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Tender
A searing novel about longing, intimacy and obsession from the award-winning author of Solace.
When they meet in Dublin in the late nineties, Catherine and James become close as two friends can be. She is a sheltered college student, he an adventurous, charismatic young artist. In a city brimming with possibilities, he spurs her to take life on with gusto. But as Catherine opens herself to new experiences, James's life becomes a prison; as changed as the new Ireland may be, it is still not a place in which he feels able to truly be himself. Catherine, grateful to James and worried for him, desperately wants to help -- but as time moves on, and as life begins to take the friends in different directions, she discovers that there is a perilously fine line between helping someone and hurting them further. When crisis hits, Catherine finds herself at the mercy of feelings she cannot control, leading her to jeopardize all she holds dear.
By turns exhilarating and devastating, Tender is a dazzling exploration of human relationships, of the lies we tell ourselves and the lies we are taught to tell. It is the story of first love and lost innocence, of discovery and betrayal. A tense high-wire act with keen psychological insights, this daring novel confirms McKeon as a major voice in contemporary fiction, belonging alongside the masterful Edna O'Brien and Anne Enright.
When they meet in Dublin in the late nineties, Catherine and James become close as two friends can be. She is a sheltered college student, he an adventurous, charismatic young artist. In a city brimming with possibilities, he spurs her to take life on with gusto. But as Catherine opens herself to new experiences, James's life becomes a prison; as changed as the new Ireland may be, it is still not a place in which he feels able to truly be himself. Catherine, grateful to James and worried for him, desperately wants to help -- but as time moves on, and as life begins to take the friends in different directions, she discovers that there is a perilously fine line between helping someone and hurting them further. When crisis hits, Catherine finds herself at the mercy of feelings she cannot control, leading her to jeopardize all she holds dear.
By turns exhilarating and devastating, Tender is a dazzling exploration of human relationships, of the lies we tell ourselves and the lies we are taught to tell. It is the story of first love and lost innocence, of discovery and betrayal. A tense high-wire act with keen psychological insights, this daring novel confirms McKeon as a major voice in contemporary fiction, belonging alongside the masterful Edna O'Brien and Anne Enright.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2015
About the author
Belinda McKeon
10 books123 followersBelinda McKeon’s debut novel Solace won the 2011 Faber Prize and was voted Irish Book of the Year, as well as being shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
Her second novel, Tender, will be published in the US by Lee Boudreaux Books in February 2016.
Her essays and journalism have appeared in the New York Times, the Paris Review, the Guardian, A Public Space and elsewhere. As a playwright, she has had work produced in Dublin and New York, and is currently under commission to the Abbey Theatre. She lives in Brooklyn and is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Creative Writing at Rutgers University.
Her second novel, Tender, will be published in the US by Lee Boudreaux Books in February 2016.
Her essays and journalism have appeared in the New York Times, the Paris Review, the Guardian, A Public Space and elsewhere. As a playwright, she has had work produced in Dublin and New York, and is currently under commission to the Abbey Theatre. She lives in Brooklyn and is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Creative Writing at Rutgers University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 287 reviews
March 2, 2016
I'm not sure how exactly this book came to my attention: I hate the cover; I hate the title, which sounds like a YA book about a serial killer or something. But I'm glad it did come to my attention, as it was quite gripping and not really like a YA book about a serial killer, although come to think of it, it DID end up being a bit more like that than expected, so I guess the cover/title weren't entirely false advertising.
So you know those books like Flowers For Algernon, or Dept. of Speculation, or The Trick Is To Keep Breathing comes to mind (people: read that!), where the increasingly fragmented prose of the first-person narration reflects the protagonist's deteriorating state of mental health? Well, a big chunk of this book is that - but let me back up a bit. This book is like a couple books in one.
The first part is a fairly sweet and nostalgic section in which callow, sheltered young village farm girl protagonist Catherine embarks on her first year at Trinity College, Dublin, in the 90s. Having had a similar experience of college in the 90s in the U.K. and the U.S., I quite enjoyed reading of those early, awkward forays into independence, including having your first shared adult flat, navigating ridiculously open-ended literature course exam essay questions, having that favorite thrift shop plaid shirt, discovering the profound joys of listening to Radiohead (which I still do), wearing Docs (which I still do - from wedding to funeral, I vow it), drinking cheap, sticky cider at the student union pub (thankfully I no longer do that), and writing articles for the student newspaper while maintaining a steady stream of Gilmore Girls-worthy flirtatious sparring with the editor. Yet, while Catherine enjoys all this fun, so familiar to many of us, she is also, unfortunately, equally privy to devastating levels of awkward self-consciousness and uncertainty about her personal identity, desires, and way of relating to others. In short, she has been very sheltered and is thus extremely immature in many ways, leading to cringeworthy comments and behavior which can be painful to read for anyone who has also been young and stupid once upon a time.
Like many of us, though, Catherine too quickly meets That Critical Influential Person who changes things for her, opens her mind to different ways of being: James, a young photographer and friend/former roomie to her new flatmates who becomes fast new passionate bestie to Catherine. However, bold and uninhibited in as many ways as he is, James turns out to have his own personal struggles to bear, and despite the friend and developmental accelerator he has been to Catherine, her adult relational capacities are simply not up to the task of deciphering the meaning of her relationship with James. And so, her response to James's revelations is eventually .
Which leads to the disintegrating prose=disintegrating mental state section of the book. Now, at this point, my status updates began to comment upon the ominous and dark turn the book had taken. I'll give the author this: she has the ability to write about obsession in a way that makes you feel like you too are going effing bonkers. I thought, hey, this must be why all my GR friends like that Caroline Kepnes You novel so much. Anywho - I did not go into this book expecting it to go this route; what started out very Perks of Being a Wallflower went all Single White Female on me, but hey - it was page-turning if occasionally ikky.
If I'm being honest - probably this section of the book could seem a bit silly in retrospect: I'm not sure it was quite believable how quickly things went downhill to the extreme. A better book might have gone a more subtle, less wackadoodle route with all this, but perhaps that would not have been such a gripping, psychological thriller kind of read, which seems to have been the author's intention in this section.
And then there's kind of a third little section, which shoots up into the future a bit and tries to resolve all this tension between, and tie together, the two sections. It's fine; it works all right. Overall, the book was quite creative and ambitious; I was driven to return to it and polished it off in no time flat. It was a literary guilty pleasure, if that's a thing. The author is skilled at dialogue and bringing characters and scenes vividly to life; I so enjoyed the University life bits, and I'd 100% give her next book a go.
