When You Call My Name
Ratings3
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings3
Average rating3.8
In the spirit of the author’s massively popular Twitter thread, Tucker Shaw’s When You Call My Name is a heartrending novel about two gay teens coming of age in New York City in 1990 at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Named "this summer's most powerful LGBTQ+ novel" by GAY TIMES, this book is perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Mary H. K. Choi.
Film fanatic Adam is seventeen and being asked out on his first date—and the guy is cute. Heart racing, Adam accepts, quickly falling in love with Callum like the movies always promised.
Fashion-obsessed Ben is eighteen and has just left his home upstate after his mother discovers his hidden stash of gay magazines. When he comes to New York City, Ben’s sexuality begins to feel less like a secret and more like a badge of honor.
Then Callum disappears, leaving Adam heartbroken, and Ben finds out his new world is more closed-minded than he thought. When Adam finally tracks Callum down, he learns the guy he loves is very ill. And in a chance meeting near the hospital where Callum is being treated, Ben and Adam meet, forever changing each other’s lives. As both begin to open their eyes to the possibilities of queer love and life, they realize sometimes the only people who can help you are the people who can really see you—in all your messy glory.
A love letter to New York and the liberating power of queer friendship, When You Call My Name is a hopeful novel about the pivotal moments of our youth that break our hearts and the people who help us put them back together.
Reviews with the most likes.
With a plot surrounding the AIDS epidemic in 1990, this book was sad. At the same time, it highlighted the power of positivity in situations where optimism seems impossible, which was a truly beautiful message. Tucker Shaw writes in a way that feels like it's coming from a deeply personal place.
While there was nothing particularly bothersome about this book, I think I just expected to be more engrossed in it than I was. I also wished the two protagonists/narrators crossed paths more rather than
This was great! Sad and lovely all at the same time. I do think teen readers might be overwhelmed but the sheer amount of 80s/90s pop culture references at time but still wonderful and life affirming!!
