Jamie is a hermit. Having left school some years ago now, he still can’t shake the identity of the shy kid who was bullied back then and so he’s taken to spending life in his bedroom. This way, he doesn’t have to talk to anyone other than his online gaming friend plus he can go for weeks without showering and ignore his mum’s moaning about him getting a job. But this becomes a slippery slope into ‘incel’ life when his only friend tells him the group is a haven for people ‘just like him’.
After reading and reviewing Nicolas Padamsee’s England is Mine for The Debut Digest last year, I’m very interested in fiction of this ilk that explores the dissilusionment of teenage boys. And Chris McQueer writes this with such powerful emotion. Hermit is a novel that unpacks complex mother/son relationships, examines the unhealthy trappings young men fall into, absent father figures, domestic abuse, anxiety and agoraphobia all in a tidy 325 pages with gripping short chapters.
What I loved about Chris McQueer’s writing is his ability to capture these tiny micro-moments between mother and son that somehow carry the weight of their entire relationship. What starts out on the surface as a lazy young boy rolling his eyes at his mother, quickly becomes much more sinister yet the tone remains sensitive and understanding even in its darkest moments. I think this is a book that will hit incredibly close to home for lots of readers, both young men and those who care about them and especially anyone who has watched vulnerable people be manipulated by dangerous ideologies and struggled to navigate the relationship thereafter. This is one of the most real and honest depictions of family life I’ve ever read and it really scratched an itch inside me. Not only will I be waiting with bated breath for more Chris McQueer novels but I will be going back to read his short stories. An impeccable new voice in Scottish literature.
Reviewed by Abi
Published on 27/02/25 by Headline
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