Boy Toy

Grab your hat and glasses because you are going to take a very bumpy and harrowing literary ride!Josh Mendel, a gifted boy of 12 (the name Mendel makes one think of the early genetist, Gregor Mendel and his work with pea plants) who is an incredible baseball player and honor student. His life detours sharply when his English teacher, Evelyn ("Call Me Eve") Sherman enters his life.Eve Sherman is an interesting character. She grooms Josh, complimenting him on his high caliber work and suggeting that he might want to participate in a reseach project she is conducting for graduate studies. She encourages Josh to visit her home. In an amazing show of faith, Josh's parents buy Eve's story without questioning Josh too closely about why he is spending any time in a teacher's apartment. The fact that she is married does not seem to deter her or them.Josh's best friend Zik is his only confidante. The part that bothered me the most is that Josh's parents did not appear to communicate much with their only child. It is this absence of open communication that led Josh into some painful decisions and later traumatic encounters involving Eve.Eve starts out innocently enough. She invites Josh to her place, even driving him over after school. Josh begins by writing papers; filling out questionnaires and answering basic, academic questions. He even plays with Eve's husband's Xbox. In time, the tone would grow sexual.Matters reach a head when Eve gives Josh wine and tells him to keep that a secret; she strokes his ego for starters by telling him how mature he is. Naturally, Josh basks in the glow of the wine and the praise. From there it is a short jump to improper sexual seduction. Josh continues with the ostensible research and plays Xbox. Matters reach a critical point when he sees an adult video on the Xbox. Eve tries to downplay it, but it is plain she wanted him to view it so he has some exposure to adult sexual behavior. In time, Eve would start seducing Josh. His graphic account of their encounters is effective; it is neither titillating nor pruriet. He is a confused 12-year-old boy caught in a maelestrom of experiences and emotions he is not ready to handle.Josh honestly believed Eve loved him and cared about him. He opens his story with what he learned that year and one of the items on his check list is "how to please a woman," which is not something any 12-year-old should personally know.Months into the school year, Josh attends a party at his friend Rachel's house. Their friends, Zik and Michelle (Michelle makes a reappearance in the Fanboy books) are also in attendence. One suggests that Josh and Rachel make out in a closet. Josh, eager to apply what Eve has taught him tries her moves on Rachel with devastating consequences. It is then that his encounters with Eve become known. "You think you've lost your love, well I saw her yesterday, it's you she's thinking of and she told me what to say." -- Beatles, 1963 from "She Loves You"Legal trauma ensues; Josh avoids Rachel out of fear and shame. "You know it's up to you, I think it's only fair, pride can hurt you too, apologize to her." -- Beatles, 1963 from "She Loves You." Five years later when Josh is a senior, he avoids a popular shop because Rachel works there. "She said she loves you and you know that can't be bad. Yeah, she loves you and you know you should be glad." -- Beatles, 1963 from "She Loves You"Eve is finally convicted and Josh emerges from his multiple traumas of sexual molestation, family issues and avoidance of Rachel sadder but wiser. Rachel, his baseball playing pal remains a true friend. "She said you hurt her so, she almost lost her mind, but now she says she knows you're not the hurting kind." -- Beatles, 1963 from "She Loves You"It is Rachel who helps Josh put the pieces of his life back together and who stands by him when he makes some very difficult decisions. It is Rachel who really listens to Josh once he decides to share with her his painful trauma with Eve. She insists that Josh be her prom date, double dating with their friends Zik and Michelle, who have been a couple since middle school. It was interesting that all 4 sets of parents agreed to let these kids rent a room and spend the night after the prom. In light of Josh's sexual trauma, it does question the Mendels' judgments on this. Indeed, the Beatles' 1963 classic "She Loves You" easily underscores Josh's relationship and reconnection with Rachel. "With a love like that, you know you should be glad, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!"Barry Lyga is a genius. It's as simple as that. Kyra Sellers, his Goth Girl character has a cameo appearance in this book. This is a brilliant, cutting edge book that deals with several adult issues realistically, seriously and honestly. His works, like those of Chris Crutcher's, deal with serious topics and confront them in a way so as to educate readers. The Beatles' 1963 classic "She Loves You" could easily be the soundtrack of this book, with Rachel being the "She" in "She Loves You."

