My review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNimXjenqsY&t=1s

This is one of the best books I've ever read. I finished this book last night and I've been trying to think about how I'm possibly going to write a review to capture the love I have for this book. This is a powerful story that spans decades and it follows a man named Cyril Avery from conception, till the end of his life. It's literally his entire life story, and it's fascinating and moving and beautiful. Cyril is a gay man born in a very conservative 1950's Ireland where the priests run the country and being gay is illegal. His battle with LGBT rights and dealing with homophobia from so many people in his life is a constant battle for him, which made this book increidbly depressing at times, but also very important.

The story begins with Cyril's birth mother, Catherine Goggin, being cast out from the church for being pregnant as a teenager and unmarried. She is alone without the support of her family, so she leaves town and moves to Dublin where she meets Sean and Jack, who take her in and help her out. From that point on, the story follows Cyril, Catherine's son, through the rest of his life. He gets adopted by this couple; Charles Avery and Maude Avery, and they are decent parents but they constantly remind him that he's not a "real Avery". He meets a young boy named Julian Woodbead, who becomes his fascination for years to come. This story not only discusses the LGBT rights in Ireland, but it even discusses the AIDS epidemic in New York City in the 80's.

This story has so much heart and humor mixed perfectly. It deals with some very serious, depressing issues like LGBT rights and how they were unaccepted by the church and by society, and the AIDS epidemic in the 80's and how people blamed the gays and claimed it was "their disease", but this book also has a lot of light-hearted, beautiful moments too. I felt so engrossed in the lives of these characters, and Cryil is a wonderfully complex and flawed character who I just felt so much for. There were so many shocking moments throughout the story and I found it hard to put down, even though this did take me a week to read. It's just a damn good story.

This story is bittersweet in the way that life is, I think. The ending got a little predictable but it didn't ruin my enjoyment of this book at all. And that very last page is something I could read over and over again, I just loved it.

I thought it wa sos interetsing that Cyril and his birth mother Catherine would meet again and again throughout the years, and not even realize who they were to each other! I was waiting literally the entire book for them to realize it and when they finally did, ugh it was so beautiful. That makes me sad that Catherine had another son Jonathan and Cyril never knew that that kid was his step brother, and by the time they finally realized who they were to each other, it was after Jonathan died. So crazy. Also, the fact that Cyril told Julian he loved him on the night he was marrying Julian's sister! I felt so bad for Cyril, that was just a terrible situation to be in. And then in the 80's when he finally reuined with Julian it is because Julian got AIDS. Which wasn't all that surpsing because of how sexual active Julian was, but oh my gosh that was so sad. I was crying when he held him in his arms as he died. Then Julian revealed that Alice had had a son, and Cryil has a son out there he never knew about!!! I was shook. That was so sad that Julian died, and then on that same night on the way home Cyril and Bastiaan got jumped in the park on th way home and Bastiaan was killed. ): It was very similair to what happened with Catherine's friends Jack and Sean in the beginning. Ugh. I was so happy for Cyril at the very end, watching his birth mother finally getting married, and even though he knows he's dying from this brain tumor, he realizes he's finally happy. That was such a bittersweet but perfect way to end it and askljdlaks. I just want to cry.

It's hard to describe every little thing I loved about this book without giving spoilers so just GO AND READ IT OK? You'll thank me later. I made a five star prediction video and I predicted I would give this book five stars, and I'm so glad I did! This is definitely one of my new favorite books of all time.

Predicting 5 Stars video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VatcPfLv2Dk