About the Book
He comes of age – and falls in love with another guy.
Jeff Irwin is a fourteen-year-old boy who grew up in a small Northern Michigan town. Jeff is short for his age, timid and studious, never yet having dared to take any chances for fear of ultimate rejection or failure. He is a bit of a social outcast and lives quietly in the shadows of the popular kids at his school.
One lucky day, he is afforded the rare opportunity to assist the town’s high school football hero Brett Willson in their English class. Having failed twice in English grammar, Brett needs Jeff's help to pass this subject in order to retain his quarterback position in the school's varsity. As Jeff embarks upon the challenge of educating the world’s dumbest jock, a romantic relationship between the two ensues – far more challenging than any tutoring session. Their budding friendship helps bring Jeff out of his shell and reveals a much deeper side of the dumb jock.
Tragedies befall the ill-suited young couple, and the losses they endure are unthinkable. Will they be true to the dictates their hearts – or will they choose to return to the previously held conformity of their comfortable stereotypes?
A fictional youth tale penned by Jeff Erno, Dumb Jock is a wonderful saga that demonstrates a blossoming same-sex love, admiration, and genuine friendship.
REVIEWS
“Coming from a poor troubled family, Jeff’s only hope for college is a scholarship. When he is forced to tutor the school's star quarterback in order to pass gym, Jeff is more than a little upset, but reluctantly agrees. Brett is everything Jeff is not, good looking, athletic, rich and popular at school. Yet these two boys find in the other someone who completes them and soon the two are falling in love. Unfortunately, the boys face many challenges, family tragedies, small mindedness, and heartache on the road to happiness.
If someone were to tell me I had to spend three months on a deserted island and I could have ten books with me, Jeff Erno's Dumb Jock would be one of those books. Mr. Erno tells this story of two high school boys who fall in love in such a way that the characters almost become real. More than once, I wanted to shield Jeff from impending heartache or smack a couple of jerks upside the head. In his afterward, Mr. Erno mentions that he has several books in the works; I hope we will get the chance to see them soon.”
– Rainbow Reviews(http://rainbow-reviews.com/?p=1201)
Our two heroes are fairly classic uke and seme personalities: Jeff being shy, hyper-sensitive, physically smaller and weaker, younger, emotional; Brett is older, taller, physically more powerful, and protective. There is also a D/s element to their relationship, with Jeff being very submissive to Brett’s dominance (and even a collar being gifted). Certainly, the age (early 80s) and small town in which this story is set, these two have no idea what D/s is, only that Jeff loves being Brett’s “pup.” They are very different in just about every way — popularity, wealth, family unit, physical size — yet somehow they fit together perfectly, Brett seemingly giving Jeff exactly what he needs and vice versa.
Ultimately, this is a story of personal growth — particularly Jeff’s — and his journey over the course of the story is almost palpable. I found Jeff to be a very interesting, dichotomous character, mature in some aspects of his personality and very immature in others. We first find him a fourteen-year-old with a serious case of hero-worship entering into an unbalanced, possibly unhealthy relationship, and over the nine months of the story, with all of its challenges and trials, he grows into a more self-aware, assertive, mature fifteen-year-old in ultimately a more equal relationship. I was amazed, considering his maturity level, that he acknowledges even early on his needs for protection and dominance almost without reservation or apology once he realizes it. He is also is able to recognize how his relationship — even at the most innocent — is viewed by just about everyone: odd and not understood.
There is quite a bit of plot in this book, and the protags must overcome internal and external challenges, and family tragedy to find their HEA. I found this actually to be less of a romance than a coming-of-age tale, which is not necessarily uncommon in high-school stories, nor is it bad. And if you are squicked at fourteen-year-olds having sex, the encounters are more implied than described.
Dumb Jock is a good first effort for author Jeff Erno. I would recommend it to those who like young/teen love stories or yaoi.”
– Jesse Wave
(http://reviewsbyjessewave.blogspot.com/2009/05/dumb-jock.html)
“Dumb Jock is a coming of age book aimed to an adult target... or maybe I'm too old fashioned, and I really don't know how teenagers are these days. I would really like to be able to go back of 20 years and have the chance to read thise book with a 14 years old mind. Would I be really shocked to read about sex between a 14 years old boy and a 16 years old one? Truth be told there is sex, but it's a mid core level of detailed sex, there is no doubt what is happening between the two, but actually the author doesn't give us very much details. It's not a "behind closed door" type of sex, we are there in the room with the characters, but we have to cover with our imagination where the author doesn't describe something. For example there are blow-jobs, and even an anal sex scene, but actually I believe to have never found the word penis or some equivalent word. I have a clear physical impression of Jeff, small and lithe, a bit on the skinny side, and Brett, tall and muscular, and how Jeff feels protected when he is in Brett's arms, but actually that physical impression never deepens to intimate details (no description under the belt). Soooooo... I'm telling all these since I believe that the novel lacks in something? Not at all. For me it's a merit, since the book, without lacking of the sexy part, it's still innocent enough to be read by a young adult target.
