reviews_and_ramblings | Excerpt Day: Defining Right by Kara Larson

Defining Right: The Page of Pentacles by Kara Larson
Release Date: 07/2009
Publisher: Torquere Books
ISBN: 978-1-60370-758-9
1-60370-758-1
Publisher Link: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2073

Blurb: Life hasn't been easy for eighteen year old Amiri. As a Maori boy in the 1980s, there are certain expectations of what he'll grow up to be, and he seems to fail at all of them. Shuttled from one relative to the next, Amiri feels like the whole world has given up on him when he's exiled from the family farm down to an elderly aunt living in Auckland. He's surprised when Auntie Moana takes an active interest in his life -- and who he's dating -- pushing him to be a person no one has ever believed he could become. From Tane, his childhood best friend, and on through a series of mismatched boyfriends and potential lovers, Amiri can never seem to find the right one. He can't figure out exactly what the world seems to want from him, or who he wants to be. As he slowly learns about himself and works toward becoming a doctor, Amiri struggles to come to terms with himself as both Maori and gay, hoping he can reconcile the two and find a partner who will love all parts of him equally.

Excerpt:

"Boarding school would suck, eh?" Jacob said, flopping back against Amiri's pillows. He looked like a golden angel, sprawled out across the white sheets. Amiri tried not to drool or hump the chair as he watched Jacob listlessly fidget with Amiri's duvet. Jacob was one of the handsomest Sixth Form fullas --far more handsome than Tane –and Amiri was just surprised Jacob had consented to coming over.

"Could be good as," Amiri said with a shrug, taking the proffered wine bottle and wondering how half of it had disappeared. "Lots of other fullas there, lots of people to meet."

"Bad enough going to school with just blokes, yeah?" Jacob's face looked flushed. "And all those Epsom Girls Grammar bitches looking down on us, and all the Auckland Girls nothing but whores like the ones on K Road."

Amiri couldn't argue with the fact that some of the girls --EGGS or AGGS --were stuck-up bints, but that was the way of girls, eh? Made Amiri glad he'd sworn them off when he was thirteen, after Lizzie Turner slapped him across the face for kissing him, especially when she'd started it.

"Guys are better'n girls any day," Amiri protested weakly, wondering why he felt so warm all of a sudden. "Can relate to 'em. They know the difference between Aussie Rules and regular football, yeah?"

Jacob snorted, rolling closer to Amiri. "In those little short-shorts? How gay are they?" Then he turned serious. "Damned girls breaking your heart, crossing their legs like they're better'n you... Men just wanna be friends, yeah? They help a Kiwi fulla out. Through thick and thin." He waved his arms for emphasis, falling off Amiri's bed.

Amiri couldn´t help laughing. "You okay, Jacob?"

Jacob sat up, a silly grin on his face. "Brilliant, Ame. Brilliant."

So Amiri leaned in and kissed him.

Except Jacob didn't protest. In fact, he kissed Amiri right back, tongue and teeth and lips in all the right places. It was better than kissing Ephram, almost as sweet as kissing Tane. "Blokes're better for snogging, too," Amiri said, leaning his forehead against Jacob's.

Jacob's round blue eyes were serious as anything. "Yup."