The Dove in the Belly
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4.3 • 28 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
At the University of North Carolina, Ronny's made some friends, kept his secrets, survived dorm life, and protected his heart.
Until he can't. Ben is in some ways Ronny's opposite; he's big and solid where Ronny is small and slight. Ben's at UNC on a football scholarship. Confident, with that easy jock swagger, and an explosive temper always simmering. He has a steady stream of girlfriends. Ben's aware of the overwhelming effect he has on Ronny. It's like a sensation of power. So easy to tease Ronny, throw playful insults, but it all feels somehow…loaded.
Meanwhile Ronny's mother has moved to Vegas with her latest husband. And Ben's mother is fighting advanced cancer. A bubble forms around the two, as surprising to Ronny as it is to Ben. Within it their connection ignites physically and emotionally. But what will happen when the tensile strength of a bubble is tested? When the rest of life intervenes?
The Dove in the Belly is about the electric, dangerous, sometimes tender but always powerful attraction between two very different boys. But it's also about the full cycles of love and life and how they open in us the twinned capacities for grief and joy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Achingly heartfelt, Grimsely's (Dream Boy) gay campus romance, set in 1977 Chapel Hill, sees English and journalism student Ronny Mallory, who works at a local newspaper to make ends meet, falling for dimpled football player Ben Nickelsen, whom Ronny tutors. The cued-white students' attraction is mutual, even if Ben—who has a girlfriend—initially seems to be spending time with Ronny for sex and emotional support ("You settle me down a little," Ben admits). Despite Ben's abuses (including homophobic slurs), the young men grow closer, with Ronny helping Ben through his mother's cancer treatments—until Ben's disappearance sends Ronny into an emotional tailspin. If and how the lovers might end up together forms the narrative tension amid jealousy, deep hurts, and emotional and physical intimacy. Though incidents of emotional abuse go uncontextualized, Grimsely excels at creating mood and strong emotions, from the goings-on at Ronny's boardinghouse, whose proprietor experiences ill health, to palpable feelings of longing and grief. Ages 16–up.
Customer Reviews
Absolutely poetry
I had difficulty reading it for a long time as if the complexity of the sentence structures and thoughts expressed were too difficult for me for read for more than a few minutes.
When I turned on the speak screen option in Accessories and listened to the words while I also read them, they danced like poetry. The words, the phrases, the rhyme and rhythm were absolute poetry.