AN UGLY WORLD FOR BEAUTIFUL BOYS

A small-town gay teen struggles with bullying, family trauma, and longings for a glitzier life than is good for him in Costello’s YA coming-of-age novel.

Toby Ryerson is a 17-year-old living in the dreary town of Shelter Valley in the Adirondacks. There, his habitual snarky attitude, makeup, and a wardrobe heavy on women’s lingerie make him the target of homophobic slurs and beatings, while his assignations with random men at the Marsh Trail cruising ground earn him comparisons with his mother, Bonnie, who overdosed when he was 4 years old. Toby dreams of fleeing to New York City to see his drag-queen idol Ravisha Mann’s Manntasia show; he has no interest in attending college, as his half-brother and guardian, Jimmy, a paper-mill worker whose only solace is restoring his ’69 Camaro, wants him to. Tensions boil over when Toby outs his ex-boyfriend Dylan, who responds with violence; Toby is rescued by Gabe Fournier, a handsome 30-something resplendent in “black leather biker boots, a threadbare wife-beater, and crotch-tight Levis” who puts Toby’s tormentors to flight. Gabe tries to mentor Toby—the relationship turns sexual and is further complicated by Gabe’s history with Jimmy, who bullied him in high school. Toby finally runs away to Manhattan to live with Gabe, but his dream becomes nightmarish when he confronts the reality of Gabe’s big-city life. Costello complicates this story of queer pride and small-town bigotry with nuances and subterranean conflicts: Even the Trump-supporting characters possess sensitivity and insight, while Toby’s put-upon self-righteousness masks his own callousness and irresponsibility. Costello’s prose is sharp and vivid—he delves into his characters with an evocative lyricism. (“He was bull-necked, blue-collared, and as hulking as a load of cement, bearing down on life with a weary kind of tenacity, all brusqueness and persistence and as earnest as a freight train.”) Readers will root for Toby to figure things out before the world’s ugliness marks him too deeply.

An engrossing tale full of spiky attitude that masks roiling emotions.