reviews_and_ramblings | The Shunned by Jay Hughes

The Shunned was not what I was expecting; from the presentation, the blurb and even the cover I had the wrong idea that this was a heavily angst novel, and instead it was more on the light side, almost a comedy, so much that the “dramatic” ending (don’t worry, not involving the main characters), it was almost too much for it. There are some points, like when James and Fred are under the mafia fire, inside the panic room, that the novel seemed more like those movies taking fun of some serious blockbuster than a real dangerous situation.

James is an Amish boy, barely legal, who left his home county to find his way in the “English” world. He was not formally banned by his community, but the 16 years he spent with them was not a bed of roses; James knew deep inside to be gay, and so did his very traditionally father, and for this reason his father tried to teach him the right way with abuses and very few love. At 16 years old James left, and now, 3 years later, he is a struggling German literature student at Penn University, working as sales clerk in a supermarket. He has not really learned how to live a “modern” life, being more or less scared of everything he doesn’t know, above all of sex. When he is approached, better cruised, by an handsome older man at the supermarket, James carelessly doesn’t think twice to follow him, plenty aware that it’s sex awaiting him, not really love.

James isn’t really searching love, it’s not love at first sight pushing him in Fred’s arms, it’s pure lust. James is 19 years old, virgin and very willing to loose that burden. But Fred is not your everyday one night stand, he is a very wealthy man and also a lawyer for the Mafia, and it happens that the Mafia is not happy of Fred’s job for them and so he is now a target, and James is so lucky to become one too. In the blink of an eye, James and Fred are now under FBI witnesses protection, and the best place to hide them is James’s home county, among the Amish people James hoped to not see never again.

If you think the plot to be dramatic and thrilling, well, it’s not exactly like that. First of all, Fred is not really a dangerous man; he is more a careless spoiled WASP brat who didn’t really weighted his options. A gay for all his life, he started his life as high paid chef in Manhattan; when the relationship with his partner, both in business than life, got spoiled, Fred decided to go back on living in his family mansion in Philadelphia, and since he really hadn’t nothing to do, he got an Harvard degrees in Law and a job in defending the rich and richer in his family circle of friends. I don’t think Fred is that good of a lawyer, and indeed, his last client is not happy of him, and it happens he is the brother of a mob boss, and now the boss is not happy of Fred…

So no, Fred is not really a classical romance hero, and I think that also James, after the initial stupor given to him from the discovery of sex, understands it. When they are forced to go back to the Amish county, James has time to think and ponder, and also to realize that he is not the only gay man among the Amish. He has now “options”, and Fred is only one of them. I’m not saying that there is not a happily ever after for James and Fred, what I’m saying is that it’s not so obvious. More, it’s not so obvious neither the relationship between Fred and James: Fred is older, richer, more experienced, he should be the leader, but indeed, he is also the one with the weaker core; Fred is an happy-to-go guy, principles for him are not really a top of things; in a way James is a better man, but on the other hand, James has also plenty to learn, some of his reaction are really childlike. Both of them have a lot to learn, or maybe, they will never learn, I suspect Fred in particular, and also that is an option.

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