Dancing on a Star

This is the story of Jack, a boy attending high school. He had a secret in that he was gay and had no intention of telling his parents. But things change drastically for Jack when Tracy, a new student and aspiring ballet dancer moves in over the road. This forces Jack to reevaluate his plans.

This sudden change takes Jack on  rollercoaster of a ride as he comes out to his parents and friends. We meet Jack's friend Jimmy, witness serious arguments, accidents during Jack's difficult summer.

A fantastic tale from Ron that must be read.

Another excellent story by Rony sorry if that's redundant but it's trueOut of the many things this authors does well the thing he does best is portray the emotion the characters are feeling and this is no exception.All the emotional issues that come with a person being gay are dealt with here should I come out?How will friends and family react?I don't want to be ostracized like that one person is.All of these issues among others are dealt with beautifully.The story also deals with the misconceptions of being a ballet dancers and associating that with being a poof.Your best athletes that have the best combination of strength ,agility and skill are you best best dancers and this story it shows how it can be useful in a "Manly" sport like basketball.The closest negative comment I can say about this story is that it isn't quite as good as a few of his other stories, that's like saying this years world champion baseball team isn't as good as last years team because last years team won the World Series in four games while this years team needed seven games to win the series so what they are still the champs.And this is still a great story

This is a book which takes the reader on a long journey following the trials and tribulations of a group of high school kids coming out and coming to terms with being gay. The catalyst and star for all this is Tracy, the boy next door who happens to be learning ballet. His dance moves will have an effect not just on Jack, our protagonist, but all the boys and more, including the basketball team.

The story is full of teenage angst, ups and down, and sexual encounters, first time experiences and the almost inevitable parent and school problems. The tale is told by Jack and focuses tightly on him and his eventual small group of gay friends. There are a few well known tropes along the way, including some pretty dramatic events with the best friend. In fact, apart from Tracy and Jeff who are out, the others are all surprising revelations. And speaking of revelations, there is the bad parent not coming to terms with her son being gay. Another familiar theme that gets played out.

I wouldn't criticise the story for its use of common themes, nor that all Jack's friends are gay. It is gay romantic fiction after all, and you need to suspend belief a little. What I would highlight is that there is no stronger storyline than gay boy makes good and we all live happily ever after. Sure, it toys with the dilemma of being too young for a one to one relationship and preferring lots of sex with different partners. But whilst it raises the question it only answers it in a superficial way, which is essentially telling us sex is different and more meaningful when the right person comes along.

The book starts as a dramatic coming out story, then somewhat rambles along through many various relationships and parents coming to terms with everything. It draws to an end with a recognition of Tracy and what he has brought to the show, but whilst it's a nice one liner, I'm not sure how much Tracy had a bearing on our hero falling in love. It would seem Tracy changed how a large number of people thought about gay boys in the high school, but he was hardly a role model for more than dancing naked and free love. Still, we ought not to underestimate the power of both those things.

I had the feeling, on reaching the end, that the author had simply decided to wind it up there. For me, there was no real conclusion. The last few chapters led up to the final one, but they seemed a little lackadaisical and contained a number of overlooked text errors. Okay, you can read through the typos and lack of editing, but somehow it seems to indicate a fade out, rather than purposeful ending.

Enough of the criticism, it is an enjoyable read that will keep you entertained, offer up a few surprises and mention a few pointers about young teenage gay relationships. Just don't expect any profound insights and read it at face value, a nice easy read.