KidLit Forum

Hard Love is a novel about love, sexual identity, and self discovery. The main character is John Galady, known by some of his friends as Gio. He is haunted by his parents’ divorce.

So I took all of the sadness of the divorce, and all the love I’d once had for both of you , and all the fear I had of being alone, and turned it into a stone wall to hide behind. To protect myself. I’m so protected now, dear mother, sometimes I feel like I’m barely alive. I am immune to emotion. And I hate you for it.

He is immune to emotions, hates his parents. He doesn’t understand why his mother is avoiding him, avoid touching him. His father is neglecting him.
At the beginning of the novel John is expresses his inability to find women attractive, and he often expresses his despise towards his friend Brian because of the latter’s overly enthusiastic attraction to women that he has never spoken with.

I can’t stand it anymore, the constant talk about girls and sex. I just don’t feel like thinking about that stuff. Maybe it’s weird, but I’m not interested in it. I mean, it worries me a little sometimes, because I guess guys my age are supposed to be like Brian, lusting after pouty lips and big boobs. But to me, the mystery of female body parts is one I’d just as soon not solve. Not that I’m interested in boys either–I’m just not interested in the whole idea of locked lips or proclamations of love.

Am not gay, I told her, though I really had no strong evidence for saying so. At least I don’t think I am.


“What do you mean? I’m not even sure myself if I’m gay or not. I mean, I’ve been thinking maybe I am.”
You have? Are you attracted to men?” Birdie asked.
“Well, no. But I’m not attracted to women either.”
“Oh, well, that’s just dysfunctional, not gay,” Birdie announced confidently. I was lost for a comeback.


On the other hand Marisol proclaims herself Puerto Rican Cuban Yankee Cambridge, Massachusetts, rich spoiled lesbian private-school gifted-and-talented writer virgin looking for love.
Tethered by their emptiness, confusion, and lack of experience, John and Marisol become quick friends–and seeing as Marisol is the first person that John was able to connect to, he falls in love with her. The main tension within this novel arises through this love–John truly believes that their connection transcends labels of sexuality and sexual orientation, whereas Marisol is certain that she’s a lesbian and she can never envision herself dating a man.
Unlike John, she knows her sexual identity, but she also struggles to pass the barrier her mother builds.

I need to figure out what it all means by myself, I need to have a world that is not open to my mother, I needed to cross barriers by myself, not holding her hand.


The two of them become good friends, John leans how to express himself, he discovers his sexual inclinations, and he increases his relationship with his mother. Marisol, who had also some problems in her family manages to get out from that environment.