Well-constructed prose can’t redeem the draining co-dependence in this emerging adulthood romance that may hold more appeal for adult readers.

Characters excuse Ben’s behavior as immaturity, a personality quirk, or grief. Ben may never harm Ronny physically, but he threatens and demeans him. Although Ronny acknowledges his need for growth, particularly around his internalized homophobia, he never changes and even intentionally imperils another gay man to provoke Ben. It also draws attention to Ronny’s lack of growth as he falls into the same patterns from the beginning to the unfulfilling end. A nonlinear narrative progression emphasizes the on-and-off cycle of Ronny’s relationship with Ben. Despite his jealousy and Ben’s manipulation and emotional abuse, Ronny becomes entangled in Ben’s life as Ben struggles with the imminent loss of his mother, who is dying of cancer. Ben may like him when they’re alone, but Ronny knows he’ll leave him behind to marry one of his many girlfriends someday. In contrast to his mother’s many marriages, Ronny has never had a boyfriend, and he knows his unstable connection, with Ben, the football player he tutors, won’t last. But it's also about the full cycles of love and life and how they open in us the twinned capacities for grief and joy.In 1977 North Carolina, a gay college student ruminates on identity, desire, and loss through a tumultuous relationship.Ībandoned by his mother right before spring semester exams, college junior Ronny finds a room last minute in a boardinghouse and a part-time newspaper job for the summer so he can stay in Chapel Hill. The Dove in the Belly is about the electric, dangerous, sometimes tender but always powerful attraction between two very different boys. But what will happen when the tensile strength of a bubble is tested? When the rest of life intervenes? Within it their connection ignites physically and emotionally. A bubble forms around the two, as surprising to Ronny as it is to Ben. And Ben's mother is fighting advanced cancer. Meanwhile Ronny's mother has moved to Vegas with her latest husband. So easy to tease Ronny, throw playful insults, but it all feels somehow.loaded.

Ben's aware of the overwhelming effect he has on Ronny. Confident, with that easy jock swagger, and an explosive temper always simmering. Ben is in some ways Ronny's opposite he's big and solid where Ronny is small and slight. At the University of North Carolina, Ronny's made some friends, kept his secrets, survived dorm life, and protected his heart.

The dove in the belly jim grimsley