Review of Hard Journey of the Heart: Jesse's Story

[Praise GodWord]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Hard Journey of the Heart: Jesse's Story" by Mark Zullo.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Hard Journey of the Heart: Jesse’s Story by Mark Zullo is a romance story that captures the romantic world of gay men. The author tells the story of Jesse, a young boy whose childhood is plagued with bullying, name-calling, and heartbreaks. Even as a child, Jesse began to satisfy himself sexually and discovered quite early that he might have sexuality different from other guys. He fights to accept this even in adulthood. This book is a diary that captures Jesse's love life. In his search for true, lasting love and happiness, Jesse's flaws seem to always get in the way, leaving him with a string of flirts and gay lovers. Jesse treasures his friendships, and it is heart-rending for him to lose his friends. As a climax, Jesse builds a successful musical career that gives him a much-desired acceptance and recognition, but he desires, above all these, a happy life with his partner. Can Jesse have it all working out?

In this book, the author tries to introduce the reader to the sexual life of gay lovers. I enjoyed the author's creativity as he painted mind pictures of sexual activities of gay lovers, describing them as people who are capable of profoundly loving their partners just like any other lover. I think it is pretty easy to appreciate the value of true friendship and love that he portrayed. This reaffirms the truth that love and friendship should go hand in gloves for a fulfilling relationship.

I also liked the way the author presented infidelity and its possible consequences. Just as seen in any relationship today, infidelity leaves the party involved farther away from fulfillment. Also, in this book, I learned that proper parenting could also mean accepting a child's personality, just the way it is. The life of a character, Carlos, showed an example of this fact. I was particularly intrigued by a point the author made, which was, acknowledging that even the gays need God and that God also expresses His love to them, regardless of what others may think about them.

For me, the negative aspect of this book was the use of a foreign language in some sentences without an interpretation. This language appears to be Spanish. This became a hitch in comprehending the actual meaning in some passages. Also, there was no concurrence and flow in the chapters. This will leave the reader confused, as it would be difficult to follow the stories of some characters.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars due to the issues mentioned above. The book was exceptionally well edited, as there was no error in the book. This book will be very appealing to gay individuals and couples. I do not recommend this book to readers sensitive to explicit sexual content and young readers.

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Hard Journey of the Heart: Jesse's Story
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