Not for me. Here the negative points:- the prison doesn't look like a real prison: for ex. the inmates can move around freely most of the time, in fact it looks like a branch of the Club Méditerranée. The explosions of violence are not enough to make the prison real- which gay man right in his head would start to sexually provocate his fit and bulky cellmate as soon as he arrives in the new cell?- often sappy- the gay for you theme is not well handled- stereotypical characters: the good and the bad warden, the bullies, ...- characters' behaviour is often too contradictory or beyond comprehension - language and dialogues are flat, sometimes awkward. For ex. the description of the new cellmate: ''The man looked about thirty, two years younger than Dane...'', have you ever managed to tell so precisely someone's age? I suppose the writer was trying to give us information regarding both ages at the same time. In fact the book is also rushed, we are often simply told ''xx time passed''.And a request for information. English is not my mother tongue, maybe a native speaker could explain me following sentence: ''You are the most wonderful human being I ever met before, Bailey''. Before? The explanation is not in the following sentence which is: ''I never would have survived in jail without you''. My main complaint with And So Is Love is the lack of realism in the prison setting. You'd think these guys have nothing to do but eat and hang around the library and gym, at will to go wherever they liked. I also wasn't too happy with the blatant emotionalism Bailey shows and Dane accepts. I mean, I really don't believe any man who talks about how he feels so "safe" when another man sleeps with him, but especially a man like Bailey in the situation he's in. I know another reviewer has mentioned the gritty realism of the book, but I really don't see it that way. I also felt as if the characterization was not consistent. However, there was good writing and good intensity, so this is probably a 3.5 star book.
What do You think about And So Is Love (2010)?
almost sugary sweet, likeable overall. Sounded a lot of "OZ" without the dreadful ending.
—naik
