I wanted a quick, painless, and easy read, one that would give me a couple hours of light-hearted and romantic enjoyment before bed, one that wouldn’t keep me up with thoughts and feelings, one that wouldn’t penetrate me. I picked this one; I was wrong in every way.
Sure, it was romantic, the story of that First True Love, and yes, it was an easy read, but it sucked me into its story and its characters and kept me there til I was done. There wasn’t sleep, there was simply page after page, my finger sliding over my Kindle faster and faster as I devoured the story of David and Ryan.
Set in the late 60s, the story isn’t confined to any period. Sure, having it there sets it against a backdrop of social change and Woodstock, but the problems David and Ryan face, in their families, their schools, their lives, with coming out, finding each other, finding themselves, they’re timeless plots. Skinner puts into those plots two characters you truly care about, characters that embody all the hope and innocence and dreams of our own adolescences.
Though different from each other in so many ways, David and Ryan are each drawn to something in the other. They find friendship, a friendship which quickly becomes so much more. As they go to school, work, work out, socialize with friends, they taste a secret love, sweet like fresh berries. They have no doubts that what they are doing is forbidden and not the norm; the cries of FAGGOT and QUEER are familiar to both of them. And yet, even in that time, they find people not bound by convention, people who not only accept them but also celebrate them. They find love.
They grow together in every way people can, completing each other, melding with each other. They build memories together, happy memories, and sad and passionate, memories of challenging each other to be better men, memories of sustaining each other through hardship. Skinner invites us to share those memories, and as surely as those memories linger in David, they linger in us.
Memorizing You is a mesmerizing read.
This review was originally published on homorazzi