Toby's Lie

by Daniel Vilmure

Book Overview

Toby, a Jesuit high school senior, struggles with his homosexuality, his mother's desertion, and a crack-dealing best friend until his lover offers to search for Toby's mother if Toby will befriend an... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068480204X
• ISBN13: 9780684802046
• Release Date: May 1995
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

A BRILLIANT NOVEL

TOBY'S LIE is, quite simply, one of the most brilliant novels I have ever read. It is funny, charming, wise, and heartbreaking, & I have read it several times now and it only gets richer upon each rereading. The young hero of the novel is gay, but to say this is merely a "gay novel" is to shortchange the author as well as potential readers, straight and/or gay. Its canvas is too broad, its themes too rich (love, death, friendship, betrayal) for it to be pigeonholed in any category. The only novel I can think of that uses a youthful narrator with such skill, flair, and telling humanity is a little novel called THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. TOBY'S LIE is that good - and deserves that kind of audience. If you are in the mood to read a book that will steal your heart, read this. It's destined to become a classic.

Find this book

To coin a phrase, it's a "sligh" book in a variety of ways. Yeah, yeah, it's about high school and being gay therein and the ins-and-outs of relationships, romantic and otherwise. But, in the end, it's bigger than all that. Vilmure is a dynamite writer, and an ambitious one, and this is a novel that, beyond the twists and turns of an amusing and occasionally scary plot, reaches for the heart and for a place on the shelves rather more elevated than just another "coming out" (or "already out") story. First-rate.

Top Notch

This book is fantastic. I can't believe S & S let it slip off the backlist into out-of-printdom. That's a shame, as it's a top notch book. Give it a try.

Great book

The novel was largely missed by the "mainstream gay press", and that's surprizing. It's really a must-read for any gay teenager. Overall, it's a great book: Vilmure touches a whole lot of questions, not just "gay" ones. The book has a wild, but redeeming, plot and, as far as I am concerned, everything else that a great novel needs. It is intelligent; the principal characters are captivating; the book is neither politicized nor moralizing, and it moved me and prompted me to think about what is love and what is forgiveness. And of course, I couldn't help but to admire Toby's character.

POWERFUL

I don't understand why this book is out of print. It is an amazing story. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me scared. It felt extremely realistic. Several of my friends have read my copy of this book, and they, too, loved it. If you can find a copy, read it. It's a page-turner.