In Mike We Trust

Last updated
In Mike We Trust
InMikeWeTrust.jpg
Cover illustration of In Mike We Trust by P.E. Ryan
Author P. E. Ryan
LanguageEnglish
Genre Young adult novel
Publisher HarperTeen
Publication date
2009
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages321
ISBN 0-06-085813-3

In Mike We Trust is a young adult gay novel by P. E. Ryan first published in 2009. It depicts a teenage gay boy who falls under the sway of his con artist uncle (who is the twin brother of the boy's recently deceased father). The boy struggles with his sexual orientation as well as the need for honesty when his beloved role model asks him to lie.

Contents

The book was a Lambda Literary Award finalist for LGBT Children's/Young Adult literature, [1] and was named by Booklist to its Rainbow List 2010 (bibliography of young adult books which include significant gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or questioning content). [2] This is the second young adult novel focusing on LGBTQ teens by author P. E. Ryan, whose first effort in the genre was 2008's Saints of Augustine. [3] As Patrick Ryan, he wrote Send Me, a novel for adults. [3]

Plot synopsis

The book is written in the first person singular from the perspective of its 15-year-old narrator, Garth Rudd.

The Rudds live in Richmond, Virginia. Garth's father died in a boating accident two years earlier, leaving his middle-class family to shoulder his many debts. Now living on the edge of poverty, Garth's mother, Sonja, works two jobs to support the family and Garth tries to earn spending money and save for college by working as a janitor of sorts at a downtown department store for a condescending supervisor. Wanting to be a veterinarian when he is older, Garth volunteers at a local animal shelter caring for dogs and cats. Garth has repeated nightmares about his father's death, and is unhappy about his short height (he is only 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) tall). Prior to the novel's opening (although this scene is related in flashback), Garth came out to his best friend, Lisa, about his homosexuality. Shortly thereafter, Garth (in flashback) tells his mother that he is gay. But his mother, worried that her short, slight teenage son might be gay bashed, tells Garth not to tell anyone else that he is gay.

The novel opens when Mike Rudd, the twin brother of Garth's deceased father, arrives at the Rudd home. Mrs. Rudd and Lisa are somewhat cold and distant toward Mike, but Mike and Garth immediately become friends. Mike also realizes Garth is gay, and on a shopping trip Mike takes Garth into a gay bookstore. Garth meets an openly gay classmate, Adam Walters, in the store, and Mike arranges for Garth and Mike to watch a DVD of the motion picture Beautiful Thing together at the Rudd house. A short time later, Mike convinces Garth to go with him on a trip to a shopping mall in a suburb of Richmond where he intends to solicit donations to fight the disease "meninosis." Garth quickly realizes that "meninosis" is not a real disease, but the presence of the boyish-looking Garth helps Mike raise hundreds of dollars in donations. Mike promises to give Garth a cut of the money, and Garth quits his job. Garth begins to feel guilty over the large number of lies he tells his mother and Lisa to cover up both what he is doing with Mike and his relationship with Adam. Garth justifies his actions by assuring himself that the money he is getting will go into his college fund and make his mother worry less, and that his mother's demand that he remain closeted is unjust.

Mike's cons become more elaborate. He successfully convinces Garth to wear an old Scooby-Doo Halloween costume (which still fits, because Garth has not grown much taller in the past several years). He also successfully gets Garth to take two dogs from the animal shelter as well as his own elderly dog, Hutch, with them on a fundraising trip. They pretend to be raising money for a disease which strikes dogs. Adam and Garth watch the movie Chinatown together, and kiss. Shortly thereafter, Mike takes Garth to a run-down section of Richmond where Mike recruits a beautiful blonde woman and a bar patron to help with his latest scam. Mike rents a sports car and pretends to raffle off the vehicle at the Virginia State Fair. Adam, also visiting the fair, sees Garth with his uncle. When the scam goes wrong, Mike, Garth, and the beautiful woman are forced to flee the scene. Upset that she was duped to participate in a con, the woman sends her boyfriend to the Rudd house to confront Mike. Mike escapes the house, leaving Garth to defend himself against the angry man. Garth's mother witnesses the confrontation, and Garth is forced to tell the truth about what he and Mike have been doing.

