“A gut-churning, heart-wrenching, blockbuster of a first novel . . . Parks-Ramage is an extraordinary new talent and Yes, Daddy is truly something special.”—Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead ThingsA propulsive, scorching modern gothic, Yes, Daddy follows an ambitious young man who is lured by an older, successful playwright into a dizzying world of wealth and an idyllic Hamptons home where … successful playwright into a dizzying world of wealth and an idyllic Hamptons home where things take a nightmarish turn.
Jonah Keller moved to New York City with dreams of becoming a successful playwright, but, for the time being, lives in a rundown sublet in Bushwick, working extra hours at a restaurant only to barely make rent. When he stumbles upon a photo of Richard Shriver—the glamorous Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and quite possibly the stepping stone to the fame he craves—Jonah orchestrates their meeting. The two begin a hungry, passionate affair.
When summer arrives, Richard invites his young lover for a spell at his sprawling estate in the Hamptons. A tall iron fence surrounds the idyllic compound where Richard and a few of his close artist friends entertain, have lavish dinners, and—Jonah can’t help but notice—employ a waitstaff of young, attractive gay men, many of whom sport ugly bruises. Soon, Jonah is cast out of Richard’s good graces and a sinister underlay begins to emerge. As a series of transgressions lead inexorably to a violent climax, Jonah hurtles toward a decisive revenge that will shape the rest of his life.
Riveting, unpredictable, and compulsively readable, Yes, Daddy is an exploration of class, power dynamics, and the nuances of victimhood and complicity. It burns with weight and clarity—and offers hope that stories may hold the key to our healing.
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Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. It is set to be published in May 2021.
“Yes, Daddy” by Jonathan Parks-Ramage is a difficult book to review, just as it was a difficult book to read.
I can’t say I enjoyed it in the true sense of the word because the themes are simply too dark and the story too full of despair, but it was certainly a gripping read, and beautifully written.
The characters – including the protagonist – are chillingly horrifying, the plot is perfectly crafted and the language is deliciously refined.
The only thing that didn’t sit well with me is the huge gap that separates the first and second part of the book, not only with regards to the topics covered but also with regards to the pacing (the first part starts off slow then steadily speeds up, the second one brings the pace back down and never accelerates again). The atmospheres are also completely different, so much so that the reader gets the impression to be catapulted into a completely different novel.
I have to admit, I liked the first half (the gothic/thriller part) much better than the second one (the drama/redemption part), because the former felt raw and authentic, whereas the latter felt fake, like wishful thinking. If the novel had only dealt with the events of 2009 (or maybe 2009-2011) I would have given it 5 stars.
Anyway, I’m definitely intrigued by the author’s style and I’ll be sure to check out his next works, as well as the Amazon adaptation of this novel.
“The things we worship eat us alive.”
Dang! This was quite the page turner. This debut novel excels in the thriller category while also delivering long overdue attention to me too issues within the queer community. The noir-like storytelling is somewhat dark, and incorporates sexual assault scenes along with additional sensitive subjects, but the overall experience was super engaging with complicated characters and a storyline that thrusts forward, leaving no reader behind. Keep an eye on this new author, folks!
Review Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage is the gripping story of Jonah Keller, an aspiring playwright who is waiting tables and struggling to pay the rent. Using his only assets to get ahead, he sets out to find himself a wealthy Daddy. Enter Richard Shriver, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, and Jonah plots to seize the opportunity. A relationship forms and Jonah is spending the summer at Richard’s compound in the Hamptons. Paradise is short lived when he discovers that Richard’s world holds sinister secrets. Jonah’s fall from grace quickly leads to violent consequences that could alter the course of his life.
This is not your typical Daddy/Boy tale. It is a raw and all too realistic look at the subject of sexual abuse. Coming in the wake of the #MeToo movement make this story relevant and tragic. Be warned that this book explores a multitude of sensitive subjects like abuse, rape, homophobia, conversion therapy, suicide, incest and drugs. By design, Jonah is not necessarily a likable character who is self-centered and makes one poor life choice after another that not only impacts himself but wreaks havoc and destruction on others. The religious aspect seemed a bit over blown and was a factor in my not giving it five stars. This is an excellent and amazing debuts novel from a tremendously talented writer. To a lesser extent it finds itself in the category of dark and tragic tales such as A Little Life.
Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage tells the story of Jonah, a young, gay, aspiring playwright in New York, who, like so many young artists in New York, is in a desperate financial situation. With painstaking precision, he leverages his youth and sex appeal for a shortcut to New York theatre’s inner circle and gets much more than he anticipated. What starts as a dream scenario soon takes a dark turn that will have far-reaching consequences.
After a chilling prologue, Yes, Daddy takes the reader on a brooding and often brutal thrill ride. The clever narrative device and the heaviness of the language draw the reader into this world of desperation, sexual tension, and power plays. The first half of the book breezes by in a whirl of eerie events, odd characters, unabashed gayness, sexuality, and brutality, at times verging on camp.
