GAP YEARS
by Dave Holwill
19-year-old Sean hasn't seen his father since he was twelve. His mother has never really explained why. An argument with her leads to his moving to the other side of the country.
Martin, his father, has his life thrown into turmoil when the son he hasn't seen in nearly eight years strolls back into his life immediately killing his dog and hospitalizing his step-daughter.
The one thing they have in common is the friendship of a girl called Rhiannon.
Over the course of one summer Sean experiences sexual awakenings from all angles, discovers the fleeting nature of friendship and learns to cope with rejection.
Martin, meanwhile, struggles to reconnect with Sean while trying to delicately turn down the increasingly inappropriate advances of a girl he sees as a surrogate daughter and keep a struggling marriage alive.
Gap Years is an exploration of what it means to be a man in the 21st Century seen from two very different perspectives – neatly hidden inside a funny story about bicycles, guitars, and unrequited love.
My Rating:
I would rather be in the same place as she is than not – I think that's the very definition of romantic love. Or stalking.
I am being taken over by some kind of unaccustomed machismo, I can almost feel the testosterone waking up from its long sleep, trying to remember what to do.
I am a product of my upbringing. I grew up in Devon in the 1970s, where diversity was something to do with crop rotation.
Luckily, I am aware of my own hypochondria. When I was ten, my mum took away the old medical dictionary I found at a jumble sale after I insisted I had bubonic plague.
I trawl employment websites in search of an alternative but nothing ever seems verifiably better. The grass may always be greener on the other side, but the bridges are fiercely guarded by trolls.
'Okay, I get it,' she says. 'I won't try it on again. I can wait.' She looks slyly up at me from under thick eyelashes. 'Or maybe find myself some kind of... substitute, to tide me over.' I don't think I want to know what that means, but I'm assuming batteries.
.
My Review:
I stumbled upon this wily author and became an instant fangirl after picking up his last wickedly clever novel, The Craft Room. His smirk-worthy humor was again delivered with ninja-like stealth and conjured keen visuals of the outlandish and ridiculously amusing situations and scenarios the wondrously odd characters are either experiencing or imagining. Written in a dual POV of Sean, a socially awkward, somewhat oblivious, sexually confused, and aimless nineteen-year-old male and Martin, the estranged father he had recently sought out. They had nothing in common other than DNA. The narrative was highly entertaining and uniquely engaging while generally consisting of anxious inner musings, oddly befuddled exchanges, wittily narcissistic insights, and canny observations that were rife with self-effacing humor. All the characters were endearingly quirky train wrecks and profanely talented in the use of creative expletives. I adored their odd allure and awaited the imminent implosion of all that combined dysfunction - my patience was duly rewarded. I am enamored with the talented scribbler Dave Holwill and unrepentantly covet his peculiar characters, clever wordplay, and highly original vulgarities. He has mad skills.
Empress DJ
Author Bio
Dave Holwill was born in Guildford in 1977 and quickly decided that he preferred the Westcountry – moving to Devon in 1983 (with some input from his parents).
After an expensive (and possibly wasted) education there, he has worked variously as a postman, a framer, and a print department manager (though if you are the only person in the department then can you really be called a manager?) all whilst continuing to play in every kind of band imaginable on most instruments you can think of.
Gap Years is his third novel – following on the heels of Weekend Rockstars and The Craft Room, and he is currently working on the fourth (a folk horror set in his native mid-Devon) and a sequel to Weekend Rockstars.
https://www.facebook.com/daveholwill100
https://twitter.com/daveholwill
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584279.Dave_Holwill
https://www.instagram.com/dave_holwill/
http://davedoesntwriteanythingever.blogspot.com/
http://daveholwill.com/
Dave Holwill was born in Guildford in 1977 and quickly decided that he preferred the Westcountry – moving to Devon in 1983 (with some input from his parents).After an expensive (and possibly wasted) education there, he has worked variously as a postman, a framer, and a print department manager (though if you are the only person in the department then can you really be called a manager?) all whilst continuing to play in every kind of band imaginable on most instruments you can think of.
Gap Years is his third novel – following on the heels of Weekend Rockstars and The Craft Room, and he is currently working on the fourth (a folk horror set in his native mid-Devon) and a sequel to Weekend Rockstars.
Social Media Links
https://www.facebook.com/daveholwill100
https://twitter.com/daveholwill
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584279.Dave_Holwill
https://www.instagram.com/dave_holwill/
http://davedoesntwriteanythingever.blogspot.com/
http://daveholwill.com/
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