Until September

A bittersweet romance taking place in the summer, after all everything changes once September comes.

This was a wonderful novel taking place in the late 50’s where being homosexual was tantamount to a death sentence.

The romance between Kyle and Jack was realistic in its simplicity. The typical start, with the turbulent times, gave way to a lovely secret dalliance. I enjoyed the tale told from Kyle’s point of view. His reactions were truthful, if not a bit naive, to his age and the time he lived in.

I fell headfirst into Until September and didn’t want to leave, despite the fact that it truly broke my heart at times. Harker Jones writes in such a way that I didn’t so much feel as if I was reading, more that I was a ghost in Kyle’s world, watching his life play out before me in vivid hues of sunlight.

Kyle has been blessed in life in some ways, he’s rich, beautiful and smart. Every summer, him and his family go to their second house on a beautiful island, where he spends long summer days with his friends. But Kyle is haunted by the ghosts of his past, and being sensitive, he struggles to always relate to those around him. Then comes the summer when Jack arrives in his life; and suddenly, everything changes.
For me personally, the writing was just captivating and I hung on every carefully chosen word. Jones has written such a powerful and painful exploration of feeling, and how everything we do and the way we move in the world creates impacts we’re not even aware of. I found the characters emotions very raw and relatable, especially as the novel gives the readers very honest depictions of passion, death, heartache and longing.

I think Jones makes some very smart choices, and doesn’t choose to slip into what would be easy clichés for a gratifying outcome. Although painful at times, the characters experiences feel weighted in reality, especially as we weren’t gifted with a predictable ending.

There was something ethereal about Kyle’s world, and I longed to be a teenager within it, as I lost myself in nostalgia of a very different time. Amongst the teenage angst and tension, I found real beauty and a truthful portrayal.

In all honesty, I’ve never before highlighted so many phrases on a first read of a book, but I just found it all so poetic. There will definitely also be a reread, if I ever recover!

Until September is a beautiful, heart wrenching novel. It seems unfair to just say, it’s a coming of age novel, I found it much, much more than that.

i couldn’t put Until September down, nor did i want to, even when it was truly breaking my heart.

gay love stories set in this time really just hit me right in my heart, as someone who is gay and his it for so long due to fear i still can’t even comprehend how terrifying and heartbreaking it would have been to fall in love back then. and this story explored it in such a beautiful way that i was just obsessed with it.