Everyday History

I've been thinking about what I want to say about this book since I finished it yesterday and damn this is going to be difficult.On the one hand the language is gorgeous if at times overwrought but I'm game for that. The author is adept at using lush imagery to evoke emotions and memories sometimes at a sensory level sometimes those that only live in our dreams. It would be presumptuous of me to say but I felt that perhaps the author was inspired by the kind of writing you find in [b:Ingenious Pain 382468 Ingenious Pain A Novel (Harvest Book) Andrew Miller https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392070324s/382468.jpg 2346752], [b:Kalimantaan 759174 Kalimantaan C.S. Godshalk https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1312063669s/759174.jpg 745283], [b:As Meat Loves Salt 271487 As Meat Loves Salt Maria McCann https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1398025759s/271487.jpg 1435622] or even [b:Call Me by Your Name 98687 Call Me by Your Name André Aciman https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1283737003s/98687.jpg 1363157]. These are novels in which language is king and you're enveloped in the almost poetic heights of the writing to the point where you have reread to get the “story” but you don't mind because you're in a mesmerizing and delicious spell. It pains me to say that this fell short of the mark.When I started reading this, up to maybe the 30% mark, I was giddy with elation. I love poetic books and I was so thrilled to find one within the MM genre. This is the part of how Henry, a thirtysomething history professor, and Ruben, one of his senior high school internship students, come together. Have no fear. They meet and though Ruben starts showing interest in Henry by October Henry is a moral and ethical man and resists, that is until the school year is over and Ruben returns from his summer in the country. They meet at Henry's apartment for a tryst which is interrupted by an untimely visitor but then meet again and and spend a weekend together before Ruben leaves for college. All this is fine and dandy and told quite beautifully. The problem is that after the wonderful weekend all we have is pining and beautiful suffering. By the time the MCs finally got together I was exhausted by so much beauty, trembling, and perfection. Once the weekend is over almost two years elapse in which Ruben does some needed growing up and also decides that he's more gay than bi which is a big change because when he was first in Henry's class he was “straight”. He goes to college, sleeps around and just generally has experiences and new friendships and I was totally on board with that. He is doing exactly what someone his age would/should be doing. What I had a bit of a hard time believing was his growing fixation bordering on obsession with Henry. Oh Henry! He is the MC on which the whole story hinges and to my taste the author oversold him. THIS MIGHT GET SPOILERISHHenry is a man of quasi Messianic perfection. Even his origin story and subsequent life are there to amplify his goodness. Everyone who meets him loves him even his married agent falls under his unwitting spell while he goes about like the absent minded professor who can't even be bothered to answer email because “oh God the modern world!”. Such BS. Henry breaks and suffers beautifully and everyone loves him particularly Ruben who over the course of two years of separation has to prove his TRUE love by falling apart, reinventing himself and offering Henry a family to call his own. Quite frankly if I where Ruben's parents I'd be a little freaked welcoming a 36 yr. old to be my 21 yr. old son's husband. That's how old they are by the end of the book but before the epilogue.I understand and like the choice of having Henry be a Historian and his love of older things and their significance in our everyday lives: he was never wanted, never had a family but his insistence on not doing email or cell phones got annoying quick. Hey you can shut off your phone or just don't answer it! Problem solved. This all seemed like a contrivance to keep him isolated from Ruben and thus the two years of woe. But these are quibbles. My bigger problem is that I simply didn't believe in the all consuming love between these two and not because of the short span of time they actually spent together before they decided they were in love. I just didn't feel it. Sure bald and nerdy Henry would be blown away by an 18 yr. old former student finding him hot and letting him screw him but obsessing for two years over said guy without ever being in touch with him again in any way that's just sad or creepy. If it was a case of sexual obsession I could get on board with that but NO this was all sublimated true love. Then we have Ruben who meets at least two good guys while in college but can only love Henry. Perfect Henry. Aside from offering his own family as a surrogate for Henry he also gets him his own “mom & dad” because Henry is just that deserving of love but somehow has been deprived until now. The ending is cotton candy and marshmallow sweet to the point where my teeth hurt. Prince Henry got everything he never dreamed he wanted. Ugh! I could go on but ultimately I just didn't believe in the love story. What does Henry bring to Ruben? How endearing will fussy Henry be to Ruben once he's a fully mature man? The rating is because I liked everything else: the themes explored, the language and narrative style and I also very much loved Ruben. The cover is gorgeous. I would even go so far as to say that I might give it another go on some future date. Maybe my mood toward Henry will improve. Henry annoyed me.