Forum: Story Recommendations

Thanks for the tips, I haven't read Ozark Life, and I never finished Recluse and Ghost, so I'll try them. As for Stupid Boy, I've never really given them a try, as highschool stories, especially slow and longs ones, usually have alot of teenage drama. And Americans seem to be terrified of commitment in their teens aswell, which I have a hard time to relate to as that attitude is very foreign (and unhealthy in my opinion) to me.

I don't know if any of the above is true for Stupid Boy, but like I said,

The main thing I liked was how the relationships was handled. The obvious focus of the story was the baseball, and his relationship with his 2 girlfriends was very supportive and low maintenance.

Is the relationships really supportive and low maintenance? If they are, then great, I have a few long stories ahead of me to read, but if they're not, and is rather highschool drama centric, I'll probably not go for it.

I enjoyed the first three books, but eventually burned out. I don't know why, exactly, but this is definitely part of it.

Psychopath - abnormal or violent social behaviour [OED].

The only violent behavior as I recall is on the football field or baseball field or in defense of himself and his friends.

You suggest that the David is unable to experience the emotional side of love. I disagree. Although his parents aren't Ozzie and Harriet, without a doubt he has a deep emotional relationship with them and some of their friends, his child, his brother's family and his uncle as well as his friends, teammates and other classmates.

The story, to date, follows him from the first day of his freshman year thru his junior year of school. It's a boy's adolescent years - yes, I'd admit that his is a most unusual or abnormal adolescence.

I believe he seems to experience the emotional side of love far beyond the usual fourteen or fifteen year old boy. Yes, so far he has not made a total commitment to any one person, female or male -- but, to me, that seems to be pretty healthy at his age.

I admit I'm reacting pretty strongly to your rebuttal of my proposal of Stupid Boy as a story that might fit Alistora's request. That's because you rejected the suggestion with the harsh pejorative that, in your opinion, he's a psychopath. Like or dislike the story or the character, but AJ don't be so dismissive that someone else might find something to recommend it to others.

My criticism is that David might be just too perfect in his actions or reactions. However that might be because I'm many decades beyond those years and mine were in an entirely different age/environment than David's or any other of today's high school kids.

I still recommend Stupid Boy to Alistora and I'm patiently awaiting the next volume of G Younger's opus.

I believe that constitutes psychopathic behaviour because he shows no concern towards the feelings of the girls concerned.

Sociopathy, not psychopathy.

The protagonist is not anti-social.

Sociopathy has nothing to do with being anti social, it is a condition in which the social norms don't apply to someone (within their own worldview).

These are the people that fuck up other peoples lives, simply because it works out for them, and they don't care about the fallout for anyone else.

anti social

He isn't anti social, he is uncle social. His brother has children so he is an uncle.

What is a day without bad puns?

Pleasant.

I have read the stories and the decision to which girl to choose as his girlfriend was one he agonized over and took the feelings of the girls into consideration but ultimately had to grow up and choose one instead of stringing them all along. Not sure how you didn't get this from reading it as younger does a good job of spelling it out for everyone who reads the story properly.

I must be reading an alternate version of Stupid Boy as your two points are not in the version I read. In the version I'm reading, until David decided to go steady with Brook all of the girls were friends with benefits who all knew the score and were willing. The second point is also strange as his relationship with Tami is ever changing into a just friends, Pam was never a serious choice as a life partner... just a baby mama and Beth was a dream. Maybe the above is more defined as Senior year rolls on and you have not read the preSOL version.

There is a mention that Zoe was disappointed because she had considered sex as a precursor to marriage, in Senior Year pt1.
I don't see David as a psychopath, just an idiot. Him saying "we are too young" is imo just a cop-out for his rather shitty behaviour. And no, I don't believe that "me horny" is acceptable for the shit he pulls.

He offered to marry her twice to be dutiful couple for their son... knowing that she would refuse. Pam used the offer to reassure herself that David indeed loved her and would support their child.

Oyster50 has a number of stories which start with romance, but have very little relationship drama, and have a significant focus on education and business.