Name: Hannah's review of When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw
Item: When You Call My Name
Rating: 3
Author: Hannah

Tucker Shaw

In the spirit of the author’s massively popular Twitter thread, Tucker Shaw’s When You Call My Name is a heartrending novel about two gay teens coming of age in New York City in 1990 at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Mary H. K. Choi. Film fanatic Adam is seventeen and being asked out on his first date—and the guy is cute. Heart racing, Adam accepts, quickly falling in love with Callum like the movies always promised. Fashion-obsessed Ben is eighteen and has just left his home upstate after his mother discovers his hidden stash of gay magazines. When he comes to New York City, Ben’s sexuality begins to feel less like a secret and more like a badge of honor. Then Callum disappears, leaving Adam heartbroken, and Ben finds out his new world is more closed-minded than he thought. When Adam finally tracks Callum down, he learns the guy he loves is very ill. And in a chance meeting near the hospital where Callum is being treated, Ben and Adam meet, forever changing each other’s lives. As both begin to open their eyes to the possibilities of queer love and life, they realize sometimes the only people who can help you are the people who can really see you—in all your messy glory. A love letter to New York and the liberating power of queer friendship, When You Call My Name is a hopeful novel about the pivotal moments of our youth that break our hearts and the people who help us put them back together.

When You Call My Name

Kaia Mann

They say that memories fade with time but I don't believe that's true. You carry them with you like stones in your pocket. Sometimes when it's quiet you take them out to roll between your fingers. Then you put them back in your pocket, safe again. You don't leave them behind.

"Look. You'll never forget Callum, okay? No matter what happens in your life, no matter what you do or where you go, he'll be with you. But one day the air will change, and the sun will feel good on your face again, and when it does, I want you to let it. It won't be a betrayal. It won't mean you've stopped caring I promise, you'll never stop caring. I promise. You wont ever forger him.”

"I hope we never lose that outlaw feeling," Dennis says. "I know we all want progress, we all want gay rights, but I still want to hold on to that outsider vibe. It's so energizing, you know? "Double edges," Jack says. "It’s complicated."

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

Hannah

I liked this book but it was way different then I have thought prior to reading it, I appreciate the 1990s new york and found the story pretty interesting as it touches on the HIV/AIDS epidemic ( what made me pick it up in the first place ) insane amount of 1990s pop culture references were distracting at times. It wasn’t a bad book and I appreciate the perspective of the history but I probably wouldn’t recommend however it has inspired me to find more books that cover that deal with the topics it covers.

Latitude Tamarind

This book is set during the height of the AIDS epidemic and it’s about two gay teenagers (17 and 18, I think), coming of age. It’s technically a romance between these two gay teenagers, but their coming of age is more at the forefront, I think? You kind of know that they’re eventually going to get together, and I didn’t really feel one way or another about it. The pop culture references in this book are also kind of rough, especially because for a lot of them, I Simply Didn’t Get Them, I Am Too Young.

And it’s really sad, and really slow in some places, and I think maybe I’d like to read it slowly, over the course of a summer instead of fairly rapidly for a review. (Honestly I was approved for this in December so that one’s on me.) Four and a half stars, rounded down for NetGalley.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw