The Backlot Gay Book Forum discussion

Shut Your Face, Anthony Pace!
Claire Davis and Al Stewart
Published by Beaten Track, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-78645-055-5
Cover design by Noah Homes
Five stars

Charlie Woods and Anthony Pace have known each other since they were five. Charlie’s mop of hair is blond; Anthony’s is red. They are both odd ducks, these boys, but Charlie is on the autism spectrum, while Anthony is just…peculiar. This is the story of their first day at college; it is also the story of their long friendship and how the greatest crisis of Charlie’s life changes them both.

This lovely, touching, amusing book made me think of Mark Haddon’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time,” which I have both read and seen performed (brilliantly) on stage. What is important to note is that these two stories are set similarly, in the UK; and that that Charlie is clearly far more functional than Haddon’s teenaged protagonist. Charlie copes; having first been taught to cope by his Mum, Alice, and for the last thirteen years having been assisted in coping by his brilliant, quirky best friend Anthony. These two young men know each other. Anthony knows Charlie even better than Charlie knows Anthony. Charlie has many fears, one of which is that Anthony will decide one day that he doesn’t want to be his friend any more. Anthony, on the other hand, has his own ideas.

The only secondary players in this poignant little comic drama are Charlie’s Mum and Anthony’s family—his hippy parents, his medical student sister, her pre-school daughter Kylie and Kylie’s absurd Chihuahua Princess Arabella. The Pace family is messy and unconventional, and that seems to be a comfort to Charlie. It challenges everything Charlie needs to maintain order in his own life, and yet the Paces treat Charlie with such unstinting and unwavering love that he simply copes.

Well written, tightly narrated, filled with humanity.