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Clay's Way: A Novel | 
| Author: Blair Mastbaum
Publisher: Alyson Books
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy Used: $1.76
You Save: $11.19 (86%)
Rating:  68 reviews
Media: Paperback
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 1555838197
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9781555838195
ASIN: 1555838197
Publication Date: July 1, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: f-10/ May have normal shelfware
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Set against the dazzling backdrop of Hawaii's Oahu and Kauai islands, Clay's Way seethes with energy and hormonally charged nihilism. For 15-year-old Sam, a wanna-be punk rocker who writes bad haiku poetry, his middle-class suburban life feels like a prison. Mistaking lust for fate, Sam becomes obsessed with Clay, a 17-year-old surfer, outwardly cool but equally adrift. The violence and tumult of Clay's search for identity propels him, with desperately confused Sam in his wake, through the hardest decisions and obstacles of their young lives. 24-year-old Blair Mastbaum graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in fine arts. He was a fashion model for six years, and now lives in Beverly Hills, where he is hard at work on his second novel.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 63 more reviews...
Am I Getting Too Old November 14, 2008
Roger W. Davenport (Brooklyn, New York United States)
I enjoyed this book; the writing is excellent and the characters are very believable with all that irritating nonsense that happens in adolescence. One has certainly had crushes such as Clay had and one has certainly "blown it" again as Clay did. But this modern coming of age lacks a certain degree of passion; the jealousies are there and believable, the mix of straight and gay that one must tolerate in a primarily straight world and the mystery of adolescence to adults is very believable; the recklessness of undeclared love--or at least the love that dare not speak its name but is forever yelling in our ears; all of that and more is hereby captured with exquisite truth. And the end is spot on. I feel sorry for gay youth; the paranoia that you are the only person like this in the whole world and the sturm und drang of first loves. Thinking it over, maybe the passion is very much there afterall; maybe I am just too removed by age to have much tolerance for our unfortunate youthful dramas anymore. Read it and see what you think.
 A fantastic gay coming-of-age novel with fully realized characters June 10, 2008
William Siwicki (Chicago)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Clay's Way" is a riveting gay coming-of-age novel set in Hawaii. The story of Sam and Clay is an unusual one. Sam is an unhappy skateboard punk rocker who knows he is gay and is quite unhappy with his life. Clay is a surfer dude battling inner demons, unsure of his sexuality. The two form an intense friendship that leads to interactions more destructive than romantic. Sam increasingly goes beyond the fringe, leading to numerous scenes that are true page-turners. Clay is a boy in need of help that's not there, and his story is a sad one. This book has been hailed by many, and I have to agree. This is a coming-of-age story off the beaten path, and it's a must read for fans of the genre.
Endocrinic Island Ecstacy May 10, 2008
Matt A. (Norfolk, MA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Clay's Way puts me in a dream state. Reading it feels like living it. The novel has you looking through the eyes of the main character Sam, a confused wannabe skater kid trying to find himself (and to find him). Sit back and turn on your color TV brain as you hear his thoughts, taste his salty smiles, and feel his hormones drug your body. The atmosphere feels sort of like a Hawaiian Greg Araki movie projecting on your mind as you read each page. I sincerely hope this book is made into a movie, although maybe that would just ruin my own interpretations of the language. Either way this book is so very satisfying on a sensory and emotional level. It's a fine example of what a kid can go though who grows up feeling a bit outside the in-crowd.
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