Travis is a blue collar recently moved to town to follow a job; he is gay and not in the closet, but that doesn’t mean it easy for him to find companionship, blind by one eye due to a stupid accident, people tend to avoid him or to judge before knowing. On the way back to home every day, Travis notices Drew, a same age guy who is always playing the guitar on the porch of his home. When he finds the courage to talk to him, Travis learns that Drew has aphasia, and that means that not only Drew cannot talk, he cannot write or read as well. Aphasia affects that side of the brain dealing with words, spoken and written. For Drew is even more tragic since he was a writer before his accident.
Someone could think they meet each other since they didn’t have any alternative, but instead I think they did since they were able to see beyond appearance due to their respective handicap. Travis and Drew’s story is sweet and tender, they have a sexual relationship as well, but that is really not main stage; it’s more important to highlight how they fulfill each other desire to feel the comfortable warm of another person, that fuzzy feeling of being loved and cared, that little jump in the heart when you know someone is expecting you and you will soon see him.
As I said, this is only a novella, but you really don’t need more; the reader is able to sympathize with both characters, to care for them, and yes, to hurt for them a little when life seems to obstacle them. And to be happy when everything will go the right way.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3105
Amazon Kindle: Speechless
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (July 17, 2012)
Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