Review:I used to work for a local newspaper, and one of my tasks was typing up the weekly police blotter. Most of the contents of the blotter were your run-of-the-mill car accidents, petty theft, or disorderly conduct, but every now and then a report of child molestation would come across my desk. The reports were sickening, and each time I typed up the details of the incident I would ask myself a) how someone could be twisted enough to engage in a sexual relationship with a child and b) how that relationship had come about in the first place.Barry Lyga explores the answers to those questions, and more, in Boy Toy. The story centers on Josh Mendel, a senior in high school who, five years earlier, was involved in a full-blown affair with his seventh-grade history teacher. The book goes back and forth between the present and the past, taking you through the life of the affair from beginning to end and showing the impact it has on Josh’s life five years after the fact.The amazing thing about Boy Toy is that even though it’s about a very heavy subject, it’s still compelling. I honestly could not stop reading it – I switched from my small purse to my jumbo diaper bag of a purse just so I could carry Boy Toy with me everywhere I went. I wanted to hear Josh’s story. I wanted to understand. How on earth did a 12-year-old boy end up having sex with his teacher? What did the teacher see in him? How was their relationship discovered? What were the implications for Josh later, as a teenager?What’s brilliant about Lyga’s writing is that he makes you look at things in ways you’d never expect. For one thing, I never would have anticipated that I would sympathize with Eve, the woman who molested Josh. This isn’t to say I think what she does is right – there’s no doubt that it is twisted and wrong and incredibly screwed up. Rather, what I’m trying to say is that Eve is more than just your cardboard villain. She seems like a real person, with complicated motivations and clear strengths as well as clear weaknesses. She seems to truly care about Josh in her own messed up way, taking him on dates, cooking for him, cheering him on at his baseball games, etc. Where it all goes wrong is in the progression of their relationship from platonic to physical.Lyga has caught some flack for the intensity of the sex scenes in Boy Toy. Some readers argue that the scenes are gratuitous and inappropriate, focusing on feelings of excitement and eroticism rather than trauma or violation. I disagree with those readers wholeheartedly; I think the fact that the sex scenes are so hot and heavy is part of what makes the book successful.Before you start calling me a sick creep, let me explain. I do find it disturbing and twisted that Josh’s teacher seduced him, but I can’t deny that if the scenes were written between two consenting adults rather than a teacher and underage student, they’d be incredibly arousing. Reading the details of Josh’s sexual encounters triggered warring emotions of disgust, excitement, and shame, which is exactly what Josh feels when he thinks back to his experiences with his teacher. It put me in Josh’s shoes and helped me realize just how confused and conflicted he must have felt.Lyga’s ability to make his readers see things from the point of view of his characters is one of his many gifts as a writer. It’s scary how easy it is to understand why Eve falls for Josh. He’s different from the other kids at his school, mature for his age, precocious, thoughtful. Even at 12 he is almost as tall as Eve herself. He’s capable of holding meaningful conversations with her, of understanding her humor and making her laugh in return.Josh at 18, the age he is when recounting the events of the book, is no less amazing. He’s insanely smart, with a nearly photographic memory and the ability to calculate the square root of 52 or the product of 12 and 144 in his head. He’s enthralled by the stars and planets. He dedicates himself to working hard at all that he does, whether in the classroom or on the baseball diamond, where he’s a star hitter.It’s incredibly fascinating to watch Josh try to come to terms with what happened to him all those years ago, to witness him trying to deal with the guilt and the embarrassment of knowing that everyone in his town knows all the details of his sex life. He’s got a great voice, with a compelling blend of attitude and self-consciousness. I developed a bit of a book crush on him, and he’ll go down in my mind as one of my all-time favorite characters.Barry Lyga is an author who never disappoints me. He always presents a unique perspective, troubled but enthralling characters, and a plot that keeps you interested from start to finish. I strongly encourage you to go out and read Boy Toy. I know I’ll be revisiting it over and over again.This review can also be found on my blog, http://AngelasLibrary.com.

I give this book 5 stars for the excellent writing and unexpectedly respectful way Barry Lyga handles the sexual molestation scenario. I wondered whether this book would be triggering, but through skillful writing technique, it skirts the sexual crime just enough to yield a comfortable read. I couldn't follow the baseball stuff. But that's just me. It rounds out Josh's and Rachel's characters, and links all 4 of the youths. Besides, baseball's just plain normal.