Tayari's Blog: City Boy By Jean Thompson

The plot of City Boy is pretty straight forward. A young couple, Chloe and Jack, move to Chicago in an effort to start a new life together. Really good writers, like Thompson, can take a simple plot and put together a story that will sort of rip your guts out and make you beg for more.

I'm drawn to this novel for several reasons, not least of which being that I am a personal expert in heart-brokenness, so I like to read about the condition. Secondly, Thompson has chosen to set the novel in Chicago, her hometown. I set most of my work in my own hometown, so I was curious to see how Thompson (a National Book Award Finalist) writes about her own.

The short version is that Chicago is almost another character in this novel. It's even more remarkable to think that Thompson is able to write about her home town as seen through the eyes of a stranger to the city.

And speaking of writing other view points... did I mention that the main character is a man? Everyone goes on and on about how Flaubert was able to write Emma, I want to talk a bit about how Jean Thompson was able to write Jack. Even the intimate scenes. (You know what I mean.)

So, read this book. Read it right now.