Slovakian Boy

Rating:
Summary: Adolescent Coming-of age, Slovakian Style!
Review: As a writer myself (DIARY OF A HUSTLER), and as someone with a day/night job, I don't find myself with nearly as much time as I'd like, these days/nights, to sit down and read a book. When I do find the time, I want a book that'll provide me a genuinely good time.

William Maltese's SLOVAKIAN BOY provides a really good time. I'm talking a really-really good time. It manages the same kind of humor (subtle and laugh out loud) that I try to provide in my writing, and that's what makes this a book one I so thoroughly recommend (little persuaded as I was, with my short attention span, by others' more literary references that compare this one to Scherazade, or "Six Degrees of Separation", or Satyricon).

Maybe I found this book so entertaining because I so "related" to Pavel, the young Slovakian boy, and hero, trying to come of age (and come out). If he does what he does in faraway bucolic Slovakia, he's -- nonetheless -- still just as much a trying-to-find-his-way teenager as a lot of us are, or as a lot of us once were (no matter where we are/were at the time).

An admitted fan of Maltese's writing, he's done himself big-time proud, with this one. Take it from me: SLOVAKIAN BOY is a genuine keeper (and a probably a destined-to-be classic of the gay coming-out/coming-of-age genre to boot!).

Rating:
Summary: GENUINELY FEEL-GOOD NOVEL!
Review: As obviously talented as William Maltese is as a writer, who would have guessed even he could take a simple coming-of-age story of an attractively rustic Slovakian boy and turn it into this joyously rollicking tour-de-force good-time literary romp through the Eastern European countryside, calling to mind John Fielding's promiscuously entertaining (albeit western European) Tom Jones character?

There's not a negative vibe to this book. It starts on a high and keeps going higher, from first page to last. I kept thinking it couldn't get any better or any more fun, but it did.

If I'm a fan of Maltese's short stories (CALIFORNIA CREAMIN', SUMMER SWEAT) dominated by blue-eyed surfers and by dark-complected hustler types (and I am) ... if I'm a fan of his novels, plot-lead (THAI DIED, SS MANN HUNT) and sex-lead (WHEN SUMMER COMES, A CONSPIRACY OF RAVENS)(and I am) ... his SLOVAKIAN BOY has made me even more of a fan. So much so that I almost ran out and bought a plane ticket to Slovakia without even really knowing where it is.

Rating:
Summary: Passable if read correctly.
Review: First off, it must be noted that this book is for ADULTS ONLY!

On the front cover of this book are the letters XXX--how true, since this is nothing more than a "novel" version of a porno!! Sixteen males and one female briefly describe their desire for Pavel. But Pavel remains mostly in the background--it is every other person having sex.

The book is not "slo", but it is "vakian" pointless. If you do not want a real plot or story, then you will enjoy this book a lot more than I did. The horrible finale reveals what the book really is...an outline for a gay porno movie.

I did not care about any of the characters. They might as well have been the same person in each scene because they all claim to be super-well built....no one is of a normal build...again, a clear sign that this should be a XXX-rated film instead of a book.

Once I accepted what this book really was, I gave it some more credit. How often are we going to read a porno in book form?

Rating:
Summary: William Maltese has done it again!
Review: Slovakian Boy
By William Maltese

William Maltese's latest novel is a tour-de-force wonder of erotic adventure. The approach to story-telling could be likened to the "1001 Arabian Nights" or perhaps to Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales". The tale of teenaged "Slovakian Boy" Pavel is narrated by some 17 first-person story-tellers who by turns give their takes on this incredibly alluring and beautiful teen hunk from Slovakia.

At first the observers tell their stories about Pavel as they observe him "at work" just being sexy or beautiful. And Pavel does stay busy. Very "busy!" The observers naturally want to get together with the boy, but they don't, they just get the joy of "watching". But what a show Pavel puts on for them (and for us!!) The story tellers (even Pavel's little brother Willie) become so erotically charged from mere observation that their enthusiasm often erupts into a mad sexual adventure separate for the inspiration provided by Pavel himself.

Classmates, teachers, neighbors, foreign businessmen, old, middle-aged, young, very young, it doesn't matter. The sheer sensuality of Pavel turns everyone into a dizzy sex machine unable to control natural urges. And the adventure is great fun! Each adventure experienced by the reader in the end has him smiling, physically exhausted, satisfied, and amused. And needing rest! That Mr. Maltese's sheer inventiveness and powerful skill in getting it all down on paper for us to enjoy is the mark of a master.

I would guess that Mr. Maltese is an ex-patriot American or perhaps a Brit living in Europe, perhaps in Slovakia himself. The local characters that people the story, the names, even the short snippets of the Slovak language ring true and make the story not only sexy and erotically charged, but interesting and authentic.

The reader who enjoys fast-paced erotic literature is sure to love "Slovakian Boy." It is one book that may be read several times before being placed on the "To Keep" bookshelf in the reader's library.

Bravo, Mr. Maltese! I can't wait to see what your Scheherazade mind comes up with next in your delicious career as one of the best novelist of this genre of literature.