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Ildar Daminov

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Breakfast Buddies Kindle Edition

by Ildar Daminov (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.7 9 ratings

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We humans are spectacularly bad at understanding our own emotions.

A socially conservative Asian young man makes a life-changing decision—he moves to an international metropolis in the very heart of Europe to start his first year as a student at a prestigious academic institution. During one of the very first breakfasts at his new residence he meets a senior student, Jürgen B., to whom he takes an instant liking. As their friendship progresses, these small breakfast sessions become more and more meaningful to the young man, who starts to question both his own identity and his values as he discovers the depth of his confusing feelings about Jürgen.

His struggles to figure out what Jürgen means to him are made even worse by his fears about opening up, especially to his own family. In his desperation, he turns to the only method at hand—reflecting on his diary records, which he makes every day. That is how his first academic year in Europe becomes an exercise in understanding and accepting himself and his own feelings. As the summer approaches, Jürgen, who is completely oblivious of his friend’s dilemma, is about to graduate and leave the academy for good. In the meantime, his friend is still torn between confessing his feelings and doing what others seeming to want from him.

Print length

107 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

November 1, 2022
File size

1435 KB
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BKRR6HXX
Publisher ‏ : ‎ NineStar Press (November 1, 2022)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 1, 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1435 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 107 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #3,208,106 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,700 in LGBTQ+ Coming of Age Fiction (Books)
- #17,863 in Coming of Age Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #26,595 in Gay Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4.7 9 ratings

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Ildar Daminov

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Ildar Daminov is a Tatar Kazakhstani social scientist and a modern-day nomad who resides in and travels across Europe. In his free time, Ildar writes short stories and novellas in English, engages in community service, and does podcasting. His first novella, "Breakfast Buddies", was published by Nine Star Press.

If you are interested, you can find Ildar's profile on Amazon or Goodreads.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

9 global ratings

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Darrell B Nelson

A universal feeling.

Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2022

Verified Purchase

Breakfast Buddies is a sweet tale about going to college and finding yourself. It is a story that everyone has experienced, growing up and having an image of yourself as you have been told would be ideal. Then as you mature you find maybe that isn't who you want to be.
Although this tale focuses on the narrators experiencing same sex attraction, it hits a cord with anyone who grew up thinking they had life mapped out and how it should be, only to find that didn't suit them. In other words, humans.
At first, I wasn't too keen on this tale as the narrator is as different from me as you can get but reading into it, I think that may have been this story's strength. The struggle to 'find yourself' after you move away from home takes many forms. Seeing it from someone different made the similarities stand out more.
I was going to give this a four-star rating, because the beginning didn't 'grab me' but after reading it, I think that the detail in the beginning was a strength. So, I'm going with a five-star rating.

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C.R. Hurst, Author of the Jane Digby's Diary Series

Mostly Sunny

Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2022

Verified Purchase

Those fortunate enough to attend college or university far from home, will surely relate to Ildar Daminov’s Breakfast Buddies. In this novella, the author explores (in diary form) a young man’s insecurities and self discovery as an international student in a graduate program where he forms friendships with other students. These “breakfast buddies” share their busy lives briefly but intensely in a realistic and relatable way.

I especially liked the way the author used the diary format (complete with daily weather forecasts) to reveal his main character’s growing attraction to another student and his difficulty coming out to his traditional Asian family. Still, I sometimes thought Daminov focused too much on the minutiae of student life, especially in the beginning of Breakfast Buddies. Nevertheless, the heartfelt ending more than made up for some minor missteps.

Helpful

Brenda F

A brief and poignant story of friendship

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2023

A brief and poignant story of friendship, the pain of loving a friend and moving on.
I often crush on my friends - I know it likely will not progress but I feel safe enough to hope for more. We remain friends - when I'm ready for something real, I move on.
An young Asian man explores the idea of being himself - not the person his family sees or wants him to be. He forms friendships - and a crush on Jurgen. He explores the idea of sharing his feelings yet refrains. He enjoys being near him, in his circle of friends.

Helpful

Jennifer Parke-Marriner

So much emotion!

Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2023

I read Breakfast Buddies by Ildar Daminov several days ago, and I'm still processing it in my mind. Given its novella length at a brief 107 pages, one would think that it would be pretty easy to have a handle on the story. But Daminov packs so much into those 107 pages, and it's the kind of story that just stays with you. It has universal themes of identity and self-discovery, while also diving deep into issues of internalized homophobia and the pressure to conform to the expectations of family and society.

Daminov conveys this young man's "long-forgotten story of internal struggle, love, cowardice, and personal growth" through a series of diary entries, all of which have a deeply personal feel that flood the reader with the same emotions as their writer. And that is what has stayed with me the most, these feelings of confusion and longing and uncertainty that our protagonist experiences. I hope wherever he is today, that he has found the love and acceptance that he so greatly deserves.

Helpful

Jeff Chapman

Quiet Journey of Self-Discovery

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2022

Breakfast Buddies is a quiet story of self-discovery and personal growth. A young man from central Asia relocates to Europe to attend a prestigious professional school for aspiring diplomats. He lives in a dormitory and makes friends with some second-year students whom he meets on a regular basis during breakfast. The author develops a crush on one of these students but is reluctant to reveal his feelings for fear of rejection. The author also fears opening up to his own family, who are very conservative and expect him to marry and start a family.

The author tells the story through a series of diary entries but the entries are closer to stories than traditional diary entries. The author makes good use of this hybrid form to delve deep into his feelings and insecurities. The ending is low-key, like the tone of the story as a whole, but extremely satisfying. If you enjoy school stories or thoughtful tales about someone working through their insecurities, Breakfast Buddies is for you.

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