there's more to life than reading books

Mostly enjoyed this story. I appreciated the character development and their background stories, particularly Robert's relationship with his Dad. It was a different perspective for a dying parent scenario and one that I hadn't really considered before.

My issue with this book is that it romanticised the student/teacher relationship between Robert and Andrew, whilst also making me feel uncomfortable with it. A few times, I felt Drew took advantage of his position as Robert's teacher and I felt he didn't get the seriousness of what he was doing, by starting a relationship with Robert before he graduated. He seemed more worried about the potential harm to his career, than his being involved with Robert, who was a vulnerable seventeen year old.

I get the appeal of student teacher stories, they're taboo and in this case the age difference was minimal (6 years I think). Yet Andrew crossed the line of what is acceptable behaviour from a teacher for me, and that held me back from supporting their relationship.