The novel concludes with Garth having to own up to his actions and resolve his conflicts with his mother. Garth must also come to terms with his Uncle Mike's cowardice and lies, and struggles to repair his friendships with Lisa and Adam.

The novel contains a number of references to non-fiction people, things, and places, like the singer Sufjan Stevens, the films Beautiful Thing and Chinatown, the cartoon characters Scooby-Doo and Superman, and to places in and around Richmond, Virginia. It also mentions the Richmond Organization for Sexual Minority Youth (ROSMY), a real organization which offers support and leadership for LGBTQ youth in the Richmond area. [4]

Critical reception

The reviewer in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books was highly laudatory, noting that "Garth's relationship with Mike is the perfect catalyst for his coming of age: it allows him to put aside his childish expectations about ideal relationships in favor of an understanding of adults as complex, flawed people. [Details in the book] become symbols for the various aspects of hiding, immaturity, fear, compromise, and insight that accompany Garth's circuitous route to maturity with honor, making this a rich and offbeat novel about a young man coming into his own both because of and in spite of his family." [5] A School Library Journal reviewer also had positive things to say about the book, writing, "With overlying themes of honesty and truth, In Mike We Trust features vivid characters dancing around a number of issues." [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesléa Newman</span> American author, editor, and feminist

Lesléa Newman is an American author, editor, and feminist best known for the children's book Heather Has Two Mommies. Four of her young adult novels have been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, making her one of the most celebrated authors in the category.

<i>Secondhand Lions</i> 2003 film by Tim McCanlies

Secondhand Lions is a 2003 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Tim McCanlies. It tells the story of an introverted young boy who is sent to live with his eccentric great uncles on a farm in Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Holleran</span> American novelist, essayist, and short story writer

Andrew Holleran is the pseudonym of Eric Garber, an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer, born on the island of Aruba. Most of his adult life has been spent in New York City, Washington, D.C., and a small town in Florida. He was a member of The Violet Quill with Christopher Cox, a gay writer's group that met in 1980 and 1981 and also included Robert Ferro, Edmund White and Felice Picano. Following the critical and financial success of his first novel Dancer from the Dance in 1978, he became a prominent author of post-Stonewall gay literature. Historically protective of his privacy, the author continues to use the pseudonym Andrew Holleran as a writer and public speaker.

William Perry Moore IV, widely known as Perry Moore, was an American author, screenwriter, and film director. He was an executive producer of The Chronicles of Narnia film series and the author of Hero, an award-winning novel about a gay teenage superhero.

Michael Thomas Ford is an American author of primarily gay-themed literature. He is best known for his "My Queer Life" series of comedic essay collections and for his award-winning novels Last Summer, Looking for It, Full Circle, Changing Tides, and What We Remember.

<i>Southland</i> (novel) 2003 novel by Nina Revoyr

Southland is a 2003 novel by Nina Revoyr. It focuses on quest for the past and present of racial justice in Los Angeles.

<i>Ash</i> (novel) 2009 young adult fantasy lesbian novel by Malinda Lo

Ash is a young adult fantasy children's novel by Malinda Lo first published in 2009. It is a reworking of the Cinderella fairy tale that reimagines the title character, Ash, as a lesbian teenager. The novel centers around the familiar story of Cinderella, her father recently remarried, and lamenting the misery of her new life with stepsisters and a stepmother. The twist arrives when Ash falls in love with the King's respected huntress Kaisa, after she has made a commitment to dark fairy prince Sidhean.

<i>Sprout</i> (novel) 2009 novel by Dale Peck

Sprout is a young adult gay novel by American author Dale Peck first published in May 2009. The novel depicts an openly gay teenage boy who moves to Kansas after his mother dies from cancer. While he struggles with harassment at school and two potential boyfriends, he has to decide if he will hide his sexual orientation in order to win a statewide essay-writing contest. An act of betrayal leads to the book's climax.

<i>The Vast Fields of Ordinary</i> 2009 young adult gay novel by Nick Burd

The Vast Fields of Ordinary is a young adult gay novel by American author Nick Burd first published in 2009. The novel depicts the summer after high school graduation for a closeted suburban teenage boy, his openly lesbian new best friend, and the two boys he is interested in dating. The Vast Fields of Ordinary is Burd's debut novel.

