Daniel Bois

I read this book in four days and I think I’m going to read it again! I laughed out loud, I gasped, I cheered, and I shed a few tears. Many of the moments were reminiscent of my early adult years as I was trying to figure myself out, and I could see myself and other people I knew in many of the novel’s complex, curious and dynamic characters. The novel doesn’t take itself too seriously; it’s written in the first person and you’re in the shoes of this young gay guy who is discovering and testing the world. I was entertained, and it made me want to explore the city of Toronto and connect with my siblings and friends. I hope there’s a part two!

Tales from the Bottom of my Sole picks up right where its predecessor left off! The gang is back and ready to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Toronto’s Kensington Market. While Pat Garneau and his band take center stage, Parker Kapoor takes on the mosh pit, and David Gallucci disappears into the night with his brother, leaving Daniel Garneau to make awkward small talk with a reveler’s mysterious edgy date. As the evening unravels with all its mischievous adventures, and thought provoking and illuminating conversations, as a reader you know you’re in for a treat! The sexual and adventurous shenanigans continue in this second instalment (which I thoroughly enjoyed), but this time David Kingston Yeh takes a much deeper dive in the psyche of its principal characters, including David Gallucci’s family. Never losing his sense of humor and lightheartedness, Yeh fleshes out the cornucopia of relationship styles with all the joy, curiosity, nostalgia, pain, acceptance, and bliss they bring about. By doing so, you are reminded of how expansive the heart and mind are. At times, I wanted to tell some of the characters to shut up or to snap out of it. I rooted for some, felt empathy and sorrow for others, and imagined how I could fall in love again, all the while I wondered what those shenanigans would look like on screen! Societal constructs force-feed what relationships and love ought to look and feel like. As the storytelling beautifully examines life un-bashfully, I am reminded that ‘normal’ doesn’t really exist. Each character of this novel manifests love in their own unique way, and all of it is bright and wondrous. As I read the last pages of the epilogue, it became very clear to me that the lives of these characters are but a mere reflection of our lives and the lives of others, which surround us every waking moment. I thought the first instalment was great, but this one -magnifico!