So you know those books like Flowers For Algernon, or Dept. of Speculation, or The Trick Is To Keep Breathing comes to mind (people: read that!), where the increasingly fragmented prose of the first-person narration reflects the protagonist's deteriorating state of mental health? Well, a big chunk of this book is that - but let me back up a bit. This book is like a couple books in one.
The first part is a fairly sweet and nostalgic section in which callow, sheltered young village farm girl protagonist Catherine embarks on her first year at Trinity College, Dublin, in the 90s. Having had a similar experience of college in the 90s in the U.K. and the U.S., I quite enjoyed reading of those early, awkward forays into independence, including having your first shared adult flat, navigating ridiculously open-ended literature course exam essay questions, having that favorite thrift shop plaid shirt, discovering the profound joys of listening to Radiohead (which I still do), wearing Docs (which I still do - from wedding to funeral, I vow it), drinking cheap, sticky cider at the student union pub (thankfully I no longer do that), and writing articles for the student newspaper while maintaining a steady stream of Gilmore Girls-worthy flirtatious sparring with the editor. Yet, while Catherine enjoys all this fun, so familiar to many of us, she is also, unfortunately, equally privy to devastating levels of awkward self-consciousness and uncertainty about her personal identity, desires, and way of relating to others. In short, she has been very sheltered and is thus extremely immature in many ways, leading to cringeworthy comments and behavior which can be painful to read for anyone who has also been young and stupid once upon a time.
Like many of us, though, Catherine too quickly meets That Critical Influential Person who changes things for her, opens her mind to different ways of being: James, a young photographer and friend/former roomie to her new flatmates who becomes fast new passionate bestie to Catherine. However, bold and uninhibited in as many ways as he is, James turns out to have his own personal struggles to bear, and despite the friend and developmental accelerator he has been to Catherine, her adult relational capacities are simply not up to the task of deciphering the meaning of her relationship with James. And so, her response to James's revelations is eventually .
Which leads to the disintegrating prose=disintegrating mental state section of the book. Now, at this point, my status updates began to comment upon the ominous and dark turn the book had taken. I'll give the author this: she has the ability to write about obsession in a way that makes you feel like you too are going effing bonkers. I thought, hey, this must be why all my GR friends like that Caroline Kepnes You novel so much. Anywho - I did not go into this book expecting it to go this route; what started out very Perks of Being a Wallflower went all Single White Female on me, but hey - it was page-turning if occasionally ikky.
If I'm being honest - probably this section of the book could seem a bit silly in retrospect: I'm not sure it was quite believable how quickly things went downhill to the extreme. A better book might have gone a more subtle, less wackadoodle route with all this, but perhaps that would not have been such a gripping, psychological thriller kind of read, which seems to have been the author's intention in this section.
And then there's kind of a third little section, which shoots up into the future a bit and tries to resolve all this tension between, and tie together, the two sections. It's fine; it works all right. Overall, the book was quite creative and ambitious; I was driven to return to it and polished it off in no time flat. It was a literary guilty pleasure, if that's a thing. The author is skilled at dialogue and bringing characters and scenes vividly to life; I so enjoyed the University life bits, and I'd 100% give her next book a go.
October 27, 2019
wow.... intense and frantic and rather unnervingly relatable. quite unique and exceptionally well done.
February 24, 2016
On June 26, when the White House glowed rainbow colors after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, it was easy to be optimistic about the progress of gay rights. There are still deep potholes of bigotry across the landscape, of course, but the direction of history seems clear.
While writing her new novel, “Tender,” about a young Irishman in 1998 wrestling with his sexuality, Belinda McKeon was acutely aware of this welcome shift in attitudes. “I was worried that it would seem like an old struggle that nobody wanted to listen to anymore,” McKeon says from her home in Brooklyn. “But no, this hasn’t changed as much as you would think. It’s possible to be out in Ireland the way it wasn’t 15 or 20 years ago — much less 30 years ago, but there’s still a way in which it’s hard.”
“Tender” provides a poignant look at one such conflict of desires in this progressive era. The story opens in Dublin when a college student named Catherine becomes so enamored of a young photographer that she can barely contain her. . . .
To read the rest of this review and more of the interview with Belinda McKeon, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
While writing her new novel, “Tender,” about a young Irishman in 1998 wrestling with his sexuality, Belinda McKeon was acutely aware of this welcome shift in attitudes. “I was worried that it would seem like an old struggle that nobody wanted to listen to anymore,” McKeon says from her home in Brooklyn. “But no, this hasn’t changed as much as you would think. It’s possible to be out in Ireland the way it wasn’t 15 or 20 years ago — much less 30 years ago, but there’s still a way in which it’s hard.”
“Tender” provides a poignant look at one such conflict of desires in this progressive era. The story opens in Dublin when a college student named Catherine becomes so enamored of a young photographer that she can barely contain her. . . .
To read the rest of this review and more of the interview with Belinda McKeon, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
March 12, 2016
I nearly gave up on this book several times out of pure irritation before it made a feeble comeback in the last 150 pages. I don’t say this easily but I disliked this book. I even had arguments with myself over it, telling myself that I must be missing something. Surely it’s not that bad! But I lost those arguments.
Half of the time I was not sure what I was reading. Was it a very close and intense study of Catherine’s feelings for James and how it began as wholesome friendship but twisted slowly into obsession? Or was it the rambling and inane musings of a college girl who, when she wasn’t freaking out over every interaction with James, was out getting wasted with her friends night after night? I’m still confused about this because it truly felt like both of those things at different times throughout. My predominant feeling while slogging through this book? Get. To. The. Point.
Having said all that, I want to talk about the last part of the story which changed dramatically in pacing and in tone after a particularly crucial event. It was at this point that I finally felt like I was seeing Catherine in her most raw and desperate state and that’s when I started to click with her. You get the sense that she’s on a train rolling down the tracks toward collision and, even though she knows the destruction to come, she just can’t jump off that train. This was the most authentic writing in the entire book, in my opinion. Hence, the two stars instead of just one.
I’m not sorry I read it because I think that every reading experience adds value and forces me to think about the writing and examine my own reactions to it. As I was reading Tender, I kept asking myself is this “good” writing but just over my head, or is Belinda McKeon trying to pull a fast one on me? I guess if I have to ask then it’s not the book for me.
