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A review by delightfulmayhem
Boy Toy by Barry Lyga
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Boy Toy is disturbing and enticing at the same time. I highly recommend this book because it covers a very controversial subject. Lyga's dynamic writing style weaves together a painful confession and an ambiguous ending. The story is emotionally wrenching and haunting as Barry Lyga probes the depths of what abuse can do to a person's mind and psyche.
Favorite Quotes:
• "We can know what love is. It´s adults who have forgotten, so they cling to their poor substitute and yell at kids who dare to live with real love. Pure Love. Love without compromise or distraction."
• "Here’s what amuses me about the whole “predator” angle: Predation is a part of the natural world order. You don’t get pissed at a lion for eating a gazelle; that’s just what lions do. They prey. So by calling Eve a “sexual predator,” aren’t we saying that she’s doing something that’s part of the natural order?"
• "See, forgiveness doesn’t happen all at once. It’s not an event—it’s a process. Forgiveness happens while you’re asleep, while you’re dreaming, while you’re in line at the coffee shop, while you’re showering, eating, farting, jerking off. It happens in the back of your mind, and then one day you realize that you don’t hate the person anymore, that your anger has gone away somewhere. And you understand. You’ve forgiven them. You don’t know how or why. It sneaked up on you. It happened in the small spaces between thoughts and in the seconds between ideas and blinks. That’s where forgiveness happens."
Favorite Quotes:
• "We can know what love is. It´s adults who have forgotten, so they cling to their poor substitute and yell at kids who dare to live with real love. Pure Love. Love without compromise or distraction."
• "Here’s what amuses me about the whole “predator” angle: Predation is a part of the natural world order. You don’t get pissed at a lion for eating a gazelle; that’s just what lions do. They prey. So by calling Eve a “sexual predator,” aren’t we saying that she’s doing something that’s part of the natural order?"
• "See, forgiveness doesn’t happen all at once. It’s not an event—it’s a process. Forgiveness happens while you’re asleep, while you’re dreaming, while you’re in line at the coffee shop, while you’re showering, eating, farting, jerking off. It happens in the back of your mind, and then one day you realize that you don’t hate the person anymore, that your anger has gone away somewhere. And you understand. You’ve forgiven them. You don’t know how or why. It sneaked up on you. It happened in the small spaces between thoughts and in the seconds between ideas and blinks. That’s where forgiveness happens."