The Janitor by Jan Irving

[reviews_and_ramblings]

I have some stories that are swirling in my mind that probably I will never fix, and so I was really happy to find this book, that in a way matches with an idea I had: a love story between an apparently "perfect" man, cultured and sophisticated and a "simple" boy, someone who has a special look on life, and a world all of his own in his mind.

Dane is a part time janitor in a private college and a semi-professional boxer. He is a little "slow", he was always like that and people never tried to see the world from his eyes, and so he often comes out as dumb or stupid. But Dane is a very special man, with a big heart, and sometime the world is better from his perspective, since he seems unable to see the nasty things of life. A retired boxer, Charlie, took care of him since he was a young boy, and even found him the job as janitor, and through the boxing he is trying to teach him how to be independent and to trust in his own possibility. And so Dane is not a sad man, and he is not really alone, but he misses the companionship of someone special, a "boyfriend". Dane is an handsome man, and if he wants to find easy sex, he has no problem to be picked up in a bar; actually he is so trusting and friendly, that often people take advantage of him. But Dane, even if easily fooled, always realizes when this happens, and time after time, it's becoming more and more difficult to bear it.

Dane decides his boyfriend will be Noel, the little and shy man he always sees studying in the library. Noel is a very beautiful man, but he is crippled, due to an accident he had when he was still a boy, and his leg often causes him great pain. He is living a sheltered life in the care of his father, his only parent alive, but he is almost a captive: his father forbids him to do everything, always telling him that he is too weak. Even if his father is always there for him, he is not a loving man, he is often lead by anger and Noel is missing the kindness of a lover. Giving their background, Dane a boxer and an "experienced" lover, and Noel a scholar and a virgin, you could easily expect the development of their relationship, but here arrives the nice surprise: Dane being so simple and trusting, becomes Noel's protege, and Noel, being for once the one to take care for another, gains a bit of trust in himself. Noel becomes the master and Dane the pet, and doing so, they rebalance their differences in body and strenght.

This is not an easy book to like, there are some points in which my "inner" self was sending me warning alerts, above all, having Dane obviously some "troubles", it was right for Noel to assume the role of the Master in his life? To this my heart replied that Dane has his own perspective in life, and he is well aware of what is wrong and what is right, and he chose to submit to Noel, but still I can't help to feel as if Noel is taking advantage of Dane. The really strange thing is that I never felt as it was happening the opposite, never once I felt like Dane was taking advantage of Noel thanks to his body strenght; it's true, Dane awakened Noel to his physical desires, but from the beginning, he did it in such a way, that it was always like Noel was only waiting for something to happen, Dane never imposed him anything. There is a bit of "gay for you" in this book, since Noel is not really "gay", he is a newbie at sex at all, but how he reacts to Dane's body, makes me think that, as I said, he was only waiting for the right one, and the right one happens to be a man.

The are other minor things that didn't ring right to me, like as they often use the "Daddy" naming for Noel, or when Dane often dismissed Noel's feeling for him, and in doing so, diminishing their story. I'm also not sure that I like how the things evolved with Noel's father and the sudden "revelation" on his past. And truth be told, I always felt "uneasiness" during the sex scenes, but maybe this is due to what I said above.

Now I'm sincere and I said what made me uneasy in the book, but they are all points that made me think, they are not points that I didn't like, and this is an important distinction; on the contrary, I think that they are exactly the points that made this book so interesting. And there are also some points that moved me, almost to tears, especially when Dane was alone and was thinking to his life and how he would have liked it to be. Dane is a very special and wonderful character, and him alone makes it worthy to read this book.

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-The_Janitor-941.aspx

Amazon Kindle: The Janitor

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by April Martinez

Comments

[luscious-words.livejournal.com]

I had seen the teaser for this book and wondered about it. Now that I've seen your review, I might actually check it out. Thank you for your review and the honesty about the story.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I think you should really try it, it was one of the most interesting book I read lately. Elisa

[luscious-words.livejournal.com]

Yay! I will put it on the list. Your review brought it to life for me. :)