<i>How Beautiful the Ordinary</i> 2009 anthology of LGBT short stories by Michael Cart

How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity is an anthology of LGBTQ short stories for young adults edited by American author Michael Cart. It was first published in 2009. The anthology contains an introduction by Cart, 11 short stories, and one novella by acclaimed lesbian and gay authors.

<i>I Am Rembrandts Daughter</i> 2007 novel by Lynn Cullen

I Am Rembrandt's Daughter is a 2007, young adult historical fiction novel by Lynn Cullen about the famous artist Rembrandt van Rijn's daughter Cornelia van Rijn (1654-1684). In Cullen's version of the story, Cornelia finds that she is not Rembrandt's daughter, but rather that of Nicolaes Bruyningh, the subject of one of Rembrandt's paintings. The novel was selected by YALSA as one of the Best Books for Young Adults in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Konigsberg</span> American author (born 1970)

Bill Konigsberg is an American author, best known for his LGBT novels. He wrote Out of the Pocket, Openly Straight, The Porcupine of Truth, Honestly Ben, The Music of What Happens, and The Bridge. He lives with his husband outside of Phoenix, Arizona.

<i>Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe</i> 2012 young adult novel by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a coming-of-age young adult novel by American author Benjamin Alire Sáenz which was first published February 21, 2012. Set in El Paso, Texas in 1987, the novel follows two Mexican-American teenagers, Aristotle "Ari" Mendoza and Dante Quintana, their friendship, and their struggles with racial and ethnic identity, sexuality, and family relationships. Since its publication, the novel has received widespread critical acclaim and numerous accolades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Ford</span> American writer

Jamie Ford is an American author. He is best known for his debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. The book spent 130 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, and was also awarded best "Adult Fiction" book at the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature. The book was also named the No. 1 Book Club Pick for Fall 2009/Winter 2010 by the American Booksellers Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdi Nazemian</span> Iranian-American author, screenwriter and producer

Abdi Nazemian is an Iranian-American author, screenwriter, and producer. His debut novel, The Walk-In Closet, won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Debut Fiction at the 27th Lambda Literary Awards. He has subsequently received a second Lambda Literary Award for his young adult novel Only This Beautiful Moment, as well as a Stonewall Book Award for Only This Beautiful Moment and a Stonewall Honor for Like a Love Story, both from the American Library Association.

<i>Hazels Theory of Evolution</i> 2019 novel by Lisa Jenn Bigelow

Hazel's Theory of Evolution is a young adult novel by Lisa Jenn Bigelow. In 2019 HarperCollins published the book, which received the Lambda Literary Award in 2020.

<i>Camp</i> (novel) 2020 book by L. C. Rosen

Camp is a young adult fiction novel written by Lev A. C. Rosen and published in 2020 by Little, Brown. The book tells the story of Randall Kapplehoff, a gay teen who goes every year to a queer summer camp and is finally ready to start a relationship with his crush.

<i>We Are the Ants</i> 2016 novel by Shaun David Hutchinson

We Are the Ants is a young adult science fiction novel by Shaun David Hutchinson, published January 19, 2016 by Simon Pulse with a 24-page companion story, "What We Pretend to Be", published on the publisher's website, Riveted, later that year.

Shaun David Hutchinson is an American author of young adult texts. His novels often "combine speculative elements with LGBT characters and themes."

Lev A. C. Rosen, also known as L. C. Rosen, is an American author.

References

  1. ↑ Gonzalez, Antonio. "Finalists Announced for the 22nd Annual Lambda Literary Awards." Archived 2010-04-08 at the Wayback Machine Lambda Literary Foundation. March 16, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Rainbow List 2010." Booklist. March 1, 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Interview with Patrick Ryan/P.E. Ryan, the Author of Saints of Augustine and Send Me." Archived 2011-07-08 at the Wayback Machine Ready When You Are, C.B. December 23, 2008.
  4. ↑ "Richmond Organization for Sexual Minority Youth". rosmy.org. Archived from the original on 2017-04-29. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
  5. ↑ Coats, Karen. "In Mike We Trust (Review)." Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 62:8 (April 2009) p. 334.
  6. ↑ Burner, Joyce Adams. "Out and About: Gay Teens Live, Love, and Learn in Young Adult Fiction." School Library Journal. August 4, 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.