Barracuda

Danny Kelly is a living, breathing gay Greek protagonist, and the choices this driven young competitive swimmer faces about loving relationships—while he’s in the pursuit of athletic prowess—are written with a resounding ring of truth. Tsiolkas’ visceral sex scenes, underpinned by gripping descriptions of the desires behind the mechanics, speak to much more than the act itself. They go to the heart of identity in a novel with so many layers of self-definition: the migrant, the working class hero, the quintessential male, the stereotypical gay, the success story, and the abject failure. That Danny escapes his… show more.

This book is set in Scotland and Australia, with the narrator Danny looking back on his time as a schoolboy champion swimmer. Danny wins a scholarship to a private school on a sports scholarship and is bullied mercilessly. He’s not the most likeable character, but he’s obsessed with training and winning and you can’t help but feel for him as his life spirals downwards.

I love this book for its unflinching honesty and flawed main character. The class aspects are interesting too, with a boy from a working-class background feeling out of place in his new upper-class school. 

What fascinated… show more.