Barnes, David-Matthew (March 1, 2015). Fifty Yards and Holding. 184p. Bold Strokes Books. $11.95. ISBN: 978-162639-812. Paperback.
Victor and Riley could not be more different, but their lives are about to intersect. Victor is a newly ascended gang leader who is on the verge of dropping out of high school amidst gang violence, the murder of his friends, and a turbulent home life. Riley comes from a “golden family” where he attends a private school, and he rules the baseball team. But when Riley’s dad cheats on his mom, divorces her, and takes all his money with him, Riley and Victor are thrown together at school. Though each of them is loathe to admit their feelings, their instant spark proves that they are destined to be more than just friends.
This book explores these two characters relationship from meeting each other to falling in love. The book is a romance but is rarely explicit. Instead, it explores the lives of these two young men in California. Barnes has an eye for detail that comes through nicely in this story, and the chapters flow easily between various characters points of view while spending the majority of the time on the main couple.
My strongest reaction towards this book is that it has an overload of tragedy. And I’m not saying that that is necessarily a bad thing. But there is divorce and gang murders and turf struggles and destructive families and suicide attempts and abject poverty and isolation and so much more. It really feels like neither of these main characters can catch a break. While I realize that life is like this for some people at some times, this book starts heavy and doesn’t really get any lighter for its entire length. The tone is very similar to Barnes’s 2014 book Stronger Than This which was concerned with coping with grief after the death of the loved one.
This book is recommended for young adult audiences and for libraries that collect YA literature. Please be advised that the cover of this edition does not really match the tone or story of the book.
John Mack Freeman
