Review: An Ugly World for Beautiful Boys

An Ugly World for Beautiful Boys by Rob Costello
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

One might think that this sort of book is not my cup of tea ... and one would be right. Not because I'm straight and CIS, but because I've reached an age where I find much more in common with the adults in a book, than with the teenagers. I found Toby just plain annoying, and remarkably unaware considering how often he self-reflects in the narrative. Found myself thinking, "listen to your elders, you little punk!" way too often.

The overall plot is very similar to older stories about young women being seduced into the sleazy culture of the Big City - the author has merely changed the gender of the protagonist.

That being said, I was impressed with Dabb's narration. He differentiates very well between character voices and attitudes (with the possible exception of the sleazy older guys in the nightclub; they seemed to blend together -- perhaps on purpose). I had some minor questions about pacing, and look forward to speaking with Myles about his process and techniques.

Overall, I didn't hate it, I'm just aged out of the target audience.

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