Half of the time I was not sure what I was reading. Was it a very close and intense study of Catherine’s feelings for James and how it began as wholesome friendship but twisted slowly into obsession? Or was it the rambling and inane musings of a college girl who, when she wasn’t freaking out over every interaction with James, was out getting wasted with her friends night after night? I’m still confused about this because it truly felt like both of those things at different times throughout. My predominant feeling while slogging through this book? Get. To. The. Point.
Having said all that, I want to talk about the last part of the story which changed dramatically in pacing and in tone after a particularly crucial event. It was at this point that I finally felt like I was seeing Catherine in her most raw and desperate state and that’s when I started to click with her. You get the sense that she’s on a train rolling down the tracks toward collision and, even though she knows the destruction to come, she just can’t jump off that train. This was the most authentic writing in the entire book, in my opinion. Hence, the two stars instead of just one.
I’m not sorry I read it because I think that every reading experience adds value and forces me to think about the writing and examine my own reactions to it. As I was reading Tender, I kept asking myself is this “good” writing but just over my head, or is Belinda McKeon trying to pull a fast one on me? I guess if I have to ask then it’s not the book for me.
June 19, 2016
Headline:
Tender made me feel all the emotions…and pulled me out of one of the more epic reading slumps I’ve had in awhile.
What I Loved:
- Tender is one of those books that just has all the intangibles. Rather than loving it for concrete reasons (i.e. the plot, the characters, etc), I love it because of the way it made me feel. These are the types of books I get most excited about because they’re hard to pre-select accurately, yet they are generally the ones that end up on my Best Books of the Year lists.
- Did this book make me feel tender? At times, but mostly not. Rather, it made me feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, and empathetic. I wanted to cringe and I wanted to scream “do not do what I think you’re going to do under any circumstances!” over and over again, while I also remembered how hard it could be to hold yourself back when emotions overwhelmed you in your youth.
Visit my blog, www.sarahsbookshelves.com, for the full review.
Tender made me feel all the emotions…and pulled me out of one of the more epic reading slumps I’ve had in awhile.
What I Loved:
- Tender is one of those books that just has all the intangibles. Rather than loving it for concrete reasons (i.e. the plot, the characters, etc), I love it because of the way it made me feel. These are the types of books I get most excited about because they’re hard to pre-select accurately, yet they are generally the ones that end up on my Best Books of the Year lists.
- Did this book make me feel tender? At times, but mostly not. Rather, it made me feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, and empathetic. I wanted to cringe and I wanted to scream “do not do what I think you’re going to do under any circumstances!” over and over again, while I also remembered how hard it could be to hold yourself back when emotions overwhelmed you in your youth.
Visit my blog, www.sarahsbookshelves.com, for the full review.
May 25, 2016
4.5 tho, DAMN.
This is perhaps the least outlandish book that I could ever review on Outlandish Lit. But it was so amazing, that I can't go on not saying anything about it. It's one of those books that's relatively long, and it's not super plot driven, and it sounds simple up front. But it's a novel that you want to stay in for as long as possible. Tender uses stunning writing and a keen sense of what it is like to be college-aged to create a riveting, close look at a relationship between two people.
We follow shy main character, Catherine, as she grows up in small and large ways in college in the 90's. One of the most important moments in her life is meeting her friends' friend James by chance and becoming his closest friend. Meeting a person can be life changing, and James is for her. He soon comes out to her as gay when Ireland decriminalizes homosexuality. After that, their relationship gets even more intense, complicated, strained, and obsessive in fascinating ways. And then Catherine does something really bad. I have to say, this story is like the most nightmarish conglomeration of embarrassing mistakes I've made and people I loved when I shouldn't have.
McKeon's perspective on what going through college as a sheltered girl is so real and so cringe-worthy. There were so many moments where Catherine was like "Well, it's second year and I'm grown up now. Look at all these friends I have and these parties I go to, I am very confident" (not a direct quote) and then moments later we see her actually in the context of these friends/parties and she is just the most strange and awkward human. Catherine is so painfully self-involved and highly emotional, and I related way too hard to her odd, fluctuating self-esteem at that time.
How McKeon shows us around Catherine's mind while her relationship with James gets more and more complicated is masterful. At the beginning of the book, it's a straight forward narrative through Catherine's eyes. But as strain grows between the two characters, the format of the book starts to shift. We start to see abrupt, single thoughts instead as she feels her life is falling apart. Her depression is communicated through seeing how stilted her thoughts are on the page itself. It's something I wasn't expecting, but was delighted by.
I don't want to say anything more about what happens in the story. It's a book where it's worth going in blind. Being in Catherine's head can be a nostalgic struggle, but it's worth it for where she takes you in the end. Everything Belinda McKeon captures is true and real and important. I cried. I wish I was still reading this book right now. And this is coming from someone who hates reading about relationships.
Full Review: Outlandish Lit
This is perhaps the least outlandish book that I could ever review on Outlandish Lit. But it was so amazing, that I can't go on not saying anything about it. It's one of those books that's relatively long, and it's not super plot driven, and it sounds simple up front. But it's a novel that you want to stay in for as long as possible. Tender uses stunning writing and a keen sense of what it is like to be college-aged to create a riveting, close look at a relationship between two people.
We follow shy main character, Catherine, as she grows up in small and large ways in college in the 90's. One of the most important moments in her life is meeting her friends' friend James by chance and becoming his closest friend. Meeting a person can be life changing, and James is for her. He soon comes out to her as gay when Ireland decriminalizes homosexuality. After that, their relationship gets even more intense, complicated, strained, and obsessive in fascinating ways. And then Catherine does something really bad. I have to say, this story is like the most nightmarish conglomeration of embarrassing mistakes I've made and people I loved when I shouldn't have.
And Catherine could not understand where those feelings were coming from; she could not understand why they had such a hold over her, gripping her by the hair it seemed sometimes, clasping her by the throat--but she felt them. She felt alone; or she felt, at least, the threat, the specter, of her aloneness. She felt the panic of his going, and the emptiness with which it would leave her. He was not going anywhere, and yet she felt it.
McKeon's perspective on what going through college as a sheltered girl is so real and so cringe-worthy. There were so many moments where Catherine was like "Well, it's second year and I'm grown up now. Look at all these friends I have and these parties I go to, I am very confident" (not a direct quote) and then moments later we see her actually in the context of these friends/parties and she is just the most strange and awkward human. Catherine is so painfully self-involved and highly emotional, and I related way too hard to her odd, fluctuating self-esteem at that time.
