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An extraordinary debut novel in which the transforming love and friendship between two young men during one unforgettable teenage summer in rural New England haunts them into adulthood
It took three car crashes to kill Jake.
Theron David Alden is there for the first two: the summer they meet in rural New Hampshire, when he’s fifteen and anxious, and Jake’s seventeen and a natural; then six years later in New York City, those too-short, ecstatic, painful nights that change both their lives forever—the end of the dream and the longing for the dream and the dream itself, all at once.
Theron is not there for the third crash.
And yet, their story contains so much joy and self-discovery: the glorious, stupid simplicity of a boyhood joke; the devastation of insecurity; the way a great song can distill a universe; the limits of what we can know about each other; the mysterious, porous, ungraspable fault line between yourself and the person you love better than yourself; the beautiful, toxic elixir of need and hope and want.
Brimming with rare, radioactive talent, August Thompson has written a love story that is electrically alive and exquisitely tuned.
In the words of Jonathan Safran Foer, “This book will make you cry.”
Author: August Thompson
Paperback Published 9 July 2024 320 pages
Read and Recommended by Hendri:
"n rural New Hampshire, fifteen-year-old Theron David Alden meets seventeen-year-old Jake. Both have divorced parents and they share everything one summer—metal music, pot smoking, drunk driving, and petty theft. Theron, who struggles to know who he truly is, can't distinguish between his adoration and romantic attraction toward his new older friend. Before Theron finds the answer, a car accident separates them. Six years later, Jake appears at the doorstep of Theron's apartment in New York. But he is no longer the teen Theron used to know. With a Goldman Sachs look, Jake has become an aspiring musician determined to build his career and has also married a woman. Meanwhile Theron has an open relationship with his girlfriend Lou and a series of sexual contacts with random guys, but still feels unsure what he is looking for romantically. His sexual encounters with men often leave him feeling repulsed about himself. Could Jake’s sudden return into Theron's life provide an answer - unlock his suppressed desires and love from the unforgettable bond that they formed years ago? Anyone's Ghost is a coming-of-age queer novel with a universal theme of teenage angst and loneliness and two boys who don't have the language to name their feelings. This debut novel is perfect for fans of Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life and Douglas Stuart's Young Mungo!"
“Anyone’s Ghost is about so very many things: the pains of growing up, friendship and pining, drugs, sex, the frustrations of masculinity and the thrill of testing death itself. But more than any of that, it is an overwhelmingly beautiful love story. This book will make you cry.” —Jonathan Safran Foer
“You know those books that you take with you everywhere? That you won’t stop talking about to your friends? That bring it all back? That change you? Anyone’s Ghost is that book. Thompson has fired a literary flare into the black night of the universe and the illumination is spectacular.” —Junot Díaz