Happy Wednesday Scribblers! I hope you are having a wonderful week. Today I bring to you my review of Vincent Traughber Meis’s (learn more about Vincent here) novel First Born Sons. I’m please I got to read this book and I’m happy to share it here with you all today.
Frist Born Sons by Vincent Traughber Meis
Blurb:
A group of coastal Californians battle wildfires, racism, and their own demons in five distinct narratives set in late 2019 and 2020.
First Born Sons is populated by a cast of LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies who struggle to find love, comfort, and fulfillment. As the novel progresses, characters interact across the separate narratives and are brought together for a birthday and a disastrous Black Lives Matter demonstration. A man returning to the horrors that made him leave Mississippi, a blind gay man flirting with love, an FTM transgender starting hormone therapy, a woman struggling to protect her sons from her ex-husband’s surge to right-wing politics, and a teenager with two gay dads searching for his Black surrogate mom paint a disturbing tableau of modern-day America.
My Review:
There is a lot to unpack from this novel. First, I came into this novel not having read anything from Meis. So, that may have had me at a disadvantage. First Born Sons has several characters that we follow through out the story, which can be distracting at times, but overall all the characters are handled well, which I liked. Also, all the characters are related and intermingle through out the story, which made it much easier to follow. And I found that I liked each of the characters and felt like they were real people.
Typically, I don’t read contemporary novels (I prefer something fun to help me escape from reality) so this novel would not have been my first pick. That said, I’m glad I did read it. I found a lot of the characters easy to relate to and enjoyable to read about. I can’t pick out a favorite, because I don’t feel close to any of them, but I did enjoy learning about them. If you haven’t figured out from the blurb, this book takes place right before the pandemic and ends while the pandemic is still going, but things are opening back up and everyone is learning to deal with our new reality. Given the nature of the story, I had to wonder if the novel would stand the test of time, but then I figured that people could read this story to learn a bit about what the pandemic was like during this time.
First Born Sons, is well written and the tail is engaging overall, however I’m not a big fan of being hit over the head with a writer’s message or opinion. I prefer to have the message be vague and open to interpretation as well as come about naturally and organically, sadly First Born Sons is all about the message the author wants you to learn, which bothered me. I also, felt the book could be heavy handed at times with the message. Despite sensing what was coming I was disappointed to be proven correct. I think there may have been another way to achieve the author’s goal. I will say that I agree 100% with the message of the story, which made the constant beating of the drum bearable and, for me, forgivable. Perhaps this is my own bias and privilege speaking, so take it for what it’s worth.
In total if you enjoy gay contemporary stories that touch on a variety of lives with a clever weaving narrative, then this is the book for you. I highly recommend it.
Well, that’s all for this week. Go out and pick up your copy of Frist Born Sons (buy it here). You won’t be disappointed. Until next time have a great week.