How McKeon shows us around Catherine's mind while her relationship with James gets more and more complicated is masterful. At the beginning of the book, it's a straight forward narrative through Catherine's eyes. But as strain grows between the two characters, the format of the book starts to shift. We start to see abrupt, single thoughts instead as she feels her life is falling apart. Her depression is communicated through seeing how stilted her thoughts are on the page itself. It's something I wasn't expecting, but was delighted by.
I don't want to say anything more about what happens in the story. It's a book where it's worth going in blind. Being in Catherine's head can be a nostalgic struggle, but it's worth it for where she takes you in the end. Everything Belinda McKeon captures is true and real and important. I cried. I wish I was still reading this book right now. And this is coming from someone who hates reading about relationships.
Full Review: Outlandish Lit
June 9, 2015
Mild Spoilers, kinda.
Oh man, I really enjoyed this book. McKeon has a lovely writing style which could easily be mistaken for simple, but I think it's apparent simplicity masks the true skill of her craft.
Her ability to revisit that complex time when a person is on the verge adulthood but is still a child. The strength and selfishness of the emotions of the main character, Catherine. How unable she is to decipher them and to work her way through them. How unequipped we all were at that age. What blundering idiots, thrashing around hurting each other and hurting ourselves.
At times it's not an easy read, it wasn't for me anyway. I wouldn't be that age again for all the tea in China. But does remind me how hard it is to be that age, and how quickly we dismiss those feelings in our own children.
I loved the way writing style becomes more frenetic and broken as Catherine falls into the well of her own broken heart.
It was also lovely to revisit Dublin of the 90s, where I grew up. Payphones and flats and the Smashing Pumpkins and writing letters and getting far too drunk far too often.
Great book.
Oh man, I really enjoyed this book. McKeon has a lovely writing style which could easily be mistaken for simple, but I think it's apparent simplicity masks the true skill of her craft.
Her ability to revisit that complex time when a person is on the verge adulthood but is still a child. The strength and selfishness of the emotions of the main character, Catherine. How unable she is to decipher them and to work her way through them. How unequipped we all were at that age. What blundering idiots, thrashing around hurting each other and hurting ourselves.
At times it's not an easy read, it wasn't for me anyway. I wouldn't be that age again for all the tea in China. But does remind me how hard it is to be that age, and how quickly we dismiss those feelings in our own children.
I loved the way writing style becomes more frenetic and broken as Catherine falls into the well of her own broken heart.
It was also lovely to revisit Dublin of the 90s, where I grew up. Payphones and flats and the Smashing Pumpkins and writing letters and getting far too drunk far too often.
Great book.
January 11, 2020
"She laughed. There was a pleasure in hearing him use her name; it was so direct. It was somehow a higher level of attention than she usually got from people; almost cheekily personal. Intimate, that was what it was. And yet pulled clear of intimacy, at the last second, by the reins of irony which seemed to control everything he said, by his constant closeness to mockery. She found herself wanting more of it, and she found, too, that it held a chellenge: to edge him away from that mockery towards something warmer. To make him see that he was wrong in whatever decision he had made about her, about her silliness, about her childishness, about whatever it was he had, by now, set down for her in his mind."
Mckeon's Tender is a novel that progresses much like a bruise would: the writing, when it initially hits the page, is sharp and vibrant in its impact, filled with all the excitement of a new, all-engrossing friendship. But as the plot unfolds, the bruise of that initial impact becomes more and more apparent, blooming into increasingly worrying shades of purple and blue, the colours of something gone wrong, something that is so clearly not right happening.
All of this is to say, McKeon is so good at depicting the gradual collapse of her protagonist, Catherine; the narrowing, over time, of Catherine's psychological vision. The writing is honest and fluid, almost overflowing in its attempts to catch up with Catherine's frantic thoughts. Form and content work in parallel, here, the writing becoming more fragmented and divided just as Catherine's ever-increasing focus on her singular subject becomes more desperate.
(Trying to be vague here so as not to spoil the intrigue. 👀)
More than anything, though, what Tender does that I haven't seen from a lot of novels is not just depict, but substantially delve into deeply uncomfortable and unpleasant emotions: jealousy, self-pity, possessiveness, clinginess, self-loathing. All of it done, too, in the context of a friendship and a toxic, unrequited love. But McKeon builds her novel's central dynamic, the fraught friendship between Catherine and James, with such nuance and layers that come what may, I was ready to follow these characters into whatever circumstances they happened to find themselves in. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.
June 29, 2015
really disappointing. i loved Solace. Ms McKeon is a gifted writer. unfortunately she created two central characters who are utterly uninteresting, immature and rather irritating!
September 17, 2023
Several years ago I read Belinda McKeon’s debut novel, Solace, which explored the age-old (Irish) story of strained relationships between fathers and sons. In Tender, her second novel, she explores a different kind of relationship, that of friendship between men and women — in this case two young adults, Catherine and James — and the pressure brought to bear on it by peer pressure, academic life, sexual politics and obsession.
It is 1997 and Catherine, who comes from a rural farming community, moves to Dublin from Longford to begin her studies in art history and English. James is a photography assistant, who has a room in a flat he shares with two school friends, Amy and Lorraine. When he gets a job with a big-shot photographer in Berlin, he moves out — and Catherine moves in. The pair, however, don’t meet until James returns on a temporary basis quite a few months down the line.
From the very start their relationship is quite electric. Catherine doesn’t quite know how to take James, a street-wise drifter who has an air of mystery and the exotic about him. His often upfront, occasionally confrontational and extroverted attitude shocks and delights her in equal measure. Before long she’s rather infatuated with him.
And even though the story is told largely through Catherine’s eyes (albeit in the third person), it’s clear that James is equally enamoured of his new friend, and a kind of co-dependence kicks in.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
It is 1997 and Catherine, who comes from a rural farming community, moves to Dublin from Longford to begin her studies in art history and English. James is a photography assistant, who has a room in a flat he shares with two school friends, Amy and Lorraine. When he gets a job with a big-shot photographer in Berlin, he moves out — and Catherine moves in. The pair, however, don’t meet until James returns on a temporary basis quite a few months down the line.
From the very start their relationship is quite electric. Catherine doesn’t quite know how to take James, a street-wise drifter who has an air of mystery and the exotic about him. His often upfront, occasionally confrontational and extroverted attitude shocks and delights her in equal measure. Before long she’s rather infatuated with him.
And even though the story is told largely through Catherine’s eyes (albeit in the third person), it’s clear that James is equally enamoured of his new friend, and a kind of co-dependence kicks in.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
February 23, 2016
In Tender, Catherine leaves her sheltered life in small town Ireland for her first year of college. She studies, she drinks, she experiments but still is waiting for more. Then she meets James.
