This is the novella that started me reading m/m. The story of an unlikely relationship between Larry the art history professor and Al, the narrator, who does manual labor and isn't conventionally smart. But Al turns out to have his own kind of genius, and Larry appreciates him for that and for his good heart. It's always delightful to read a book where you can read beyond the narrator's conclusion and draw your own analysis based on his observations, as Al isn't particularly attuned to subtlety (despite being dead-on observant). I loved this book so much I read it several times.