Reviewed by Amber
TITLE: Dear Alex
AUTHOR: Clare London
PUBLISHER: Jocular Press
LENGTH: 36 pages
BLURB:
Alex Palmer writes the “Dear Alex” Agony Uncle column for Meant for Men – a magazine aimed at gay men’s life and issues. What started as a genuine and ground-breaking feature has become a snark fest, due to Alex’s boredom and personal cynicism. His respect for the correspondents has dwindled away in direct relation to his own self-respect as a journalist. He no longer believes in his readers’ search for a soulmate, or in his own column’s headline: “Is He Really the One?”
In the early days, Robbie Cooke was Alex’s co-presenter on the magazine. They’d been lovers, too. But unlike Alex, Robbie still sees the anguish and need behind the letters they receive. He wants to help the writers, rather than turn their situations into journalistic entertainment. He and Alex may still have to work together, but their fundamental disagreement on how to run the column tore them apart as romantic partners.
Excess drinking and a succession of casual lovers is wearing Alex out, yet he’s in denial. He’s convinced he doesn’t need “Dear Alex” to set him straight about what’s wrong with his life. But when he’s alerted to the fact that Robbie may be in danger, he realises that what he’s really missing is his ex-lover’s care, compassion and love. The problem is, by the time Alex is desperate to make amends, Robbie may have already moved on.
REVIEW:
This was neither a hit nor a miss with me, middle of the road. One thing that was abundantly apparent is the fact that the writing in this story is exceptional. You cannot fault Clare London in any way shape or form for her writing skills. This author knows how to write. The problem for me, however, was the fact that this was such a short story I wasn’t given enough character development to really fall in love with either Robbie or Alex.
It would be remiss of me if I didn’t recognize how unique this plot really was. We were able to see what a cold man Alex had become just by his response to the letters that are written in to the “Dear Alex” column. It’s obvious that with the time that has passed and him having read some awful things lovers are capable of he’s just grown numb to it all.
Then on the other hand, there is Robbie who has only grown more compassionate to each individual that writes in. So much so that he makes it a point to respond to every single writer. Of the two, I definitely felt more for Robbie. He was without a doubt the good guy, while Alex played a good heartless cad.
We get snippets of their relationship before which seemed pretty significant and that really added to the plot, in general. I really enjoyed the tension between these two. They smolder so well on the pages, I lived for those short interactions.
There weren’t too many side characters of significance. Leila is a mystery though. I didn’t understand thoroughly her part or her significance. She was their boss, yes, but it was obvious their feelings for each other were more like friends. But then she’d be mean or hurtful, then give hate filled looks, then call concerned about one of them. It was all a little confusing for me but probably something that could be sorted out in a longer story.
I’d love to read more about these two someday but, overall a good story with fantastic writing!!
RATING: 
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