For the Heart of Phillip by S.L. Danielson
In a way or the other all three men of this novel have their problem and they are not exactly the hero type.
When the story starts Phillip is 12 years old and he is already full of problem: he is a manic depressive and bipolar, he is under medication and convinced that no one will ever want him, not as a friend let aside as lover. Moreover he is a cronic undecided, he is not able to choose between one thing or the other, between one man and the other, and in the end, he doesn more damage than good.
Andrew is the 10 years old boy who befriends 12 years old Phillip. When they meet, Phillip has just started to realize that he is gay, but Andy is still too young; he sees Phillip as a big brother, his best friend, and he is very jelaous of him. Andy is a bit spoiled, I had the idea that he was a much wished child, and his parents even adopted before having him. When he arrived, his stepbrother was almost an adult, and so Andy grew up like a single child, with all the spoiled attitude of one. Nothing was denied to him, and no one: when he saw the possibility for Phillip to be separated by him, he “decided” that he was gay and that Phillip had to be with him.
Robert is the 16 years old guy same age Phillip met one summer. Gay like Phillip, and virgin like him, it seemed natural for them to be together. But they didn’t consider Andy, and of course Andy didn’t take it very well. In a way, Robert was not a bad guy, but I think he was too much naïve: once he realized that Phillip was not free, and he would never be, he should have let it go. Instead Robert focused on Phillip like he was his only chance at love.
I really don’t understand what Andy and Rob see in Phillip. While I can understand Andy’s fixation, given his past history with Phillip, I think Rob in a way chose to ruin his life. He had even the chance to start over, he found a good man who loved him, but he had always this idea that Phillip was the real love of his life, and sincerely Phillip has never once behaved like a good boyfriend.
On the other hand Andy did everything possible to lure Phillip to him, I think he even seduced him (if I read that part correctly), to then cheating on him as soon as they were finally together. Not only that, Phillip instead of leaving, or asking for a reason, cheated him back. And if someone wants to be finicky, he did that even before the material act, starting to think to another man.
All these ups and downs on the lives of these three men can only be justified by the fact they are really young, and I think also spoiled: all their parents, instead of trying to instill them a little of common sense, were always ready to support them in their mistakes, because they loved them, either because they were worried about the consequences of not to.
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