As Far As You'll Take Me

So I want to start by saying this book is good. But I wasn't quite expecting what I found. Honestly, I enjoyed Marty's story and at the beginning had so much anticipation for how he was going to resolve the discord between his parents, his ‘best friend' and ultimately whether he was going to be able to remain in London, after leaving Kentucky ‘for good'.


I loved reading Marty's thought process throughout and I think the way Stamper initially introduces Marty's eating disorder and his anxiety, I think that is done really well.

I was expecting more before the breakdown of his first relationship but I'm glad the end up separated but still friends, I honestly wasn't sure what kind of a relationship this would be and Pierce really kept me guessing along the way.

I also love the tremendous amount of detail that Stamper goes into when he talks about music. You can really tell that he looks at the subject with so much fondness, as do I, and it comes from a really empowered place.

I liked the fact that his relationship with his hometown changed but I don't think the portrayal of the resolution of conflict caused by the homophobia he received, anxiety and eating disorder were done particularly well. But I'm also glad that it didn't try and resolve those by making something extremely dangerous or climatic happen, it's nice to see issues represented that demand to be dealt with done so in a meaningful way without the use of too much melodrama.

I think the book took on a lot of themes that it quickly resolved. There's conflict with Marty's parents and it's heavily implied that if/when his parents find out that he isn't planning on returning to Kentucky they'd in some way force him to return. And yet by the end of this story this conflict is half-resolved by a sudden change of heart and a paragraph or two. I'm glad these things were represented though I think they needed more space and it ultimately led to this book lacking substance.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this book. It almost felt rushed towards the end where I would have perhaps liked to have seen Pierce and Marty breakdown overtime, travel more and develop connections with friends. A lot more could have been done to make the reader truly connect with the characters a bit more and give them more of a three-dimensional quality.

Stamper's writing and storytelling is much improved from his debut novel and it was a joy to read but I felt like there was room for so much more and I could have easily read more of Marty's story. I look forward to reading more from this author because I think we need stories that represent such a diverse and individual audience.

This book was written by an American, for an American audience. So...not me, a Brit who actually knows about London, unlike the author of this book.
Couldn't get past the huge inaccuracies to enjoy the story (not that the story was wholly enjoyable in the first place) because every time someone mentioned something about Britain that was so not British it just took me out of the story.

Marty was kinda boring, just like every other character in the book. To be honest, everything was kinda boring in this book, even the instrument parts, and I'm a woodwind player myself!

Anyway, I can understand why people could like this book. The story it tells could be compelling for some, and the inaccuracies may not be noticeable or bothersome to others. But not me :/