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Book Summary

Reviewed by Matt Berman

John, 14, describes his life, filled with the usual teen miseries: he has a crush on a manipulative, selfish girl, he doesn't understand algebra, he has no good friends, and he is alienated both at school and at home. But he also has a more serious problem: his mother's live-in boyfriend, referred to only as "the man who is not my father," beats him regularly, and may be involved in criminal activities.

Meanwhile John has a more disastrous than usual date with the girl of his dreams, his "friend who is not a friend" is arrested for shoplifting, and he is given a tuba solo in the school band. But then his mother has to leave town to deal with a dying relative, and John is left alone with her abusive boyfriend.

Is It Any Good?

4

This is a stunning combination of brilliantly sardonic teen observation, lyrical writing, and anger. Like teen protagonists before him, all the way back to Holden Caulfield, John notices above all the falseness and hypocrisy around him, but his descriptions of each moment, ruthlessly parsed, are uniquely creative, at times almost surrealistic.

Some of the scenes are laugh-out-loud funny, so the denouement comes as even more of a shock. John's problems may get a bit melodramatic at the end, but by then the reader is so immersed in his character that it is moving nonetheless. Sharply observed, and with a powerful voice, this is David Klass' best novel yet.

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