A prospective reader will know from the first sentence of Just by Looking at Him whether or not this will be a read for them – I honestly can’t say I’ve read another book that begins the same way, and it was enough to have me laughing from the start.
Elliott, our narrator, is a gay man in his thirties with cerebral palsy. When we meet him, his current relationship is unfulfilling, and he starts seeking out sex from others: namely, sex workers that his boyfriend Gus doesn’t know about. The novel follows Elliott through this journey of self-discovery and the ripple effects it causes.
There is so much to talk about with this book – Elliott’s narrative voice, the jokes, the genuineness of being disabled. Some chapters exist just to give us Elliott’s thoughts, to sit in a moment and allow him the space to breathe and think. O’Connell has a talent for character and a real sense of what makes people who they are, and it absolutely shines here.
This is by far the best book I’ve read so far in 2022, and I’ve read some pretty great stuff already. I know this will be a read I come back to and find more every time I read it, and I’m excited to get to do so.
A very big thank you to Atria and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.