Extraordinary. That was what they were. That was a James word; that was one of the words she had got, over the summer, from James.
Catherine feels her friendship with James is the extraordinary thing she’s been waiting for her whole life. James is funny and witty; he’s loud and attention drawing. Catherine realizes this is what a relationship could feel like – and then James comes out to her. Mind you, our setting is Ireland, just years after homosexuality has been decriminalized, but definitely not accepted. Catherine claims to be accepting of James but her feelings are more complicated than she is willing to admit. It’s not easy being in Catherine’s head all the time, her ups and downs are painful at points. I found myself cringing in a few places as I was reading waiting to see what she’d do next.
Tender just put my mind back to that place in college where everything is HUGE. You can’t see beyond your own personal crises and mistakes are made – that wasn’t just me right? As things build to a personal crescendo with Catherine and James, so too does McKeon’s writing. I loved the fragmented quality of the text matching Catherine’s thoughts. It was amazing how the story flowed from the beginning beautiful prose to to the stilted lines and then on again.
I expected Tender to go out in an explosive crisis, but rather, McKeon’s quiet ending was even more powerful. There were explosions enough within the plot. I’ve been walking around for days reflecting back on Tender and that time in my own life and will definitely read this one again.
5 stars
Thank you Lee Boudreau Books for this advance copy in exchange for an honest opinion!
https://guninactone.wordpress.com/201...
Extraordinary. That was what they were. That was a James word; that was one of the words she had got, over the summer, from James.
Catherine feels her friendship with James is the extraordinary thing she’s been waiting for her whole life. James is funny and witty; he’s loud and attention drawing. Catherine realizes this is what a relationship could feel like – and then James comes out to her. Mind you, our setting is Ireland, just years after homosexuality has been decriminalized, but definitely not accepted. Catherine claims to be accepting of James but her feelings are more complicated than she is willing to admit. It’s not easy being in Catherine’s head all the time, her ups and downs are painful at points. I found myself cringing in a few places as I was reading waiting to see what she’d do next.
Tender just put my mind back to that place in college where everything is HUGE. You can’t see beyond your own personal crises and mistakes are made – that wasn’t just me right? As things build to a personal crescendo with Catherine and James, so too does McKeon’s writing. I loved the fragmented quality of the text matching Catherine’s thoughts. It was amazing how the story flowed from the beginning beautiful prose to to the stilted lines and then on again.
I expected Tender to go out in an explosive crisis, but rather, McKeon’s quiet ending was even more powerful. There were explosions enough within the plot. I’ve been walking around for days reflecting back on Tender and that time in my own life and will definitely read this one again.
5 stars
Thank you Lee Boudreau Books for this advance copy in exchange for an honest opinion!
https://guninactone.wordpress.com/201...
February 26, 2016
While writing her new novel, “Tender,” about a young Irishman in 1998 wrestling with his sexuality, Belinda McKeon was acutely aware of this welcome shift in attitudes towards same-sex marriage. The novel provides a poignant look at one such conflict of desires in this progressive era. McKeon could have easily slipped into parody or riddled her narrative with dramatic irony, but instead she fills these early pages with cascading phrases that flex with the enthusiasm of young love.
Read more about "Tender" at The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1LKytIy
Read more about "Tender" at The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1LKytIy
January 23, 2016
Brilliantly heart-rending. Catherine is a terrible woman -girl, really- in a very small, normal sort of way, in that college time of life when we're becoming something and don't know how to do it, and accidentally change everything about the futures we can't imagine.
Can't wait to read more from this author.
Can't wait to read more from this author.
July 15, 2019
Given my love for Sally Rooney and complicated Irish characters, my dear friend lent me this book with a promise that I'd love it. It is thick and the cover is unassuming. I was worried it wasn't a summer read. And then I began. And now Catherine and her terrible, yet understandable, choices are seered in my soul.
I once heard someone speaking of Sally Rooney's work as relatable because all the characters made decisions that seemed, at first, like something she would do. But then they quickly spiral out of control. I agreed about Rooney and I absolutely agree about McKeon. I read almost the entire book nodding along with Catherine--seeing myself doing similar things. Until I wasn't. And then, as a reader, I was thrown into some sort of existential crisis wondering where Catherine and I diverged. The line is so muddy. And that is exactly why this book is next level.
I once heard someone speaking of Sally Rooney's work as relatable because all the characters made decisions that seemed, at first, like something she would do. But then they quickly spiral out of control. I agreed about Rooney and I absolutely agree about McKeon. I read almost the entire book nodding along with Catherine--seeing myself doing similar things. Until I wasn't. And then, as a reader, I was thrown into some sort of existential crisis wondering where Catherine and I diverged. The line is so muddy. And that is exactly why this book is next level.
February 26, 2016
Just gorgeous
One of those books short on story in some ways but long on human truth. The observational power here, and the dexterity with which human emotions are detailed, analyzed and created, is astonishing.
One of those books short on story in some ways but long on human truth. The observational power here, and the dexterity with which human emotions are detailed, analyzed and created, is astonishing.
June 1, 2020
Simply written and easy to read (in the best way possible), relatable, nuanced. Yes, I'm also a sucker for all of the TCD references, soz. Ugh stay stunning!
June 23, 2020
Delicate, nuanced and viscerally claustrophobic at times. An absorbing and bittersweet portrait of the complications of love, youth and identity in an evolving 1990s Ireland.
July 7, 2020
The book that inspired Normal People. Need I say more?
January 11, 2016
I had read Solace and was really looking forward to this book.
Ms. McKeon has the ability to revisit a time in most everyone’s lives when we were just beginning to figure out who we are and what we want to do with our lives.
Catherine is a young Irish woman, inexperienced in life and love, at university in the 1990’s. She comes from a rural farm and moves to Dublin to study English and Art. Everything is new and exhilarating, the first time that she has felt such freedom from family restraints.
James is an aspiring artist, also young and frustrated with what he has accomplished so far. He is street smart and extroverted and in time Catherine becomes infatuated with James who is different from anyone she has known before, mysterious and even confrontational at times. The story is told in 3rd person but through Catherine’s eyes.
The book made me think back not only to my own time experiencing first love but also having raised four daughters, watching them go through the same type of questioning, tumultuous relationships at times.
I am having a hard time reviewing this book because I think that it is very well written but I just didn’t feel connected to the characters. Throughout the book we do see Catherine and James develop into adulthood through friendship, love and even betrayal. The writing is excellent and the descriptions of life in Dublin during the 1990’s was very detailed.
