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Half of the Other by Joanne Kells
Nov. 12th, 2010 10:49 am
This is a nice and sweet romantic comedy. Even if Tom and Charlie are both adult, and white collar working men, they behave more like teenagers in love than experienced lovers; if not for this sweet naivite in both men, the starting point of Half of the Other could have been a “friends with benefits” or an “office affairs” theme: not only Tom and Charlie are co-workers, they are also best friends out of work. But their friendship is recent, Tom joined the same firm Charlie is working for one year before and since then they became close friends. They meet outside work, they share tidbit of their lives, but they have never arrived to share the very important matters, like the fact that Charlie is gay and that he is attracted by Tom. One morning, after a Christmas party, Charlie awakes with a bad hang-over and with the clear memory to have kissed Tom; he is both scared and excited by the idea of meeting again Tom, to see what his best friend’s reaction will be. But Tom is playing the forgetful, more than that, he involves Charlie in a double blind date with two girls. Charlie sees his world, and his dreams of a future with Tom, crashing down around him: if Tom remembers Charlie’s kiss, then he is giving him a clear message; if he doesn’t remember, in any case he is proving to Charlie that he is straight and nothing can happen between them.
Even if this is a short novella, the story is clearly set in two part: the beginning and the developing of Tom and Charlie’s relationship. Despite what I told above, this is an happily ever after story, and there is enough for the romantic reader to be satisfied in the development of the love story. Moreover, Half of the Other is also a light comedy, with some really fun moments, like when Charlie, in the haste to “conclude” with Tom ends up in the emergency room of an hospital; or Charlie’s mother, that is also Charlie and Tom’s boss, that instead of mothering hen Charlie about his relationship with Tom is more interested in playing the role of the boss or in telling him her sexual experience with Charlie’s father (something that Charlie, sincerely, doesn’t want to know).
The story is told first point of view from Charlie, even better from Charlie and his inner self: he is not an experienced man in love, and every move he does, every step he takes, he is always there wondering if he did the right thing, if he could have done something different, if he has to do something else and if yes, how and when and why… from the self-assured man Charlie seems to be at the beginning of the story he becomes an insecure teenager in the blink of a novella, and all because, or thanks to, love.
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This is a nice and sweet romantic comedy. Even if Tom and Charlie are both adult, and white collar working men, they behave more like teenagers in love than experienced lovers; if not for this sweet naivite in both men, the starting point of Half of the Other could have been a “friends with benefits” or an “office affairs” theme: not only Tom and Charlie are co-workers, they are also best friends out of work. But their friendship is recent, Tom joined the same firm Charlie is working for one year before and since then they became close friends. They meet outside work, they share tidbit of their lives, but they have never arrived to share the very important matters, like the fact that Charlie is gay and that he is attracted by Tom. 
The Lord of the Rings/The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien: I’m going to have to cheat here and claim both of those as books that had a major impact on my life. I was late being introduced to those books, as they were not really mentioned to me in my adolescent or teen years, so I didn’t read them until my early twenties. However, when I did read them, I devoured them, my mind swept along by the sheer scope of the world Tolkien had created. While it taught me nothing about creating deep, moving characters, it did teach me about world-building and how nuanced worlds make for believable worlds. In Tolkien’s world, my mind was filled with love, betrayal, pre-destiny, and tragedy, swimming in the poetic nature of the narrative and the great expanse of characters. The epic tale of the Hero’s Journey and the rise and fall of gods was awe-inspiring to me, and with Tolkien’s world and characters in mind, I set pencil to paper and penned my first true stories. It was through Tolkien’s writings that I honed my own voice, my own style, and found the courage to share those tales with an audience. 
The Lord of the Rings/The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien: I join my co-author on this pick for the number one spot. Though many enthusiasts would look down upon me, I’ll readily admit that I was introduced to these amazing books through the motion picture trilogy. In high school, I was swept up into the visual decadence of Tolkien’s world in the movie theatre, and within a couple days, I had my hands on copies of these two written works. There is a richness to Tolkien’s world that ensnared me and still refuses to let go. His were the first books I felt truly engrossed in, and I found both the detailed world-building and the way he could weave timeless themes seamlessly into a single story utterly inspirational. The combination of epic, interwoven themes, and intricate history developed into each setting is something I know I will always strive for thanks to the influence of Tolkien’s fiction. Much like my co-author, these were the books that first gave me the courage to write down stories of my own. 
Mychael Black has chosen a very touchy subject for this novella and I don’t know if the short length in this case helps or not the author. For sure, since it’s only a novella, the author cannot indulge too much in the regrets and sense of guilty that usually the men involved in the relationship are experiencing due to the illicite nature of the affair.
Mychael Black has chosen a very touchy subject for this novella and I don’t know if the short length in this case helps or not the author. For sure, since it’s only a novella, the author cannot indulge too much in the regrets and sense of guilty that usually the men involved in the relationship are experiencing due to the illicite nature of the affair.