The second half is more of a surprise. Several years later, Jonah has a more personal reckoning with what happened to him in the first half of the book, the others involved, and the childhood traumas that led him into such a dire situation. Mostly absent of thrills, the rest of the book moves more slowly and delves into societal critique around social media, mental health, religion, sexuality, and rape culture, particularly in regards to the gay community. Expect a more human story tinged with both despair and hope.
I have to say the marketing for this book has done it somewhat of a disservice. Readers expecting a dark and sexy thriller will be in for a surprise, possibly a disappointment, with the back half of the book. YES, DADDY is more of genre-bending story, which I think is extremely well done. The ideas and themes here are not exactly new, thanks to the #metoo movement, but they’re presented in a wholly original way. I hope readers are pleasantly surprised the way I was.
Non-exhaustive list of content warnings: rape, physical violence, underage drinking, sexual assault, kidnapping, infidelity, drug use, cruelty to animals, suicide, suicidal ideation, religious fanaticism
Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage
Deeply disturbing dysfunctional families impacted most of the characters appearing in this book. Predators and prey were damaged though the way they expressed this was varied greatly. Wanting something more and seeking fulfillment or love or whatever it was…didn’t work out well for more than one person in this devastating story. I kept hoping that it wouldn’t be quite so dark, that a glimpse of light in the darkness might have been offered, that different decisions had been made, wondered why different steps had not been taken, wished that the oh so prevalent evil could have been obliterated… But, in truth, life doesn’t provide joy for everyone, dealing with suffering is not easy, finding peace and forgiveness is not always possible, and coming back from the abyss – if it is possible at all – leaves a changed and either still broken or perhaps better person.
The writing of this book was graphic, drew me in, made me feel, want to reach out and save more than one, give hugs, provide healing, and put a few behind bars…or at least give them a taste of what they dealt out to others. NOTE: This book may trigger some readers and is not for the faint of heart.
This is a new-to-me author with a promising future and I would read another book by him.
Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC – This is my honest review.
4-5 Stars
It’s been several days since I finished and I’m still not sure how to review Yes Daddy.
Jonah is a young guy man who decides to get his hooks into much older playwright Richard Schriver. Richard soon ask Jonah to stay the summer in the Hamptons with him and as Jonah soon learns a cast of characters with a sinister secret. Jonah isn’t the first young man to be lured to the compound of these rich men and he won’t be the last.
This book contains some graphic scenes including rape by multiple people, conversion therapy, suicide, drug use and other dark subject matter. This is not for every reader for sure.
I really liked the whole premise of the book but I really didn’t like any of the characters and the way Jonah talks about other characters or sometimes referring to one of them as “you” threw me off the storyline at times trying to figure out what was going on.
*Received ARC through NetGalley. Voluntarily reviewed *
This is a great debut novel. The writing very expressive. This is more of a dark-themed story. Beware of triggers. It’s a tale of a young struggling writer, Jonah, who is gay. His past is negatively affecting his present. He is desperate to become noticed in life, in general and professionally. His desperation leads him to meet a famous playwright. His dreams are finally coming true. Until they don’t. This is a riveting story that rips your heart out. Hope is always just around the corner for Jonah. Will he finally get peace?
4.5 stars Dang, this was a hard read. I’m not sure how to review this. I’ll give it a try.
Jonah’s dream was to become a playwright, sometimes dreams come true, not this one. He’s in lack of money, can’t even pay the rent.
He’s on a mission, conquer the famous Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Shriver and use him to climb the ladder of fame.
So far so good, in no time he had his hands on Richard, or had he his claws on Jonah?
Ai, how many wrong turns can you make, well, Jonah… a lot.
Jonah ends up in the Hamptons with Richard, more people are arriving, friends of Richard, at his estate. He’s Richard’s lover and got spoiled, Richard pays for everything.
Richard’s lifestyle is far out of Jonah’s league, he knows it but still goes through with it.
It felt so weird, he didn’t know how to meddle, it was embarrassing. I wanted to shake him and order him to run…
Sporadically Jonah’s common sense popped up, but sadly those moments flew away quickly. His brain didn’t help him in the right direction.
From one moment to the next Jonah is degraded to one of the waitstaff.
Creepy things are happening, circumstances are changing, people behave strange(r), it’s like brainwashing.
Also, the perspectives changed, with purpose!
In between we can view Jonah’s skills, I think he put some things in compartments, it’s too hurtful and painful.
There are heavily weighted issues to read about, homophobia, hate, rape, abuse, conversion therapy, and yes the results are exceptional horrible. I’m crying writing this line.
Isolation, brainwash and Indoctrination are cruel bitches! It makes you go like a deprived, numb autopilot robot.
At times I was so angry my heart rate got higher and higher ugh
The thin line between reality and delusion was cruel and confusing af.
Dang, dang this was a hard read. It was written like it was directly told, switching from here to there.