I would recommend this book perhaps to a little younger reader, the writing, as in Solace, is exceptional.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Ms. McKeon has the ability to revisit a time in most everyone’s lives when we were just beginning to figure out who we are and what we want to do with our lives.
Catherine is a young Irish woman, inexperienced in life and love, at university in the 1990’s. She comes from a rural farm and moves to Dublin to study English and Art. Everything is new and exhilarating, the first time that she has felt such freedom from family restraints.
James is an aspiring artist, also young and frustrated with what he has accomplished so far. He is street smart and extroverted and in time Catherine becomes infatuated with James who is different from anyone she has known before, mysterious and even confrontational at times. The story is told in 3rd person but through Catherine’s eyes.
The book made me think back not only to my own time experiencing first love but also having raised four daughters, watching them go through the same type of questioning, tumultuous relationships at times.
I am having a hard time reviewing this book because I think that it is very well written but I just didn’t feel connected to the characters. Throughout the book we do see Catherine and James develop into adulthood through friendship, love and even betrayal. The writing is excellent and the descriptions of life in Dublin during the 1990’s was very detailed.
I would recommend this book perhaps to a little younger reader, the writing, as in Solace, is exceptional.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 27, 2015
Do you ever think back to the time when you were a young adult and cringe? So much awkwardness, embarrassment and self-consciousness. You tried so hard to instantly become the person you wanted to be. Do you remember meeting someone who seemed so revelatory and exciting you became totally fixated on them? You wanted to be with that person constantly and couldn’t stop thinking about them. I certainly remember experiencing all of this. “Tender” takes you back to that confused passion of youth with the story of Catherine, a young Irish woman at university during the 1990s. She becomes enamoured with a vibrant aspiring artist named James. He is also young and frustrated about life. He struggles with coming out and discovering his place in the world, but he and Catherine become attached to each other. Throughout a tumultuous relationship they slowly discover who they want to become and, more importantly, the kind of people they don’t want to turn into. Belinda McKeon takes you through this crucial transition into adulthood with a beautifully written story about art, friendship and love.
Read my full review on LonesomeReader review of Tender by Belinda McKeon
Read my full review on LonesomeReader review of Tender by Belinda McKeon
January 6, 2016
Just started college and living away from home for the first time, inexperienced Catherine meets the seemingly more experienced James. As their friendship develops, Catherine has no ability to accept or understand their different objectives and aspirations.
Belinda McKeon handles this coming of age/accepting what you are novel beautifully. The character of Catherine in particular, leaps from the page, and as she tries to steer James back to what she wants or what she thinks he should be, you cringe with the memory of your own young adult daft indiscretions and find it hard to place blame on her dreadful actions. A very touching read, actually 4.5
Belinda McKeon handles this coming of age/accepting what you are novel beautifully. The character of Catherine in particular, leaps from the page, and as she tries to steer James back to what she wants or what she thinks he should be, you cringe with the memory of your own young adult daft indiscretions and find it hard to place blame on her dreadful actions. A very touching read, actually 4.5
March 6, 2016
This book is close to being 5 stars for me. It tells the story of Catherine just as she begins university at Trinity in 1997. A country girl from Longford, she comes into her own when she gets to Dublin. She soon meets James who becomes her closest friend. This novel is the story of their friendship.
The story is told through the eyes of an 18-year old, and at times reads a bit like a YA novel. It coveys the pain of young love, and growing up. 1997-1998 in Ireland was a time of change. It ends in 2012 in a last section that reads like an afterward, bringing the story to satisfactory closure.
The story is told through the eyes of an 18-year old, and at times reads a bit like a YA novel. It coveys the pain of young love, and growing up. 1997-1998 in Ireland was a time of change. It ends in 2012 in a last section that reads like an afterward, bringing the story to satisfactory closure.
June 28, 2020
Complete pants! Don't know how it's getting good reviews.
January 15, 2022
It's hard to articulate my feelings toward this book. I couldn't stop reading for anything, but I absolutely despised the decisions the author made regarding Catherine's character near the end of the book.
I almost felt betrayed by what happened, even though I knew this "romance" that she and James had was destined to end tragically. I just wish things ended a little less horrible for Catherine. It's funny because I know she's meant to be an unlikeable character and you're not exactly supposed to root for her. Even the author has said in interviews she doesn't know if she actually likes Catherine at all, even though she can understand her motives quite well.
I don't know what it says about me that my sympathies were completely for this deeply obsessive, self-centered, severely toxic, mentally ill protagonist, but they were. I loved her so much as a character and I just wanted to give her a big hug and recommend her a good therapist.
At first, I was swept up in the charisma and wittiness of James' personality just like Catherine was, but over time I found him to be a little unlikable as well. He could be so snide and temperamental. Also, despite his supposed openness with Catherine, I felt he was never real and honest with her in a way that felt true. Catherine is definitely guilty of this too, but because I was only experiencing her pov throughout the novel and experiencing her hurts over their tense yet intimate friendship, like I said, my sympathies lie more with her.
The third section of Tender, titled romance, was full of a euphoric, desperate stream of consciousness that really demonstrated Catherine's crazy passion for James, and his indifference towards her as a partner. It was my favorite part of the novel (besides the first meeting they had in the beginning and the very end) and yet it hurt so much to read.
I finished this book feeling like nothing and everything was resolved. It is revealed that James discovered that Catherine loved him so deeply and that's why she awfully betrayed him (the scene with the picture of her seriously gave me chills and made me want to cry) but I wish there was a therapeutic scene of confession from Catherine.
I wish they had both had it out with each other, instead of James being the only one to have his share of brutal honesty. I guess it's more realistic that when she and James meet years later, it's kind of awkward and bittersweet and hesitant and filled with small talk because they don't know each other anymore but... I don't know. I just wanted them to keep talking to make my heart feel better (though this is certainly not the book for that).
I kind of don't know if the tragic part of the novel was put there organically or if it was forced to make an already sad story even sadder. That one scene I'm referring to does make me hesitant to add this book to my favorites list, along with my constant feeling of James being completely surface and detached from Catherine (though maybe that was intentional?), but regardless this book did make feel. It made me feel so much, so despite its flaws I'm deciding to give it four stars for now.
It's not a book I would recommend to everyone. As you can see from the low ratings here on goodreads, this novel is extremely polarizing, and with good reason. I know most people might not love Catherine like I do and that may prevent them from enjoying this novel (I've seen some comparisons between her and Joe Goldberg from You, which I personally disagree with but maybe I'm biased because I freaking hate Joe) so it just depends how well you relate to unlikable, complicated heroines.
