During the summer, I went down to London for a weekend and had to visit Gay's The Word, a local queer bookshop. It was there that I bought One Love written by Matt Cain. I love queer literature, especially if it's British, and with bonus points if it's set in Manchester, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to read it.
One Love follows the story of Danny and Guy, two men who share a profound bond lasting 20 years, and who attend Manchester Pride together. Throughout the novel we see flashbacks to their former lives, from their time as students at the University of Manchester to their adult lives, the relationships they form, and everything in between. However (spoilers!), Danny is hiding that he's in love with Guy, which creates an interesting and complex dynamic over the course of Manchester Pride. One Love made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me reflect. It's rare for me to read an entire book in one day, but I did just that.
What initially drew me to One Love was how relatable it felt from the get-go. As a 20-year-old gay man living in Manchester and studying at UoM, the experiences of the two main characters, as they navigated the weird and wonderful experiences that queer life in Manchester has to offer, felt very close to home. The constant sprinkling of familiar names like the Victoria Park halls, Uni Green, Via, and Eagle, made me feel like I was living this adventure alongside the main characters.
Both characters also have very compelling backstories. Danny is from a single-parent household in Barrow-in-Furness and suffered extensive bullying at school for being effeminate. Meanwhile, Guy is from an affluent background in Buckinghamshire, with parents who have a very clear idea of the kind of life they want their son to lead (hint: it certainly doesn't involve a relationship with a man!).
Despite being from completely different backgrounds, Danny and Guy both find freedom and liberation both in Manchester and in each other, having never previously had the opportunity to be validated. This coming-of-age element of the story is so poignant; Danny and Guy come from very different lives and yet are united in their shared oppression of growing up as queer men in unaccepting environments. They soon become best friends and develop a deep bond that stands the test of time.
One Love also approaches the theme of social class, a subject that's intensely woven into the fabric of British society. Danny is from a working-class background and has a clear northern accent; this creates conflict between himself and Guy's parents when Danny goes to Buckinghamshire to visit them. Guy's parents openly mock and disparage Danny's accent, going so far as saying that Danny could audition for a role in Coronation Street or Shameless. As a proud Northener from a working-class, single-parent family myself, I can intensely relate to Danny. Being from Liverpool, I too have been at the butt of jokes about stealing things or supposedly 'eating rats in my council house'.
That chapter made me think long and hard about intersectionality; while there are certain experiences that virtually all gay men have had, such as homophobia in some form, no two experiences are the same. People in the LGBTQ+ community often face many other forms of oppression and discrimination that have an impact on their queer identity, such as racism, misogyny, religious discrimination, ableism and class discrimination. In the face of this, I love how One Love approached Danny's intersectional oppression as both a gay man and as someone from a working-class background.
Being queer in a society defined by heteronormativity is complicated. We attribute heteronormative labels to all stages of a relationship when the reality is that human bonds are far more complex than to be placed in a defined label - an issue I'm sure that many queer people have experienced at some point in their lives. Part of the confusion of coming to terms with one's sexuality and gender identity is down to society being so eager to place labels on intangible things. Danny and Guy aren't "friends", nor are they "boyfriends", nor even "friends with benefits" - they're simply Danny and Guy. Their relationship cannot be boxed into a single label, and that's just beautiful.
A review of One Love would not be complete without reaching out to its author. Born and brought up in Bury and Bolton, Cain now lives in London with his husband, Harry, and their cat, Nelly. But he's only an Instagram message away. When I asked Cain what inspired him to write One Love, he cited One Day by David Nicholls as a source of inspiration. One Day made him reflect on how the blurred boundaries between friends, and romantic and sexual relationships manifest differently for gay men. He was inspired by how all people, irrespective of sexuality, should create relationships that resemble their uniqueness as individuals, instead of being boxed into specific labels.
Cain deliberately wrote Danny and Guy to be very different characters, not just to explore social class but also to explore the differences in the experiences of effeminate gay men like Danny and straight-presenting, conventionally attractive gay men like Guy. Cain drew upon his own experiences of feeling like a "second-class gay" and suffering homophobic bullying while he was growing up to write Danny's character.
What intrigued me the most when speaking to Cain was hearing about how he wanted Danny's low self-esteem to manifest itself. Over the course of the book, Danny suffers from abysmal self-esteem and turns to alcohol, partying, and casual sex as an adult. Danny seeks external validation, primarily from Guy, who he sees as a 'perfect gay'. He feels as though, if Guy could love him, it would solve Danny's own issues with poor self-esteem.
It isn't until Danny attends a panel discussion after a walk around Oxford Road and the university campus that he realises that his ability to feel happiness actually comes from within himself. This is an intense period of character development for Danny, and what I found really touching was when Cain told me that the main characters in all his books undergo a similar personal journey.
With the academic year only just starting, I asked Cain what advice he would give to LGBTQ+ freshers. He said to take every opportunity that Manchester offers, and to be who you're meant to be. As someone who came to Manchester as an 18-year-old queer in 2022, I couldn't give better advice.
One Love is such a relatable story; it mixes the magic of student life in Manchester and finding one's footing, with the confusion of adulthood & understanding relationships. It also brings something unique to the wealth of queer literature in addressing heteronormative labels that are attributed to all relationships. One Love was certainly worth the read; I would give it six stars if I could!
Comments
Powered by DisqusComments are provided by Disqus.