Review of Stolid

[Krishi Shah]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Stolid" by Aaron D Key.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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Stolid by Aaron D. Key follows a man named Stolid who recounts his life experiences to a stranger who has given him a ride. Let me explain. The book opens on the road, where our lovely protagonist is, unfortunately, dripping wet in the cold weather, and no one stops to give him a ride or the warmth of their car. That is until a young man comes along who looks oddly familiar to the protagonist. Soon, Stolid takes a small nap, and when he awakens, the mysterious stranger asks him questions about his life. Stolid tells him about his life, the problems he faced, and the relationships he had as a gay man in an unforgiving society. The novel is beautifully shown to us through lenses of different timelines, as different stories and experiences are interwoven to accumulate some truly heartwarming character development.

First things first, I loved the narrative style. It was so beautiful and heartfelt. I could feel everything that Stolid was feeling. His romantic relationships were so different from each other, and it was fascinating to see because you could tell that they were equally important, but they left very different impressions on him. Every character had their own troubles. For instance, Joseph’s relationship with his father was certainly an interesting plot point, and I was very curious to see where it would lead. I loved the depth each character had; it added to the realistic feel and depth of the overall story.

I also loved the setting of the story; the car, the wonderful road, and the company were certainly intriguing. I would have to say that my favorite part of the story is the ending. I cannot say anything about it, but the character development and the symbolism truly had me in a chokehold. So utterly beautiful and warm. It is always lovely to see character development scenes that will stay with us for a long time. As I cannot say anything without giving away a spoiler, I definitely recommend that you read it!

There was nothing that I disliked about this book. I also thought it was well-edited and found no typos, only some grammatical errors, but they can easily be attributed to the casual dialogue style in the book. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves romance stories and has a soft spot for strong character development.

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Stolid
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