T.H. Forest’s “Twinkies & Beefcake” is a blisteringly candid, emotionally unfiltered queer coming-of-age novel that is equal parts harrowing and hilarious. Told in the voice of Robin Trumball, a precocious, deeply self-aware teenager growing up in West London, the novel charts a trajectory from innocence to experience with unflinching honesty. Through the book’s grittiness, Forest delivers a story that defies easy classification but many parts of it will be wholly relatable for anyone in the LGBT community.
Fairly epic in length at 356 pages, the novel is structured in three metaphorically named parts, Caterpillar, Chrysalis, and Butterfly, mirroring Robin’s transformation over the years. We first meet him at fifteen, a skinny, closeted boy enduring the cruelty of school bullies, the confusion of adolescent desire, and the sanctuary of his friendship with Dee, a witty, steadfast girl who serves as his emotional anchor. Their bond is one of the novel’s many strengths, keeping readers turning the page to see how their relationship evolves.
Robin’s coming out is not marked by joyful liberation, but by dangerous seduction. He becomes entangled with Vasyl, a 27-year-old tattooed Ukrainian construction worker whose initial flirtation quickly becomes something more sinister. Forest does not shy away from the realities of grooming, manipulation, and the blunt reality of power imbalances. Yet the novel is largely not an exploitation tale—it’s a survivor’s tale, told with humour and hard-won insight.
The first-person voice is the novel’s lifeblood. Robin narrates with a whip-smart blend of sarcasm, literary flourish, and painful vulnerability. His inner monologue veers from poetic longing to pop-culture snark to gut-punching trauma with dizzying speed. At times, the narration feels almost confessional, as though the reader is being whispered to in a therapist’s office. This intimacy makes even the most disturbing moments—emotional abuse, sexual coercion, addiction—feel heartbreakingly personal.
Also the author of gay fiction masterpiece “Kelly’s Folly” that has been reviewed on this site, Forest’s strength as a writer lies in his ability to mine humour from pain. Robin’s musings on musicals, masturbation, and middle-class parenting are often laugh-out-loud funny, yet never distract from the darker emotional undercurrents. The novel is as much about the aftermath as the event, and how one can be shaped, haunted, and eventually freed by a love that was never truly love at all. That the book is apparently written by an American woman only adds to its intrigue, as Forest is able to write about people from vastly different backgrounds with rare empathy.
Critics might question whether “Twinkies & Beefcakee is too explicit, too confessional, or too chaotic in tone. But its very refusal to sand down its edges is what makes it a gripping read. Forest doesn’t aim to make Robin palatable; he lets him be angry, needy, self-destructive, brilliant—and above all, human. The novel’s final third (Butterfly) doesn’t offer neat resolution, but it does offer evolution. Robin doesn’t simply heal; he earns his adulthood through scars, wit, and the fierce determination to survive on his own terms.
“Twinkies & Beefcake” is not an easy read, nor is it for everyone. But for those who enjoy gay fiction and coming-of-age stories, it offers a rare kind of catharsis. It’s a page-turner that understands how first love can ruin you—and how writing about it might just save you. An affecting, darkly funny, and devastatingly honest coming-of-age story that pulls no punches. T.H. Forest emerges as a voice in queer fiction worth watching.
You can get your copy of “Twinkies & Beefcake” by T.H. Forest here!
