The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. The figure of a young man stretches from the top of the page to bottom. He is wearing a white shirt, pink, long-sleeved jacket, light blue pants, has brown hair, and is pulling a yellow suitcase in his right hand. In his left hand, an oboe. To the left, in the background, a building outside and a cloudy blue sky. To the right, in the background, a train platform with cream walls and pigeons on the ground. The title “As Far As You’ll Take Me” is in large, dark blue caps across the centre of the cover. At the bottom, in smaller, dark blue caps, the authors name “Phil Stampber”. /end]

---

Content Warning:

• Disordered Eating
• Homophobia
• Anxiety Attacks
• Noncensual Outing
• Body Dysmorphia
• Religious Bigotry
• Bullying
• Manipulative Relationships

---

Summary:

A story about finding the people who become your home.

Marty arrives in London with nothing but his oboe and some savings from his summer job, but he’s excited to start his new life–where he’s no longer the closeted, shy kid who slips under the radar and is free to explore his sexuality without his parents’ disapproval.

From the outside, Marty’s life looks like a perfect fantasy: in the span of a few weeks, he’s made new friends, he’s getting closer with his first ever boyfriend, and he’s even traveling around Europe. But Marty knows he can’t keep up the facade. He hasn’t spoken to his parents since he arrived, he’s tearing through his meager savings, his homesickness and anxiety are getting worse and worse, and he hasn’t even come close to landing the job of his dreams. Will Marty be able to find a place that feels like home?

---

Notes:

Stamper’s debut novel “The Gravity of Us” was a bestseller.

There is an audiobook.

---

Archvist Comments:

Apparently there is no trigger warning list in this book, but I don’t know how true that is. The general trend I’m picking up in the reviews is that the summary is slightly misleading- the book is darker than people expected. Not to such an extent that it’s not fun or enjoyable to read- there are a lot of moments of happiness in the book- but that might be something to keep in mind.

This book seems to fall into the “found family” trope, and Stamper’s musical knowledge seems to shine through. People have praised the musical references in the book and the care taken in writing them.

---