Sucking Sherbet Lemons

Demonstrating how Catholicism can be lethal for gay teens, this wonderful and maddening coming-of-age novel follows Martin “Wobbles” Benson’s attempted flight from his “deviant” sexuality into the arms of a lusty and hypocritical Catholic brotherhood. Set in the ’60s and published originally in 1988, Carson’s first novel in his Benson Series is amusing and confident, not unlike a male counterpart to Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Once Martin realizes that he’s not simply going through a phase, he’s overcome with fear, grief, and shame. He enters a monastery to purge the sexual darkness from his soul, but soon discovers that the brothers haven’t suppressed their own desires even after a lifetime of prayer. He returns to the abuses of his former Catholic school, but in time finds some like-minded friends, allowing him to explore his sexuality and accept himself. While the closed-mindedness and subsequent pain is hard to bear, there’s comic relief in Benson’s imagined journey through heaven and hell, which is often laugh-out-loud funny. The author turns what could be a depressing tale into a story that makes you want to cheer for the hero and pray that he emerges into adulthood unscathed. (May)