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This poignant novel tells the story of broken people coming together to help each other heal. Jack—the narrator and protagonist—paid his way through medical school by working as an amateur “skaterboi” porn star. This sex work draws the attention of Val Kepler, a Hollywood action hero with a history of broken relationships and drug abuse. Val is dying of cancer, and his troubled, addicted daughter Kat hires Jack to be her father’s caregiver. Jack moves to California, and he and Val embark on a passionate love affair. Val’s ex-wife and Jack’s father make brief appearances, further complicating the story’s web of relationships. In the end, these tortured characters try as best they can to achieve the peace that has eluded them.
Ramsey’s clear and sensitive prose effectively captures the vulnerabilities and emotional struggles of the different characters, especially later in the novel, as Kat and Jack must witness their beloved Val growing frailer. The story contains a great deal of explicit sexual content, especially in the early chapters. Though it does perhaps bend realism for an end-stage cancer patient like Val to have such a hearty sexual appetite, the book’s eroticism is powerful. It functions as a primary way for the characters to heal each other. The book also incorporates illustrations of the characters. The book quotes and riffs on Avril Lavigne’s hit song “Sk8er Boi,” which describes a young woman who turns down a suitor because “he wasn’t good enough for her.” By contrast, Ramsey’s novel shows that no matter how troubled and damaged someone may be, they are capable and worthy of love.