'Funny, heartfelt, and magnifi cently unexpected, Michael Thomas Ford's Love & Other Curses is a gritty, glittery triumph that broke my heart, put it back together again, and left me with a new, much needed sway in my sashay.' - Bennett Madison, author of September Girls I learned, I laughed, I got inspired.' - Jeff Garvin, author of Symptoms of Being Human 'Michael Thomas Ford has created an intense, complex exploration of family, love, and gender & sexual identity. Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc ISBN: 9780062791214 Number of pages: 368 Weight: 272 g Dimensions: 203 x 135 x 21 mm MEDIA REVIEWS He'll spend his time working at the Eezy-Freeze with his dad cooking up some midsummer magic with his grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother (the Grands) and experimenting with drag with the help of the queens at the Shangri-La, the local gay club.īut when a new guy comes to town, Sam finds himself in trouble when they strike up a friendship that might be way more than that.Īs Sam's birthday approaches and he still hasn't quite fallen in love, the curse seems to get more powerful and less specific about who it targets.Ī mysterious girl Sam talks to on the phone late at night and a woman he's only seen in a dream might have the answers he's been looking for-but time is running out to save the people he cares about. Sam doesn't plan to fall for anyone in the weeks before his birthday. The Weyward family has been haunted by a curse for generations-if a Weyward falls in love before their seventeenth birthday, the person they love dies. (Oct.'I'm pretty sure I'm the only guy in my school who can replace a faulty kick-down switch and also create the perfect smoky eye.'

That Jeff's recovery depends on realizing and accepting that he's gay isn't explicit until the novel is almost over, that this novel goes beyond gay issues to address broader questions of identity is clear all along. ) own strengths emerge: his characterizations run deep, and without too much contrivance the teens' interactions slowly dislodge clues about what triggered Jeff's suicide attempt. But as Jeff begins to form relationships with these teens, Ford's ( Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me Katzrupus (Jeff refers to him as “Cat Poop”) and holding himself aloof from the four other patients. Readers might need patience as Jeff, the protagonist, goes through a period of denial, delivering sarcastic answers to his shrink, Dr. Regaining consciousness after an aborted suicide attempt, the 15-year-old narrator thinks his parents have “overreacted” by placing him in a 45-day program in the “nuthouse” (“you know, where they keep the people who have sixteen imaginary friends living in their heads”). Teens in a psych ward populate a novel that overcomes a predictable beginning to make a powerful emotional impact.

Michael thomas ford love & other curses