Just trying to fit in

Iraklis Pagounes

Money Boy

By: Paul Yee

Do you ever have that feeling where you want to block out everything and just worry about yourself? Ray Liu, the 18 year old protagonist feels the same way. Ray moved away from China to live in Canada 4 years before the book starts. Before him and his family immigrated, his parents got divorced. His father remarries and his mother eventually travels back to China to find a job. Ray doesn't like living with his Chinese army veteran father because he likes to be lazy and wants him to do better in school.

On top of this all, Ray has to deal with his own problems of being gay. Though know one in the family knows this, Ray's dad has become suspicious after looking in his search history. To his surprise he finds gay culture websites and is immediately filled with anger to the brim. “those sites, did you visit them?”(27). Ray is thrown out of the house and must learn to live on the streets of Toronto. Along the way he meets other gay men and wonders about becoming a money boy, a Chinese slang term which means a man who sells his body on the streets, in order to make a living for himself.

All in all, I liked this book but I didn't love it. The book felt rushed, which isn't too surprising because the book itself is less than 200 pages. If it was given more length I think it would have been a much better read. What I also found interesting is this book accurately depicts the incredible tension between highly traditional parents who are used to having a dictatorial role in their children's lives and the kids who are being raised surrounded by a completely different culture and are struggling to break free.

This book connected with me because growing up with immigrant parents, they hold high standards that aren't always easy to attain, just like how we see in Rays situation. “He needs foreigner friends”(23). Another theme that I thought was relevant to today's world is sexuality as a whole. Millions of people in today's world are trying to figure out who they are and just like Ray, his parents are not very supportive in his choices. A lot of people struggle with their parents not being 100% on board with them being gay and this can lead to other negatives things.“Go home and go back to school”(161).

This is a good read for teenagers and would appeal to you if you like short stories that are relevant in today's world. For people older than 18, I would not recommend this because it is a bit to basic and would not fit your liking. An author that is similar to Paul Yee is James Patterson. Their writing styles are similar and kids that read these books are in the same age ball park.