luc's narration is fabulously sarcastic and there are some brilliant comic set-pieces which had me laughing out loud in places. I spent more time reading this weekend than I have mostly been managing to do lately, because it was such a perfect comfort read.
*I think that at some point fairly soon I'm going to have to stop saying "I don't usually read romance", whatever the context, because it's becoming increasingly clear that at this point in (a) my life and (b) world history, romance is very much what I read.
**I realise that the last contemporary novel I read was False Value, back right at the start of lockdown, when it still felt like there was a normal that things might go back to. Four months in, it's just weird to read about people going to pubs and clubs and parties, and working in offices and organising events, and remembering everything that we used to take for granted.
The main character, Luc, is the son of two 80s rock stars, and in today's celebrity culture, that makes him fair game for paparazzi and gossip columnists. When an out-of-context photo threatens his job as a charity fundraiser, he needs to clean up his act by being seen out and about with a nice, respectable boyfriend. Enter Oliver, the only other gay man Luc's Straight Best Friend knows, who needs a date for his parents' anniversary party. The only trouble is, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common, and really don't like each other very much, so they agree to pretend to be going out together instead - only somehow, real feelings start to intrude on their fake relationship.
Oliver and Luc are likeably flawed main characters (and despite being two decades older than them, and female, I could see a lot of myself in them both), and there's a fantastic supporting cast of friends, co-workers and family (I particularly loved Luc's well-meaning but terminally dim upper-class colleague). Luc's narration is fabulously sarcastic and there are some brilliant comic set-pieces which had me laughing out loud in places. I spent more time reading this weekend than I have mostly been managing to do lately, because it was such a perfect comfort read.
*I think that at some point fairly soon I'm going to have to stop saying "I don't usually read romance", whatever the context, because it's becoming increasingly clear that at this point in (a) my life and (b) world history, romance is very much what I read.
**I realise that the last contemporary novel I read was False Value, back right at the start of lockdown, when it still felt like there was a normal that things might go back to. Four months in, it's just weird to read about people going to pubs and clubs and parties, and working in offices and organising events, and remembering everything that we used to take for granted.