Book review: Gay author's new novel engrossing, not graphic

If you are curious about the novel Courage only because it would be the first work of Chinese gay fiction you have read, know this - it is not that gay.

You do not need to identify with homosexuals to read gay fiction, but you do need to at least identify with love, a precondition to understanding and accepting the plot of Courage, which may be at odds with stereotypes held by some readers about relationships between men.

There are various ways of interpreting author Xiao Jie's - a sobriquet, his real name is Jay Sun - handling of the subject. But from its cover to its content, the novel depicts a love story similar to many others describing passion's unspoken attachment. It's just that the main characters are young men.