Metes and Bounds: A Novel (Jay Quinn)

I bought METES AND BOUNDS a few years ago and read about half of it at that time but didn't finsihed it (I don't know why I didn't finish it at that time). This week, I read it from cover to cover. It is a pretty quick read having completet it in about 9 hours. There are some characters I would have loved to get to know more about (e.g. Jeep) and some that I would prefer that had never been included (e.g. Tillett). While the place-in-time is not always easy to follow in moving forward and back and in between in time, it eventually becomes clear and should n ot be a reason to stop reading the book. I greatly enjoyed this book (the dialects are fun with me being a good ol' boy from the Southeast, too) and I regret that it took me this long to finish it. Maybe if a sequel is written, we'll get to learn more about Jeep...maybe a book written during the same period from his angle. I'd love to read his thoughts and fears.

Were this a library book I would have returned it unfinished, but already bought and paid for I braved it to the end. A sophomoric tale at best, the characters nothing more than thinly drawn stereotypes and caricatures. The numerous grammatical errors (in the narrative, not those in the dialogue) were annoying and distracting. Quinn's use of the flashback was cumbersome and confusing, often leaving this reader uncertain as to what was happening when. Even the author lost track of his own story at times. Case in point, Tiger and Mark bought Matt a "single fin" surfboard, yet when Matt wiped out on that board and discovered that he was bleeding, he thought, "One of the fins must have sliced me." Not, the fin sliced me. Most disturbing is the historical inaccuracy regarding AIDS. The story takes place in 1983, yet when Matt ends up in hospital, he is alleged to have been given an "AIDS test" and the results were received the same day. The first "AIDS test" was not approved by... Read more

Good looking Matt is seventeen years old, while not yet out he knows he is gay but it something of a surprise when his father intimates that he understands, and arranges for Matt to go and live with his young uncle Tiger on the North Carolina coast. Tiger is beautiful, slight of build, fair haired and with yellow eyes, yet an outcast to the rest of Matt's family. The story takes us through Matt's first year with Tiger, along with Matt's recollections of past events in his life. He describes the growing all male family; Tiger and his lover Mark and Mark's son Shane, and Billy an "adopted" local young waif. He relates his various sexual encounters from the tender to the rough; and we watch him grow in maturity and awareness. All this is played out against the back drop of the Atlantic coast and surfing in the early 1980s. This is a beautiful and different coming of age story; while Matt experiences his ups and downs the story has an easy aimlessness and pleasantness about it, enabling ... Read more

This was a great read. I've never been to the south but after reading this book I feel like I have. Jay Quinn is a gifted author who's characters are unforgettable. The range of emotion and experience captured in this book is awesome. I found myself being caught up in Matt's life and feeling the struggles he faced in such depth. I really felt as though I had a special front row seat all the way through this book. It's a great read for anyone who really enjoys a good coming of age story.

METES AND BOUNDS is the story of the young Matt who leaves home after high school and goes to live with his uncle Tiger and his lover Mark on the North Carolina shore. Mr. Quinn tells a good tale. In fact, he is a better storyteller than a writer although his prose is certainly adequate. He gets the Southern experience right-- with sweet tea, Pepsi and Aqua Velva; and rows are "hard to hoe." A toboggan is a cap worn in winter, something that few people outside the South have ever heard about; and coffee keeps kids from getting "wormy." Mr. Quinn is dead right-- no pun intended-- in the funeral home scene. Rural Southerners have traditionally been as attracted to funerals as truckers to country music. The author writes about surfing too with complete authority; Matt's surfing accident seems totally believable. Although I find this story a tad too rosy-- is it possible that two adult men can live together with two male children under the age of 13 in a small coastal area of North Car... Read more