Dream Boy, Jim Grimsley
Dream Boy, Jim Grimsley
List: $15.99 | Sale: $11.20
Club: $7.99

Dream Boy

Author: Jim Grimsley, Justin Torres

Narrator: Michael Crouch

Unabridged: 5 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 04/22/2025


Synopsis

Charting one boy’s search for companionship amidst violence and isolation in the mid-century rural South, with a new foreword from National Book Award winner Justin Torres. Nathan’s used to being alone. Drifting from town to town following his salesman father, he seeks solace in his studies when he can’t find understanding in his own home; his father is abusive and an alcoholic and his mother would rather disappear into the background than protect him. Enter Roy. The older boy next door might have a girlfriend at school and at church, but there’s no question that they’re drawn to one another, and the two quickly become entangled in a covert relationship. As their relationship intensifies, Roy and Nathan must navigate their fears of being caught and their growing desires for one another. But when Nathan’s dad begins to suspect Nathan and Roy’s relationship is more than just friendship, Nathan’s home ceases to be safe, forcing Nathan to run away and altering his life, relationships, and future. Through lyrical and evocative writing, Grimsley explores violence, tenderness, trauma, religion, and queer love against the backdrop of the 1950s rural South. “Romantic passion, violence and ultimate liberation coalesce in this singular display of literary craftsmanship.”—Publishers Weekly

Reviews

Goodreads review by Thomas on July 07, 2013

Some books don't deserve ratings. Not because they're just that bad, but because a number cannot encapsulate everything found within their bindings. Dream Boy, for me, is one of those books - what I liked about it is also what prevented me from loving it fully. First published over ten years ago at a......more

Goodreads review by Cristina on September 13, 2017

Jim Grimsley's wonderful book is conceived of facts and dreams. Its facts are disturbing and painful - Nathan's abusive father, Burke's violent acts, the brutality of the very environment surrounding Nathan and Roy - conjure up a setting where even the cracking of a floorboard or a light under a doo......more

Goodreads review by LenaRibka on January 21, 2015

Such a beautiful, deeply emotional, poignant and touching piece of prose!.. Jim Grimsley's writing. is magical. No more words, let the book talk to you. ***Smith nailed it.......more

Goodreads review by Mel on April 06, 2024

Update: read this again on a lazy Saturday afternoon for the sixth time maybe in 10 or more years. Still has the same deep effect on my mind. I feel like Nathan entering the place he knows he will never leave... A place he has been before. A haunted place. A beautiful place. Beauty that has a the hi......more

Goodreads review by Nancy on September 01, 2011

Wow, I don't know what to make of this. I heard about it on NPR; the commentator, a gay man, said he wished he had had this book when he was a teenager, because it would have told him he was not alone. That seemed a good reason to read it. Dream Boy follows Nathan, a bright, delicate 15-year-old-boy,......more