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I love books that can destroy their own labels—those marketing categories that limit and define the limitless and indefinable. David-Matthew Barnes’ marvelous Swimming to Chicago, will doubtless be put on the YA shelf, which is good for the kids but this book deserves a wider, more adult audience as well.

Seventeen year old Alex Bainbridge finds life difficult enough figuring out his sexuality, even with the help of his best friend, Jillian, and his mother’s suicide doesn’t make his choices any easier. What does, however, is his new neighbor Robby. But as Alex and Robby become close so do their parents—Robby’s mother engaging in an affair with Alex’s father. Jillian has her own choices as she finds herself falling in love with Robby’s father, her English teacher.

A tangled web? Yes. But Barnes handles the complexities of these relationships with grace and self-assurance, never once losing the thread or the reader. Since this tale is told from multiple viewpoints—which I ordinarily hate—Barnes’ skill at characterization comes into play, as he creates three-dimensional people with separate, distinct voices, all of whom have vastly different takes on the events at hand.

Although Alex and Robby’s relationship is central to their characters as well as the plot, I found myself mystified as to what attracted them to each other. That may not be the point, however. Rather than concentrate on the specifics of their courtship, perhaps Barnes seeks to show how these young men use their newly forged relationship—at the end at least—to cope with a set of problems entirely different than those which confronted them earlier. No matter the details, he assumes the success of the gay relationship while the straight ones crumble on nearly every page.

But if that relationship is a bit foggy, there are enough sharp, cutting details elsewhere to keep you entertained. Martha, Robby’s mother, is particularly well-done. Drawn to Alex’s recently-widowed father and disgusted with the ongoing affairs of her English teacher husband, Harley, Martha’s is an interesting mid-life story set against all the teen drama, possibly to show that although “it gets better,” adulthood is no picnic either.

Similarly, Jillian’s fell-in-love-and-got-pregnant-by-a-married-man scenario plays out with implications for both Jillian and Harley immediately, but for everyone in the long-term. The details and outcome of this sub-plot are riveting and have a couple of twists and turns the ending hinges on, so not much can be said without giving it all away. But, again, its success depends on Alex and Robby as a unit.

David-Matthew Barnes has fashioned a well-told tale in Swimming to Chicago—one that will engross readers of all ages no matter which shelf it ends up on. 

Reviewed by Jerry Wheeler