Title: Big Boys Don’t Cry: A Novel
Author: Jeanne Tompkins
Publisher: Diamond Media Press
ISBN: 978-1524662295
Pages: 834
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Reviewed by: Anthony Avina
Pacific Book Review
In a world of divided politics, personal tragedies, and violent clashes between governments and their citizens, some of the universal emotions and bonds we can share are those of love and romance. While love doesn’t always turn into a full-blown romance, those lucky few who do know that romance is not always the stuff found in a fairy tale – although at times it can feel like that. Romance can be complicated, painful, and can even turn on-and-off several times. Yet in the face of all of this, romance can be a truly powerful part of any relationship between two people, which makes the world feel a bit more magical. As famed feminist author Carolyn Gold Heilbrun once said, “Romance is the glamour which turns the dust of everyday life into a golden haze.”
In author Jeanne Tompkins’s Big Boys Don’t Cry: A Novel, the author explores romance through the eyes of a bright-eyed and determined professional woman looking to make her mark on the world. Working towards her educational goals while holding gown a full-time job, a run-in with her superior leads to a whirlwind romance which she could never have imagined. Yet, as her job and her love life seem secured and shining brightly, a scandal and misunderstanding sees her world torn to shatters. Determined to pick up the pieces of her life, she befriends her landlady’s disabled son and starts anew.
The author has a very richly detailed style with a well-crafted narrative. Driven by a relatable and mesmerizing cast of characters, the narrative does an incredible job of showing a protagonist which embodies true strength, both inwards and outwards alike, and fights to not only get respect for her work, but builds her strength-of-character as an individual as well in her romantic life. The lengthy volume allows readers to feel as if the world the author has crafted, is alive and buzzing; as each detail and added character adds nuance and vibrancy to the world. As readers became invested, they appreciate not only development in the characters, but the growing narrative as well.
This is the perfect read for those who enjoy women’s fiction, especially women’s fiction which includes hints of financial suspense and heavy doses of romance as well. What was so fascinating to me as a reader was the detailed way the author approached the financial mysteries and actions of the characters; as the background of the UK housing situation and taxes became the driving force of the protagonist’s arc outside of her personal relationships and romantic arcs. The balance that was struck between these two different storylines was truly harmonious, and made for an engaging read.
Entertaining, emotional, and detail-oriented, author Jeanne Tompkins’s Big Boys Don’t Cry: A Novel is a must-read novel! The emotional roller-coaster which the protagonist’s journey puts readers through is thought-provoking and engaging, and allows the cast of characters to feel intricately connected to this vast narrative world the author brings to life.
