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Tom Houghton Kindle Edition

by Todd Alexander (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

6 ratings

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His whole life has been a fantasy.
Who is Tom Houghton?

As a boy growing up in the western suburbs of Sydney, Tom Houghton escapes the harshness of the schoolyard by cocooning himself in the cinema of the golden age of Hollywood.

When he discovers that his favourite actress, Katharine Hepburn, modelled herself on her brother, Thomas Houghton Hepburn, Tom sinks deeper into his fantasy life. Determined to reveal his true identity to the world, Tom is propelled on a torturous path with disastrous consequences.

Almost thirty years later, Tom is offered an acting role at a festival in Scotland. With the rigours of his past finally catching up with him, fantasy and reality struggle for control and Tom finds himself questioning everything he thought he knew about himself.

‘A wonderful, touching coming-of-age novel that is raw, confronting and tender at the same time.’ Better Reading
‘As tragic, confronting, hilarious and utterly true as the best of Matt Nable and Christos Tsiolkas.’ Books and Publishing
‘Written with enormous humanity and skill, and the characters spring off the page.’ Ann Turner, author of The Lost Swimmer

Length: 295 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled	Language: English

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Product description

About the Author

Todd Alexander has been writing for over twenty years. His work has been published in magazines and periodicals and his first novel, Pictures of Us, was published in 2006, and Tom Houghton was published in 2015. How to Buy and Sell on eBay.com.au has sold in excess of 30,000 copies. In 2010, his advanced guide to eBay, How to Make Money on eBay was published, followed by Why Pay Retail (2011), Get Your Business Online. . . Now! and Every Day Internet at Any Age (both in 2012), The New eBay (2013) and Check 100: Tips for a Successful eBay Business (2014). He lives in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales with his partner where they run a boutique vineyard and accommodation business, Block Eight.

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN : B00UDCHX28
Publisher : Simon & Schuster Australia (1 October 2015)
Language : English
File size : 2902 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 297 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 228,353 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 3,264 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books)
- 4,867 in Gay Fiction (Kindle Store)
- 5,434 in Gay Fiction (Books)

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6 ratings

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Jake

Funny read

Reviewed in Australia on 25 August 2019

Verified Purchase

Great book

Helpful

heartbreaking coming of age

Reviewed in Australia on 22 November 2015

Tom Houghton is narrated in two time frames. One being 12 year old Tom, a loner, constantly bullied at school but be it optimism or delusion he always feels certain he is destined for greater things. He is smarter than his peers, which also sets him apart. He lives with his mother, who is devoted to him but lives on a constant cycle of highs and lows and his Grandfather who thinks that Tom’s obsession with Hollywood is unhealthy but doesn’t quite know what to do with him. The other narrator is 40 year old Tom, a stage actor and star in his own right, heading on a path of self destruction while still trying to find his place in the world.

Young Tom’s narrative is heart-breaking. You can’t help but feel endeared to him. He is highly intelligent and still has an innocence about him, a naivety. While reading this story I internet searched the photo of Thomas Houghton Hepburn that Tom refers to on occasions and, when its finally revealed, the costume that Tom is so excited about wearing to his school. These photos give such good visuals to go with the story.

The grown up Tom was very hard to like. He was nasty and a real diva constantly on a path of self destruction, destroying friendships by his insults and drunken behaviour.

The story is not full of bullying and drunken outbursts. There are some endearing moments, especially with the characters of Mal and Hanna.
Mal and Hanna would have to be my favourite characters and two very important people in Tom’s life. Mal understands young Tom and accepts him as he is. Hanna doesn’t take any nonsense from grown up Tom. She sticks by him but tells him when he has messed up. She is straight to the point and honest.

The story touches on topics of bullying, family, friendship, love, acceptance, forgiveness, the pressures of needing to conform to a society standard and how our environment when we are young has an effect on who we will be later in life.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy to read and review.

3 people found this helpful

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Amandajane

A book of what it means to be different

Reviewed in Australia on 27 October 2015

Tom Houghton by Todd Alexander was an absolute delight to read, that will pull at your heart strings. The story is told from two alternating narratives, Tom Houghton as an adult, the other himself as a 12 year old boy. Through his story as a child we come to understand how Tom became the adult he is today.

As a boy growing up in the 1980's Tom lives in the Western suburbs of Sydney with his mother and grandfather. To say that Tom's family is dysfunctional would be an understatement. He is obsessed with Hollywood particularly the Silver Screen of the Golden Age and Katherine Hepburn is his favourite actress. Tom is a lonely boy with no father, no siblings and no friends, who is struggling with his sexuality. Tom is bullied relentlessly because of not fitting into the world of football and rough housing. To cope with the stress of bullying and his home life, he spends his time cutting out pictures from magazines and cataloging all of Hollywood's Stars. He is living in a world of dreams that are reaching the point of delusion as an escapism from his heartbreaking reality. The lonelier he becomes, the more obsessed he becomes with Katherine Hepburn and what he learns about her will change Tom forever.

As a man, Tom is certainly not the beautiful young man full of optimism and hope that we met as a child. It seems in many ways the years have broken him down. He has a younger boyfriend but his insecurities and doubts about himself are destroying the relationship and all that it could be. He is a stage actor who is bitter and seems jealous of fellow colleagues accomplishments. Tom is an alcoholic and not a pleasant one at that. As such, sadly he is not reaching his full potential as either and actor or as a man.

Tom needs to revisit himself as a boy to heal the man. It is only then will he understand just who is Tom Houghton.

Alexander has written a story, that reminds us of what it is to be human and that it okay to be different. We need to learn to love ourselves and others for exactly who they are. It also never hurts to remind people that any type of bullying is never okay. It is a book I would love to see in high school libraries.

4 out of 5 stars

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