I think maybe James was supposed to be viewed in a more sympathetic light than Catherine, so maybe I would suggest trying this novel out for him, the more traditional protagonist. He did have his own share of suffering that she could not understand, and I did feel for him, and I found him to be a fascinating character, but did I think he was likeable? Not... really? I don't know. It was hard for me to understand him and maybe that's part of my disconnect with him. I always understood Catherine.
Really, this novel is brilliant in a way because usually someone would write a story from James' perspective (his storyline is in the vein of the Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne or Call Me by Your Name by Andre Aciman), and Catherine would be sidelined as this villainous, neurotic woman side character with no depth. Instead, this story centers around a girl who would be most times labeled as a "crazy ex" and attempts to make you understand and care about her, which I did.
TW: mild homophobia
I almost felt betrayed by what happened, even though I knew this "romance" that she and James had was destined to end tragically. I just wish things ended a little less horrible for Catherine. It's funny because I know she's meant to be an unlikeable character and you're not exactly supposed to root for her. Even the author has said in interviews she doesn't know if she actually likes Catherine at all, even though she can understand her motives quite well.
I don't know what it says about me that my sympathies were completely for this deeply obsessive, self-centered, severely toxic, mentally ill protagonist, but they were. I loved her so much as a character and I just wanted to give her a big hug and recommend her a good therapist.
At first, I was swept up in the charisma and wittiness of James' personality just like Catherine was, but over time I found him to be a little unlikable as well. He could be so snide and temperamental. Also, despite his supposed openness with Catherine, I felt he was never real and honest with her in a way that felt true. Catherine is definitely guilty of this too, but because I was only experiencing her pov throughout the novel and experiencing her hurts over their tense yet intimate friendship, like I said, my sympathies lie more with her.
The third section of Tender, titled romance, was full of a euphoric, desperate stream of consciousness that really demonstrated Catherine's crazy passion for James, and his indifference towards her as a partner. It was my favorite part of the novel (besides the first meeting they had in the beginning and the very end) and yet it hurt so much to read.
I finished this book feeling like nothing and everything was resolved. It is revealed that James discovered that Catherine loved him so deeply and that's why she awfully betrayed him (the scene with the picture of her seriously gave me chills and made me want to cry) but I wish there was a therapeutic scene of confession from Catherine.
I wish they had both had it out with each other, instead of James being the only one to have his share of brutal honesty. I guess it's more realistic that when she and James meet years later, it's kind of awkward and bittersweet and hesitant and filled with small talk because they don't know each other anymore but... I don't know. I just wanted them to keep talking to make my heart feel better (though this is certainly not the book for that).
I kind of don't know if the tragic part of the novel was put there organically or if it was forced to make an already sad story even sadder. That one scene I'm referring to does make me hesitant to add this book to my favorites list, along with my constant feeling of James being completely surface and detached from Catherine (though maybe that was intentional?), but regardless this book did make feel. It made me feel so much, so despite its flaws I'm deciding to give it four stars for now.
It's not a book I would recommend to everyone. As you can see from the low ratings here on goodreads, this novel is extremely polarizing, and with good reason. I know most people might not love Catherine like I do and that may prevent them from enjoying this novel (I've seen some comparisons between her and Joe Goldberg from You, which I personally disagree with but maybe I'm biased because I freaking hate Joe) so it just depends how well you relate to unlikable, complicated heroines.
I think maybe James was supposed to be viewed in a more sympathetic light than Catherine, so maybe I would suggest trying this novel out for him, the more traditional protagonist. He did have his own share of suffering that she could not understand, and I did feel for him, and I found him to be a fascinating character, but did I think he was likeable? Not... really? I don't know. It was hard for me to understand him and maybe that's part of my disconnect with him. I always understood Catherine.
Really, this novel is brilliant in a way because usually someone would write a story from James' perspective (his storyline is in the vein of the Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne or Call Me by Your Name by Andre Aciman), and Catherine would be sidelined as this villainous, neurotic woman side character with no depth. Instead, this story centers around a girl who would be most times labeled as a "crazy ex" and attempts to make you understand and care about her, which I did.
TW: mild homophobia
August 18, 2022
1.5
The writing in this book was very messy and hard to get through at first, but eventually you get used to it. More than halfway through the book though, Belinda McKeon made a very poor creative choice with the writing, causing it to become pointless and dumb.
I believe this last phrase encapsulates some of the issues I had with Tender. Many plot points, characterizations, descriptions, etc., were very pointless and dumb, which dishonoured the story's potential and its effect on the reader. Also, some aspects of it were kind of problematic and the main character was insupportable.
Apart from this, I enjoyed the ending. I am a sentimental and nostalgic hoe, what can I say?
Overall, a very meh read.
“She felt it again, the sensation she had been having for days: that although he was beside her, even awake he was as far away, really, as he was now when asleep, and that she could not hold him, and that she could not even really know him.”
The writing in this book was very messy and hard to get through at first, but eventually you get used to it. More than halfway through the book though, Belinda McKeon made a very poor creative choice with the writing, causing it to become pointless and dumb.
I believe this last phrase encapsulates some of the issues I had with Tender. Many plot points, characterizations, descriptions, etc., were very pointless and dumb, which dishonoured the story's potential and its effect on the reader. Also, some aspects of it were kind of problematic and the main character was insupportable.
Apart from this, I enjoyed the ending. I am a sentimental and nostalgic hoe, what can I say?
Overall, a very meh read.
“She felt it again, the sensation she had been having for days: that although he was beside her, even awake he was as far away, really, as he was now when asleep, and that she could not hold him, and that she could not even really know him.”
May 12, 2020
Recenzije su mi obećale Sali Runi, ali dobila sam 60% tihe fakuletske dramice i onda 40% priče iz perspektive maničnog lika čija je jedina osobina izgleda biti štetan za okolinu.
Prva četvrtina romana mi je zaista bila sjajna i već posle nekoliko prvih stranica je McKeon uspela da izgradi jako relevantne, a opet unikatne likove o kojim je milina čitati. Nažalost, posle mi se čini da se malo pogubila sa zapletom (ili da je uopšte zaboravila da ga napravi) i da se opredelila za zanimljiv stil na uštrb bitnih diskusija i sirovih ljudskih momenata koje je mogla da ubaci umesto toga.
Sam kraj mi se jeste svideo, ali zbog cele druge polovine knjige mi je Tender ipak ostavio mlak utisak.
