Dance On My Grave: Summer of 85

I originally ran across this book in the "young adult" section of the library, but I think it is just as rewarding for adults as it is for teens. The author has a wonderful flair for language, and the story is poignant and engaging. If you enjoy this, I'd recommend checking out the other books in this series... they don't share characters or story, but they do share certain thematic elements, as well as the author's unique style. My personal ranking for the series (from most favorite to least favorite): 1) Dance on My Grave, 2) Postcards from No Man's Land, 3) Now I Know, 4) The Toll Booth, 5) Breaktime... I have to admit that I haven't yet tackled This Is All.

I loved the way this was written, in the form of a journal. The characters were very well visualised and written, acting true to their beliefs. Really good story of both growing up and coming to terms with ones sexuality. Highly recommended.

This is one of the best books I have read in quite a while. I recommend it to my friends without reservation.

Hal Robinson is sixteen, has just finished his school exams and has no idea what he wants to do with his life. Will he stay on at school? If so what will he study? Or will he get a job like his father wants? Hal lives at Southend, the part of London where the Thames River meets the sea. One day he 'borrows' a friend's sail-boat without asking permission. A storm blows up and soon Hal capsizes the boat. Then into his life sails Barry Gorman, eighteen year old, expert sailor, who rescues Hal and who it seems will soon sort Hal's life out. Soon Hal finds himself falling deeply in love with Barry, and it seems his every fantasy is about to be fulfilled. But, as Hal reveals at the very beginning of the book, Barry's life is destined to be cut short.This book is written in a quirky, interesting, experimental manner. The text consists of Hal's first person account, six "running reports" by Hal's social worker, two newspaper clippings, and a school essay. The personal account features "action replays" in which Hal goes over the scene he has just described filling in the psychological details that could not be included in the flow of action. One important theme to arise is the 'postmodern' question of how much a written account mirrors reality? Hal desperately wants to be honest, but no matter how much he tries his words fail to describe the true 'feeling' of events, or can be interpreted in a way that varies from the 'truth'.While being an account of a death the book is often surprisingly funny. I found myself laughing out loud in several parts. Grief, however, inevitably takes the main stage at the end of the story, and is represented in some considerable depth. This is not really a tear-jerker though, as throughout the book we have always known that Barry will die.Of course the book is also a description of first adult love, in all its depth and pain. As the story progresses Hal moves from confused teenager to wounded but wiser adult. While this could be described as a 'gay' story the book can be also enjoyed by 'straight' adolescent readers: love, death and truth are in fact universal themes no matter in what details we dress them. The story includes some sex but it is only very discretely referred to.This is an English novel and some colloquialisms and cultural references are included which US audiences may find difficult to understand. There is not enough of this though to make the book inaccessible: in fact most of the text should be crystal clear.

I first came across this novel in my eighth grade year at school. It had been the first homosexual novel that I'd ever read, and I found it both surprising and satisfying; it was a coming-of-age story about a pair of young men who happened to meet by chance of fate during the summer vacation and ended up spending several weeks together.Hal seems much more committed to the relationship than Barry, who acts as though his time with Hal is merely an exciting fling. And one morning, Barry, filled with exhilaration, makes Hal promise that if one of them dies, the other must dance on his grave. For Barry to ask such a daring thing of Hal only serves to further arouse Hal's interest and he becomes more obsessively committed than ever, for he had always hoped to find the ideal, "bosom" friend, and he feels that Barry must certainly be "the one".Dance on My Grave was like nothing I had ever read before, and admittedly, the novel seems targeted more towards a British audience and someone unfamiliar with British terms may have to reread certain parts several times to fully understand the book. But I have remained forever attatched to this book, for it evoked such emotions in me as I had never felt before. You can't help but feel sympathy for Hal, who, for his whole life, has been searching for the perfect friend and lover but could never find anyone that fit his ideals... until he met Barry.The lesson of the desperate, clinging obsession that comes with true and unconditional love in this story seems to be like the young adult equivallent to Joseph Olshan's Nightswimmer. I highly recommend this book.

I read this book a couple of years ago and I havent been able to forget about it. It was a great story of two young men who fall in love and find their lives turned around by their situation. I recommend it to anyone looking for something out side the norm!

I read this because it was the book eventually revealed as being at the centre of the Simon James Green excellent expose of the homophobic horrors of Section 28 in "Boy Like Me" and which was concealed under the misleading cover "Wildflowers of Great Britain"!"Dance on my Grave" concerns the developing relationship between two gay teenagers in Southend-on-Sea and their sworn agreement that whichever of them outlives the other will dance on his grave - a somewhat odd arrangement in the circumstances, given the youth of the pair and the assumption that there will be an actual grave rather than a cremation. But this is set in 1985 in a rather more conservative time and one of the boys is keen to explore his sexuality with unfortunate and tragic consequences. It is easy to see why it was made into a film as some of the scenes are very easy to imagine visually.

Faltó protección para el libro, pero en buen estado.

If you’re here because you saw Été 85. This is the book the movie is based on. I think is a good book,very well written but not as interesting as the movie. Starting for the setting,the movie script was adapted to be a coastal France which is of course sumptuous,the book is set on a coastal England and the ambient suggested by the author is rather austere.Anyhow it gives you depth on the two main characters that aren’t given into the movie.I recommend this book whether you prefer the movie or haven’t see it. Since as a novel has merit on his own.And the character Hal (Alexis on the movie) is exceptionally well written many men and adolescents would identify with him (If I was a teen I know I would)

This book is the best book I've ever read. I read it once when I was 15 or 16, the same age as the youngest of the main characters. And once now that im 20, two years older than the oldest main character. It is written in an way, where the timeline goes back and forward in time all the time. You start at the end of the story, then you read the middle of the book witch wold normally be the start, and then the end. You read through the eyes of Hal (the main character), but also through the eyes of his therapist and newspapers.The book is about a two gay or bi boys, but the theme of the book is not "Im gay and therefore my live sucks" like many other books about gay men. Its just a love story between two guys.Again, the best book I've ever read.

I first read this book in my teens, attracted to it as it was set in my hometown, but not expecting too much as it was outside of my usual reading remit as a snarling adolescent.To my great surprise, I loved it, recommended it to all my friends, and kept my copy until it mysteriously went missing at uni. I was delighted to find it available on Kindle.The narrator, Hal, is hugely engaging and articulate, and his progress through love, then grief, madness, and finally self- awareness and hope is still resonant today in my own life, and Mr Chambers is a storyteller of excellence. If you know of a sensitive teen who can appreciate a no-holds-barred, intelligent and comic read, you'll find yourself extremely popular if you make them a gift of this book. I can't stress enough how world-enlarging this well-crafted tale will be to them.