The Sea Ain't Mine Alone

4.75I've been debating whether to recommend reading this slowly, sip by sip, or dive in the deep end and binge. That you should read it goes without saying. This may be [a:C.L. Beaumont 15119614 C.L. Beaumont https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s debut novel but judging by the quality of the writing you wouldn't know it. Everything about this book appealed to me. The bulk of it takes place during two months in 1976, in California and Hawaii, but to me it felt epic. James ‘Jimmy' Campbell: “He's thirty-two living like he's twenty with no plans, no direction, a chain of dog tags in his sock drawer and a cheap surfboard taking up half his tiny studio. James came back from the Vietnam War just one more of the young men chewed up and spat back into society. He has no family to speak of and if it weren't for the sea, surfing, and a group of rag tag surfers around the Southern California beaches he might not be long for this world. At a surf competition in Hermosa Beach his life intersects with Danny Moore (Sydney to James, as Jimmy is James to Sydney) and nothing will be the same.Sydney is ten years James's junior but he's also an old soul. He's already legendary in surfing circles, having won tournament after tournament but he isn't well liked. Sydney has a bluntness in dealing with things and people that borders on rudeness and I suspect that if the story were set in the present he'd probably be on the Aspergers spectrum. Sydney is also known to be gay. Sydney and James meet and after an initial brief dance of push & pull are inexorably drawn to each other despite or because of their differences. The things I loved about this story are many:* The historical time setting. The mid-70s are this limbo period in American history, like a long hangover letting us get over the whirlwind of the 60s and a breather before the frenetic 80s. * The characters are not the stock characters trotted out in so many current romances* The writing is beautiful and almost elegiac * The cover is gorgeous* If you love the sea this book is for you. If you're a surfing fan you'll be in heaven. But my favorite thing was the story itself, two men discovering themselves and a way to exist in the world when they don't even know how to speak about love, much less a love that is at best ignored or at worst penalized by society. I loved how the author didn't get anachronistic and kept the characters true to their time and place. James knows he's attracted to men, has known for a while, yet he's never uttered the word gay. Doesn't think he fits the picture society paints. Sydney is perhaps a bit more advanced as far as vocabulary and acceptance of self but other than some furtive back alley blow jobs has very little practical experience. The gay world of San Francisco might as well be on the moon and the characters behave according to their lived reality. That was so refreshing. However the heart of the story lives in how once they meet and acknowledge their attraction James and Sydney are consumed by each other. They're each other's first for so many things and my heart beat with them for each small enormous leap. I was going to post a bunch of my highlights but that seemed obnoxious.