Jeff is the classical nerd, a linguistic nerd: he loves to read, he likes books and musics, he is a good student, but all in all he is a pretty ordinary boy. Then all of sudden his life changes: he is asked to tutor in English another student, Brett, the football star of his high school. Jeff is almost blackmailed in doing so from the Physical Education teacher, who clearly tells him that, if he doesn't help Brett, he will not pass his class, and Jeff can't have it, since he needs all good grades to obtain a future full scholarship at College. What the PE teacher doesn't know, is that probably Jeff would have helped Brett anyway, since he has a crush on the other boy. Actually Jeff is not aware of the real nature of his feelings for Brett since in the small town where he lives, there is not hint of such a thing like gay or lesbian.
And now we arrived to the other interesting side of the book, the setting: the novel is set at the beginning of the '80 in a small town USA, this means before AIDS and probably before the rekindling of a string of bashing crimes in the USA. The author clearly stated that he chose to set the story in a ante-AIDS era to not focus on this aspect, Jeff and Brett's trouble are just enough without adding to them also the AIDS plague. But in a way, AIDS also unblocked the conscience of a lot of people, and also thier awareness that being different was not a condition so far from them. AIDS killed a lot of people and changed forever the life of the rest of them, but AIDS also revealed the biggest secret, that gay people are everywhere, even in the small town USA. Without this conscience, we can read of Jeff who, at 14 years old, is still not aware that the wet dreams he is having of Brett are due to his unrequited love for him. And when they fall in love, and it's real love, still Jeff tolerates that Brett treats him like a submissive, like if Brett was the man and Jeff the "fag"; I'm not saying that Brett doesn't love Jeff, but I'm saying that Brett has still big preconceptions on what is straight and what is gay, and those preconceptions can ruin their life.
Where Jeff is an easy character to like, also since he has to go through a lot of sad things so soon in his life, Brett is a bit harder to love. But truth be told, I think he is coherent with himself; he is not a bad guy, but he is for sure a spoiled brat. He has always had an easy life, an only child of a wealthy family, and thanks to his body and his average mind, he would probably have had not any problem in excel in his life, if he chose to live forever in that small town USA. But Brett happens to be gay and being gay in the '80 and living in a small town was not a choice. On the other hand, Brett being gay doesn't immediately makes him a perfect poster boy for gay guys: he still remains a spoiled brat. He still remains the classical jock who likes to be worshiped by his fans and pointed out at school. It's not an easy choice to renounce to all of this in the name of love... and don't forget that we are talking of a 16 years old guy, someone who is still living with his parents and still dependent from them.
Brett's immaturity balanced the even too much maturity of Jeff, that sometime made me wonder if he was really a 14 years old boy. But it's not uncommon that a boy has to grew before his time facing such events, and Jeff went through all the range, from being bullied at school, to having trouble at home, and so on. There are very sad events in the book, but there is also hope in the end... this is not like those gay novels that, to be truth, has to be hard and without romance. Dumb Jock is a nice romance, in the style of Bobby Michaels, but maybe with a little less smelly sex.”
-- (http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/659568.html)
Obsidian Bookshelf reviews Dumb Jock
"In conclusion, I found Dumb Jock interesting enough to read and review and I cared about the main character...it is worth reading and will probably find its audience in readers of gay fiction and young-adult fiction."
http://obsidianbookshelf.blogspot.com/2009/06/review-dumb-jock.html
Fallen Angel Reviews Gives Dumb Jock Five Stars:
Dumb Jock sticks with you long after you’ve finished the book! And this is entirely due to Jeff Erno’s ability to write wonderful characters. Jeff Irwin’s character is so likeable. Even if you’re not gay you’ll still be able to identify with him. The contrast between Jeff and Brett was only one reason to keep reading. Even though I found some of the language a bit too proper at times, Dumb Jock deserves a recommended read because every other element of the book is right on target. I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll just say that this is less about a boy coming of age and more about a boy who tries to stay true to himself. By the end of the story you’ll be grateful for getting to know Jeff Irwin! Dumb Jock comes highly recommended by this reviewer!
Reviewed by: April
Review from Maria, reader and fan from Germany:
Dumb Jock is a book I highly recommend. It is one of the best gay novels I have read in a long time.
The main character Jeff is a 14 year old guy growing up in Boyne City, a little town in
He is small, geeky, a bookworm who gets A’s in English and almost every other class. The only thing he isn’t good at: Sports. He is a boy who avoids bullying by making himself invisible. He feels insecure, is very self-conscious, and he is sure he is nothing a real man or at least a boy should be: he considers himself to be pathetic, a wimp, nothing anybody could possibly like.
His life changes dramatically when he is blackmailed by his gym teacher: If star quarterback Brett fails English class again he will make Jeff fair game to the jocks. Yes, Jeff is expected to tutor the dumb jock.
