Books: Running With Lions by Julian Winters (2018)

“Bloomington High School Lions' star goalie, Sebastian Hughes, should be excited about his senior year: His teammates are amazing and he's got a coach who doesn't ask anyone to hide their sexuality. But when his estranged childhood best friend Emir Shah shows up to summer training camp, Sebastian realizes the team's success may end up in the hands of the one guy who hates him. Determined to reconnect with Emir for the sake of the Lions, he sets out to regain Emir's trust. But to Sebastian's surprise, sweaty days on the pitch, wandering the town's streets, and bonding on the weekends sparks more than just friendship between them.”

While this book is refreshingly diverse and contemporary, you also cannot miss some of the obvious aspects of what sports really is when a bunch of young men in their late teens get together at a summer camp designed to help them get into college: it’s kind of gay. Which is why, perhaps, homophobia is so rampant in sports, as lines blur between friendship and sexuality. Sports are a great motivator, though. It does teach people leadership skills, working within a team atmosphere and molds people into caring more for others. But men are told very early on to suppress emotions, see other men as an adversary, and sort of see them as unequal to themselves. But there are times –and probably more often than not- where men cannot hide the fact they can be attracted to someone of the same sex.

Winters explores some of these themes in Running With Lions, his debut novel. While seventeen year-old Sebastian has sort of dealt with the fact he likes both girls and guys, he’s not explored that part –the man part- until his break up with his girlfriend Sam (who was the one to call off the relationship) and return of childhood friend. What helps, of course, is being at a summer soccer camp that has coaches who make no judgment on the teens sexuality –and they point out that everyone is welcome on Team Lion. This sort of openness sets up the book and while you know where it’s headed, it’s still a charming read.

It’s not a perfect book, as Winter’s spends way too much time describing the color of the sky, making Emir Shah too standoffish to be liked, and generally making the whole third person, present tense writing style a bit confusing. And while both Sebastian and Emir are well developed, the supporting characters are bit stick-like, and sort of sound alike. It also took me a while to get past Winter’s choice of having these said characters call each other by their first and last names (some who had two first names) and occasional nicknames.

Still, it’s a character driven story and the whole lead up to the Big Game with the rival Spartans is more a MacGuffin than the true climax you normally read in books or see in movies, but we get the John Hughes payoff in the end, so I’m happy with that.