Overall an extraordinary hurtful story, captivatingly written. Looking back I saw a young life getting destroyed by several ugly forces, I’m not sure how he could keep on walking. I’m still crying.
All in the name of the… uh-huh… ugh!
When I first started reading this, I’ll be honest, I was kicking myself and asking why I would grab a story that is really not in my wheelhouse. I’m not super fond of Daddy stories whether in MF or MM, but something about the blurb must have intrigued me so I pushed on and I’m really happy I did because this was WAY more than just a Daddy book. Is it beautifully written? That’s hard to say because the subject matter is so gritty, so difficult, so much darker than you’d expect. Jonah is a preacher’s son and gay. Take that where you can imagine it would go. He also has dreams and perhaps some Daddy issues that propel him into a life that he never could even imagine existed beneath the façade of the rich and famous in NY. Along the way, Jonah takes us through the script of his life, his play, his reality. It isn’t easy and there is a lot of pain along the way. Does he have a happy ending? Well we learn that happy is all relative and finding peace can sometimes be the best we can hope for.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying me with an advanced review copy of this book. All thoughts/opinions are my own.
Okay, so… I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up this book. It could’ve gone a lot of different ways based on the blurb, so I was partially nervous and partially champing at the bit. However, while I wound up enjoying it, it didn’t quite live up to what I was expecting. Thankfully, it didn’t horrify and offend me, but it didn’t rivet me to my seat, either.
Nothing about this story was new or especially unique. Although, it did have me clutching at my imaginary pearls more than once and screaming at my Kindle for the characters to “Run, GD-it!”
In some ways, I found the story unrealistic, but in others, it was terrifyingly possible. The writing took me a while to get into because sometimes it’s in second POV and sometimes it’s in first and I got a little confused at times. The ending also felt like it came out of absolutely nowhere. Like maybe the author got tired of writing and just breezed through the last bits so they had a finished work but didn’t really make a go at giving it the same level of attention the rest of the book got.
Either way, I did enjoy the read. I’d definitely try something else by this author, and am duly impressed by this as a debut novel. It just didn’t wind up being fully my cuppa, but that’s okay. Clearly, it’s been well-loved by others.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this book. I am providing a voluntary review. All thoughts and views are my own.
I’m so torn on this one. There’s a very real part of me that wants to give it a 5-star, must-read rating and spend the next few months ranting and raving about how amazing it is. However, there’s another part of me that feels a bit… ahhh… let-down, perhaps?
Let’s see if I can explain what I mean.
I’m going to start with why I loved this book because I truly do believe it deserves mad props. It’s raw, real, and heartbreakingly deep. It tackles challenging topics and doesn’t shy away from the emotional impact of difficult, life-altering circumstances and experiences. It isn’t a light read, and it doesn’t pull any punches. I also had a hard time putting it down. I never knew what to expect next, and so the very idea of putting my Kindle away and doing anything else was absurd. I read this in one sitting and devoured each word like a reader starved.
Parks-Ramage is an excellent writer. I’m not typically one to enjoy first-person, let alone second-person. I tend to be a primarily third-person past or bust kinda reader, but the well-executed mish-mash of first/second POV present-tense works really well for this author. Or, it certainly worked well for this story, if nothing else. I absolutely adored the unique way it was told and, again, never knew what to expect. So the quasi-twist at the end hit all my feels and shocked-surprise buttons.
I also loved the characters in this book, even the ones I hated. Which, okay, that sounds a little weird, but it’s the truth. Some of the characters in this story are so evil you want to do some very, very bad things to them. And yet, Parks-Ramage wrote them in such a way that they still held some relatable traits. They weren’t that comedic level of evil where they don’t even feel real. They had flaws, they made mistakes, and you could tell there were at least a few conflicting emotions going on during various scenes. Perhaps not the ones you wanted to see them in the most, but either way, these baddies felt like real people. Which, in the end, made them all the more terrifying.
Now… clearly, I loved this book. I loved the writing. The storytelling was masterful, and the characters felt alive and real. If that’s all true, how could I possibly have any issue with this book? Well, my lovelies, let me see if I can explain without getting too spoiler-y.
Before I delve into this, I’m going to be one-hundred percent upfront by telling you that I’m an atheist. However, I respect others and their unique religious beliefs, so the fact that religion played such a large part in this book is not the issue. Not at all. My problem was the literal whiplash I felt surrounding the protagonist’s religious experiences and beliefs. Religion is a very difficult topic for many of us in the LGBTQIA+ community, so it breaks my heart when it isn’t treated carefully in LGBTQIA+ literature. I can’t really say much beyond that without giving away spoilers, which I don’t do in my reviews. Let’s just say… I wish the author had either considered removing his second-largest church-related plot point near the end of the book or considered having its conclusion be less tied to the other unsavory parts of the book’s primary plot.
Either way, I believe this is a solid 4-star read and will be very interested to see what Amazon does with it on the television screen.