Jeff considers this to be an ordeal: He is sure Brett is too dumb to learn anything, being the typical jock. Isn’t Brett the superhero, the god of jocks? Doesn’t everybody (including Jeff) admire him for his body, his good looks, his confidence, his ability to make the team win almost every game? There can’t much of a brain in a head that sits on such adorably broad shoulders.
Jeff is surprised when he finds out Brett isn’t as dumb as expected but is even interested in becoming Jeff’s friend. It only takes a few weeks until they are a couple.
OK, you might think, the gay topic for hundreds of novels. So what?
The story is not so much only about a love affair. So everybody who fancies the typical jock-meets-nerd story, where after some little twists and turns they fall in love and have steaming hot sex 5 times a day, will be disappointed.
This is mainly a story about growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, living in a poor family with an alcoholic as father, a brother who is the “overgrown baby” and a mother who loves Jeff with all her heart but who has to work day and night to support the family. And to top it all, Jeff knows that he is “different” though it takes the relationship with Brett to make him aware he is gay.
What makes this story so unique and so outstanding is the touching, tenderly written topic of becoming the person you really are: Protected by Brett’s strong arms, secure in his embrace Jeff finally discovers that he IS a lovable person. Carried by Brett’s love he starts to blossom, to overcome his fears and finally accepts what he is: A gay small geeky boy but nonetheless adorable and with every right to be as happy as everybody else. Brett’s strength is his harbor which gives him shelter when he has to weather almost unbearable storms in his young life. While Jeff felt very inferior at the beginning of their relationship he becomes more and more self-confident, Brett being literally the shoulder he can lean on.
Finally Jeff finds out that he is even stronger than Brett: While Brett thinks he can’t be “different” and starts to withdraw from their relationship under the pressure of his parents, his coach and his friends to lead a “normal” life, Jeff won’t deny his true personality any more. He dares to tell his mother and comes out to his friends and is rewarded with their understanding and unconditional support.
When Brett in the end can’t fight his love for Jeff any longer he is able to come back to Jeff into a relationship of equals; Jeff being his hero because he was able to stay true to himself. And there is only one little spot on this shining work of literature: Jeff Erno doesn’t tell us what made Brett change his mind. You just have to figure out by yourself.
There is a review of this novel on (here I will insert the link, I hope this will work). Val Kovilan, though recommending this novel, has three points he thinks Mr. Erno could have done better:
First: The novel shouldn’t have had a happy end.
Well, there are two ways to have a happy end: One is the happy ending written by an author who isn’t aware that a harsh ending would have been better. These stories tend to be sugar coated and therefore so sweet you hardly can stand it even when you love reading happy endings. A writer who isn’t aware that their story screams for a harsh end by literary standards won’t be able to write a happy ending that is anything but sappy, ridiculous and destructive of everything the novel was about.
Then there are writers like Jeff Erno who are well aware that a harsh end, the main characters breaking up for good, would be much better if they were out to win the Pulitzer Prize like Annie Proulx for Brokeback Mountain. This prevents them from writing a happy ending that can’t be explained by any standards. In this novel, though not explicitly told, Brett had enough time to make up his mind, to develop a strength he hadn’t in him so far: He chose to be true to himself even though it didn’t match his image as a shining super jock.
Brett isn’t dumb at all, so he knows what it means for him and for Jeff to come out.
So I think we can live with the only explanation that counts: The author just wanted to have a happy ending. Period!
Second point Val Kovalin thinks should have been avoided: The story isn’t focused enough, there is too much written about characters like Jeff’ s father and brother, that doesn’t “help” the story.
I think this is a little bit a matter of taste. I’m a fan of Elias Canetti and John Banville, so I love extended descriptions of every character, landscape, family affairs, pets, cars, clothes … For me the detailed information what was going on with everybody in Jeff’s family shaped Jeff’s character, gave him his depth and made it so believable. And Jeff Erno is far away from getting boring by endless descriptions of everything mentioned above!
Third: There shouldn’t have been an evolved “narrator” – the grown up Jeff who tells details such as what Boyne City is like or what he feels about relationships in general (there is a slight Dom/sub background to Jeff’s and Brett’s love affair, with Jeff feeling so inferior at the beginning of it). To be true: When I read the book I was so captured I even didn’t realize it, though after a second view this might be partially right. But on the other side these descriptions are – as far as descriptions of Boyne are concerned – a linguistic device, to slow the story, because all in all it races at a fast pace. There is so much happening that it is good to linger for two pages on what it is about the town of Boyne that Jeff love, though he is well aware that being gay in Boyne is no picnic.
All in all this is a wonderful book that kept me awake all night, I just couldn’t stop reading. Though Jeff Erno makes a point that the story is not autobiographical I’m sure about one thing: He like his Jeff in the story was an A-class student in English language. Not only the plot but also his phrasing and his thesaurus are high-class writing. You’ll really miss a brilliant novel if you don’t read it.
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