The Backlot Gay Book Forum discussion

Mikey and the Chickadee
By Kid Boise
Boise Urban Publishing Company, 2016
Cover by Jessalynn Tran
ISBN: 9780692629765

Four stars

This is a first novel by a young writer who describes himself as not having “settled down yet,” and whose pen name is more descriptive than anything. I hope he’ll use his real name someday, because there’s something here.

Wyatt is a blonde boy who grew up in a predominantly Asian neighborhood in Vancouver. Right out of university, and after his one summer of European travel with his two best friends, he’s settled into a job at an accounting firm in the city. It’s not exciting, but it feels like the right thing to do.

Then Wyatt spots a handsome Asian man on the bus to work one day, and after months of watching him, contrives to sit with him and start a conversation. Mikey, it turns out, is Thai, Vancouver-born, and grew up in the same suburban area that Wyatt did. There is instant rapport, and instant attraction. The one problem is that Mikey is apparently straight.

Being gay and coming out to his family were never a problem for Wyatt; figuring out how he wants to live his life has been the challenge. Mikey, on the other hand, has a sort of reverse problem: he’s found the ideal way to live his life, but is as confused about his sexuality as Wyatt is about his career.

This could be another of those eye-rolling “gay for you” fantasies that plenty of m/m writers and readers love. But Kid Boise does something quite different with it. Ultimately, “Mikey and the Chickadee” is story about why people make choices in their lives, and how sometimes their choices are made without really thinking about what would actually make them happy. It is not just Mikey and Wyatt; Mikey’s cousin Sophie, Wyatt’s family, and his friends Sloan and Marie, are all part of this complexly-woven plot in important ways. But it is Wyatt (who is the Chickadee of the title for adorable reasons) who is the centerpiece of the story, and it is his quest for a real self that drives the narrative. The oddly fragmented dance between Mikey and the Chickadee is the main narrative line, but it is everything else going on around their relationship that, in the end, matters the most.

Kid Boise has a fascinatingly stilted, almost nerdy writing style. It is mostly quite engaging and seems to fit Wyatt’s personality very well. There are many moments of beauty, lovely turns of phrase that give the reader a vivid sense of place and atmosphere. But there are also strangely constructed sentences that seem to be overthought to the point of confusion: “His voice had come stormlessly forth, convincing me that the small details truly did escape the outer limits of his headspace.” I’m still not entirely sure what that means. But even these flights of awkward fancy seem to suit Wyatt’s personality. He is over-analytical and cautious in ways that contrast strongly with his fun-loving nature when he’s with his family and friends. Like many of us, Wyatt is pulled in opposite directions by his heart and his head.

Keep writing, Kid Boise. I see you have a second novel on the way, and I look forward to it.