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The Vast Fields of Ordinary |  | Author: Nick Burd
Publisher: Dial
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $5.14
as of 3/19/2010 09:24 MDT details
You Save: $11.85 (70%)
New (33) Used (18) from $4.59
Seller: jwbooks10
Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 85663
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0803733402
EAN: 9780803733404
ASIN: 0803733402
Publication Date: May 14, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780803733404 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
Its Dades last summer at home. He has a crappy job at Food World, a boyfriend who wont publicly acknowledge his existence (maybe because Pablo also has a girlfriend), and parents on the verge of a divorce. College is Dades shining beacon of possibility, a horizon to keep him from floating away. Then he meets the mysterious Alex Kincaid. Falling in real love finally lets Dade come out of the closetand, ironically, ignites a ruthless passion in Pablo. But just when true happiness has set in, tragedy shatters the dreamy curtain of summer, and Dade will use every ounce of strength hes gained to break from his past and start fresh with the future.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 29
 best read in a long time March 9, 2010
Said Abu Jaber
i just couldnt put it down, i had the print-copy and the kindle copy, so i would have the book with me at all times, and in a manner of two days i finished reading it, Dade was a character that easy to relate to and fall in love with. plus, it spoke to me in many ways, the mother, and her inner conflicts, the distant father, and the isolating environment
 A wonderfully crafted novel March 9, 2010
Harold Burgess Dickens III (Mesquite, TX USA)
The Vast Fields of Ordinary is a great book that any teenager can relate to. As Dade, the main character, sifts through his emotions about college, his dissonant parents and his own love life, the reader will find that they can relate to the ups and downs he experiences. This book sometimes read very awkwardly but always held my attention. Nick Burd does a great job breathing new life into the tired "coming out" formula that many LGBT novels seem to follow. I can't wait to read any novel Nick Burd produces in the future.
Can a book warm your heart and break it at the same time? February 28, 2010
Larry Hoffer (Fairfax, VA)
This book opened with an epigram by e.e. cummings:
To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.
When I read that, I eagerly anticipated the actual story even more. And Nick Burd did not disappoint. I read this entire 309-page book in a few hours and was very sad when it was finished because it resonated with me so much.
It's the last summer before college for Dade Hamilton. He cannot wait to leave his stifling hometown and his parents' disintegrating marriage for what he imagines will be the idyll of college. Plus there's the matter of his sort-of boyfriend not wanting to acknowledge his existence most of the time, and a misfit from high school spread a rumor that Dade put the moves on her at a party. And then Dade meets Alex, the "dreamy loser" who makes him realize that he is worthy of being loved and living the life he wants to.
Nick Burd accurately captures the post-high school angst of his characters, the conflicts they have with wanting to fit in and be "normal" as well as wanting to live their lives the way they want. Dade is a complex character and Burd allows him and those around him to be both appealing and flawed. What I liked so much about the book is that Burd wasn't willing just to tie everything up with a neat bow at the end.
I don't read a lot of YA fiction but this, along with Peter Cameron's Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You, are two remarkable books worth reading.
A PHENOMENAL read for young adults January 28, 2010
C. Reyes
This book is a page turner at its finest. It's not just for young homosexual adolescents, but for anyone young person who's ever felt like their life is stuck in one place, dying to get out. The main character is one whom you'll instantly identify with, and the people who come and go in his life are people could definitely see in your own life. What unfolds is a mesh of beautiful and somewhat tragic, but overall completely lucid and accurate. Themes include divorce, outcast in high school, love, and homosexuality in general.
Overall, I completely recommend this novel to young people, 16 and up (not too old, but mature enough) who are trying to sort out their place in the world. It is worth every penny and you will feel some sort of deep connection to the main character by the end, if not in the first two chapters. Nick Burd's first novel is one not to miss. 5 stars, worth every penny, and phenomenal novel.
 It was OK January 25, 2010
rantboi (Dayton, OH United States)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I had high hopes for this novel because of some of the gushing reviews I've read about it. Unfortunately, this novel did not live up to my high expectations. I liked it well enough and it wasn't boring at all, but I can't say it was all that interesting either. I guess you could say I'm somewhere in the middle regarding this novel: I neither hate nor love it.
One of my main problems with this novel is that almost all the action in the book is initiated by the main character, Dade. This wouldn't be a problem if Dade wasn't painted as an introvert who doesn't have any friends and likes to write poetry in his room. Can you imagine someone like that going to a party they weren't invited to? Having a secret relationship with the popular guy in school? Following a person they just met and initiating contact? Well, I can't. Introverts don't go around acting like extroverts. So while the story did move along nicely, none of the actions Dade took to move the story along rang true to me. (Would you, right after coming out to your parents, ask them if your boyfriend can come over for dinner?) In fiction, when your characters go around doing stuff that's out-of-character, one never really accepts the fictional world as real on any level. For me as a reader, that's the worst mistake a fiction writer can make. Another annoying thing was that most of the music and bands mentioned in the book are actually fictional. As a music lover I wanted to check out some of the bands mentioned throughout to book only to find out that they didn't exist. Why make the music of a fictional band such a big part of the relationship between the two main characters? To make readers like me angry when we found out they don't exist?
Overall, if there's nothing else to read this book will do, but I wouldn't put it anywhere near my "must-read" list. I hope the author's next novel is better and that it maybe focuses on the Alex Kincaid character, who was far too interesting to be involved with a character like Dade!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 29
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