GLBT Issue: Stray by Sheri Joseph

Posted April 6, 2008 by shooting in Uncategorized / 2 Comments

Stray by Sheri Joseph
Review by: Lauren

Paul left Kent. Kent got married to Maggie. Paul and Kent meet again. Kent tries to leave. Paul befriends Maggie. And trouble ensues.

By trying to get close to Kent through Maggie, Paul and Maggie end up starting their own kind of relationship. And Kent? He has no clue who or what he wants. As this three-part affair continues on, things get more mixed up and when someone is murdered, all the careful lies begin to unravel.

Stray started out slow for me, but it soon became very interesting and hard to put down. The relationships between all the characters involved felt real and well-done. Paul and Kent were a couple that never really seemed to have stability, and Kent soon found that in Mennonite Maggie. Paul, however, continued life by hooking up with random guys, even with one of his acting professors, Bernard Falk. Bernard invites Paul to move in with him, but with the passion in their relationship gone on Paul’s side and Bernard dying of cancer, it’s no wonder that Paul was so eager to welcome Kent back into his life.

Being the youngest out of the three (Kent, Paul, and Maggie), Paul was definitely my favorite. He wanted a family and someone to love, and feeling that way didn’t allow him to just let Kent go and made him search out Maggie, the one who had Kent.

The book showed all sides of the characters, letting you in and allowing you to see what they were thinking and their various motives behind their actions. Maggie always gives back and can’t say no, but what does that get her into? And how is her past affecting her future?
Kent misses Paul, who was the one that left, and still loves him, but he does love Maggie too. He isn’t gay; it’s just Paul.
Paul wants somewhere to go. Someone to love. He’s growing up in some ways, but he can’t in others.

Stray is a great story of love lost and love found and the many complications that occur when lives become intertwined.

2 responses to “GLBT Issue: Stray by Sheri Joseph

  1. Melissa

    Stray sounds really good! I have a suggestion for a GLBT book review: Tips on Having a Gay (ex)boyfriend by Carrie Jones. It came out last year and the sequel Love (and Other Uses for Duct Tape) came out this March.

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