Stephen (USA: MD) (2011/11/19):
Freaky Friday, Seventeen Again, they both deal with a favorite fantasy, that of being young and vital again but retaining what we've learned in life's school of hard knocks. This book is a gay man's take on that theme. Jack Ackerly is a self made millionaire who's worked hard his whole life and now at 53 he feels he's missed his youth. Corey Szalo is 26, still young and attractive but starting to panic because there are always younger prettier kids on their way up and he's pretty much frittered away his life so far. He's broke with no prospects and no skills. When Jack meets a new age wiccan that claims she can put Jack into a younger body if the man in the younger body agrees to a swap he goes looking and finds Corey. While this deal sounds a bit Faustian, where's the harm if both parties agree? Well, the novel poses the question and then explores the outcomes in a mostly serious way with an apprciative eye for the inherent comedy in the situation. This story may cover ground that's already been explored but it takes new turns and brings up new points that have gone unexamined. And it does it in an entertaining manner. Both main characters and most of their friends are interesting people that you come to care about and by the end you're hoping that the author has a way of untangling all the knots he's created. I'll leave you to find that out for yourselves. It's certainly worth the journey. One note... several other reviewers mentioned the length of this book and it is one of the longer novels I've read this year but I didn't really mind the length while I was reading it. And there really weren't any parts that I could suggest eliminating.
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