Prva četvrtina romana mi je zaista bila sjajna i već posle nekoliko prvih stranica je McKeon uspela da izgradi jako relevantne, a opet unikatne likove o kojim je milina čitati. Nažalost, posle mi se čini da se malo pogubila sa zapletom (ili da je uopšte zaboravila da ga napravi) i da se opredelila za zanimljiv stil na uštrb bitnih diskusija i sirovih ljudskih momenata koje je mogla da ubaci umesto toga.
Sam kraj mi se jeste svideo, ali zbog cele druge polovine knjige mi je Tender ipak ostavio mlak utisak.
March 23, 2022
This is an absolutely wonderful book. I knew from the first page that it was going to be a 'good' read. My initial thoughts were 'OK, very likw Ordinary People' but not at all. There were moments when I felt like shaking the main character, others when I wanted to give her a hug. The other main character is struggling to be himself and to live his life on his is terms. He is a very brave man and is a really likeable character. Nothing in this book let me down, sometimes an ending in a book would be Disappointing but not in this case.
March 13, 2021
Edit: I change my mind this was bad.
Ughhhhhh. Some parts are okay, most bits are horrible. The main characters are excruciating and make the worst decisions and choices imaginable. Nothing really happened and the ending reveals more nothing. Wouldn't recommend. ✌🏽
Ughhhhhh. Some parts are okay, most bits are horrible. The main characters are excruciating and make the worst decisions and choices imaginable. Nothing really happened and the ending reveals more nothing. Wouldn't recommend. ✌🏽
January 13, 2024
The excruciating truth of being a girl, in those awkward years of your life where you’re not one thing or the other. Catherine, the protagonist, made me feel uncomfortable and throw the book at the wall, multiple times. I hated seeing my younger self in her.
I know this book isn’t for everyone, but from growing up in scotland and studying in glasgow there was so many parts to this book that just felt so relatable. The drinking, the friendships and the going back to a rural hometown.
James was also such a vivid character, i could see him from the second page.
I don’t think i will forget this book for a long time and im very grateful to it for getting me out of a bit of a reading slump.
I feel so silly now for picking this up as a lighthearted read and underlining the pretty descriptions in the first section.
ALSO ALSO ALSO the way i felt like i was gradually going insane with her at the middle to end of the book ?!!!!!!? it felt very Bunny-esque
I know this book isn’t for everyone, but from growing up in scotland and studying in glasgow there was so many parts to this book that just felt so relatable. The drinking, the friendships and the going back to a rural hometown.
James was also such a vivid character, i could see him from the second page.
I don’t think i will forget this book for a long time and im very grateful to it for getting me out of a bit of a reading slump.
I feel so silly now for picking this up as a lighthearted read and underlining the pretty descriptions in the first section.
ALSO ALSO ALSO the way i felt like i was gradually going insane with her at the middle to end of the book ?!!!!!!? it felt very Bunny-esque
January 16, 2016
From the time I was fifteen I have asked myself the question: Why are straight girls so attracted to gay men? On the one hand they love the fact that they are gay, since it makes them safe, and still fun, but on the other hand they want to have a sexual relationship with them even though the guy is so clearly not interested. As someone who has never been attracted to a man once I know (or even suspect) he is gay I have been extremely frustrated by this question. Therefore I have become obsessed with this novel, about a young girl struggling with that very issue.
Tender was provided to me by the publisher in a giveaway listed on Shelf Awareness. At first I trudged through the story, not really sure what it was supposed to be about. There's a very young, naive girl named Catherine who meets a very young, not so naive boy named James while she is at college in Dublin. They become friends, and at first I wasn't sure if this was going to be an annoyingly awkward novel about young, dumb love, but then the story took a turn when James reveals his homosexuality to Catherine, and the rest of the story becomes a slow unraveling of herself. It's not your traditional love story. but you almost can't call it anything else.
From such a slow start, I was surprised to find myself so invested in this story, and in the characters, most of whom I hated. (I especially disliked Catherine. I could not believe someone so annoying could be trusted by someone like James.) I found myself sneaking away to finish this book, and I was fascinated by the way Catherine's actions are presented. On some level she is aware of her cruelty to James, but she is still oblivious to the fact that she is leading them down a path that could destroy them both. She somewhat understands her own interest in Ted Hughes' and Sylvia Path's destructive relationship, but she is much too immature to warn herself of her own self-destruction. Much of the book involves very awkward dialogue and situations, and at times I was cringing to myself because the scenes were filled with such discomfort. However, it was perfectly done. Belinda McKeon is a master of building that tension, and making the story flow around it. Her characters were intriguing and interesting, even though I didn't like them.
I could not put this book down, and I suspect I will be thinking about it for a long time. I can see it being a great book for book clubs, as I could easily find ten topics I wouldn't mind discussing with others. I wouldn't say this book is for everyone, but its potential controversy, and the opinions it will bring up will make it something I will recommend to people anyway.
Tender was provided to me by the publisher in a giveaway listed on Shelf Awareness. At first I trudged through the story, not really sure what it was supposed to be about. There's a very young, naive girl named Catherine who meets a very young, not so naive boy named James while she is at college in Dublin. They become friends, and at first I wasn't sure if this was going to be an annoyingly awkward novel about young, dumb love, but then the story took a turn when James reveals his homosexuality to Catherine, and the rest of the story becomes a slow unraveling of herself. It's not your traditional love story. but you almost can't call it anything else.
From such a slow start, I was surprised to find myself so invested in this story, and in the characters, most of whom I hated. (I especially disliked Catherine. I could not believe someone so annoying could be trusted by someone like James.) I found myself sneaking away to finish this book, and I was fascinated by the way Catherine's actions are presented. On some level she is aware of her cruelty to James, but she is still oblivious to the fact that she is leading them down a path that could destroy them both. She somewhat understands her own interest in Ted Hughes' and Sylvia Path's destructive relationship, but she is much too immature to warn herself of her own self-destruction. Much of the book involves very awkward dialogue and situations, and at times I was cringing to myself because the scenes were filled with such discomfort. However, it was perfectly done. Belinda McKeon is a master of building that tension, and making the story flow around it. Her characters were intriguing and interesting, even though I didn't like them.
I could not put this book down, and I suspect I will be thinking about it for a long time. I can see it being a great book for book clubs, as I could easily find ten topics I wouldn't mind discussing with others. I wouldn't say this book is for everyone, but its potential controversy, and the opinions it will bring up will make it something I will recommend to people anyway.
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