Love On The Big Screen

Hello
Hope your day is going just great so far
Today I am sharing with you my personal thoughts to a book I've just finished
called

Love On The Big Screen
The Torg Web-site

Meet Zuke, a college freshman whose understanding of love has been shaped by late-eighties romantic comedies, and who attends a school so strict it's against the rules to go to the movies. Zuke and his buddies, separated from the women on campus and forced to entertain themselves, form a club called the Brothers in Pursuit, which holds weekly meetings during which all the members dress in matching and embroidered boxer shorts, stand at attention to Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors," and report back to one another on their objectives: God, knowledge, compassion, and women. Love on the Big Screen is a novel of friendship, the dangers of romanticized love, the complexities of faith and real life, and what happens to one young man as he finds out that life is nothing like the movies he loves.
(synthesis taken from back cover)

First of all...I Loved the male club title given to the character Zuke and his fellow friends involved...
"Brothers in Pursuit" (Zuke, Cowboy, The Dini, Moon, and Flabby)...Young Men whom are in pursuit of God,
knowledge, compassion and women. Through out reading the book I tried to picture the young men I went to school with and pair them up with the characters I've mentioned above. A few came to mind and one I thought could be Zuke.(so, I chuckled through out reading and thought how fun it would be to send a copy to all and get reactions...if that doesn't happen, I will definately share with my male classmate buddies)

My experience:

I really enjoyed reminiscing my beloved decade of choice through this book and enjoyed reading of places mentioned that I know about and have visited by living close.(I've had a similar experience of a memoir novel I read not long ago set in Richmond IN)
So, placement of where the story takes place was Fun for me...

Reading about Zuke, who has unrealistic expectations about Love created through the 80's movies he loves, gave me an inside look into what it's like for a male to experience mid-west conservative Christian college life in the late 1980's...something I never thought about at all since College Life was never an option/or should I say, an option I wanted to pursue at that time in my life. Aww Zuke, the poor guy...I did feel bad for him in a sense.(I've been there...just in a different way. What woman doesn't experience The Cinderella Syndrome...if she's honest with herself anyway) Isn't that what Hollywood film/TV/even fiction novels can do to every normal mid-westerner??(of course, speaking personally...and I'm sure to us all~no matter where we live) Unrealistic expectations of Life on subjects that we really need to learn to be realistic about. For me, back in the late 80's it was dreaming of "getting the heck outta dodge" and jumping onto a bus headed out to California to experience the sunset strip and run with all the hair bands I still love today. You know, I still entertain myself with such dreams but I'm definately living in the real world when it comes to Love and Life.(although don't ask my family...they'd probably say I do live in a fantasy world most days)

So, basically we learn about Zuke and his Love life in a strict college setting, his male relationships and experiences with being on a college basketball team. We also learn of his choices and the consequences of them...and we see growth(at the end...or should I say, in this chapter of his life)...but, isn't that life? Yes. And that's what I think Bill Torgerson portrayed here in this book...actual feelings/actual confusion/actual ways one plays out their life to lead themselves to the next chapter...without even realizing it.

I am anxious for the next chapter...hopefully about Zuke in the real World with wife/kids/job.

I've had the privilege to meet Bill through the internet(hopefully in person someday soon) and reap of his generous spirit for The Backyard Beauty and Book Boutique...

Books Bill Sent for my Boutique

I appreciate his prose and love of literature.

If you're interested in reading Love On The Big Screen come by my Backyard Beauty and Book Boutique today to grab a copy.

Blessings to all
Carolyn