808.899283 (Adolescent Literature) - Week Five

Week five's theme for Adolescent Lit. was "Tough Stuff, Risk, and Crisis", which is always a really hard area to read. I chose to read the alternative books from List B this week. List A's books were Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, which I love, but read in undergrad, and Last Summer of the Dealth Warriors by Francisco X. Stork, which reads like an updated and modified Don Quixote - I mean, it has a character named Pancho for goodness' sake.

The books I chose to read were The Fault in Our Stars, which I love and reviewed earlier this year on its own (click HERE to link to my earlier review), and Boy 21 by Matthew Quick. I had read and reviewed another Matthew Quick book this summer (Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock) and had loved it, so I figured it was time for another novel by the same author.

         

As always before reviewing, a link to the Goodreads page for Boy 21 can be found HERE. Now let me jump into my Delights and Defects for Boy 21  by Matthew Quick.

3 Defects for Boy 21

1. If you don't like sports books at ALL, you're out of luck on this book. Yes, it's definitely about some tough stuff and about friendship, but it's also about basketball. The plot isn't all about basketball, though, and this isn't what I would call a sports book.
2. Some of this book is a little far out there. Would a teenager REALLY accept Boy 21's issues with the ease that Finley does? Irish kids in the hood? The Irish mafia in Belmont? The apparent ability of a kid to get over something SO quickly? Eh, I'll roll with it, but other's might not.
3. Yes, there is swearing. Yes, there is violence. Yes, there is talk about drugs and trafficking. Not the point, reall.

Delights for Boy 21

1. YAY! I finally get a truly happy ending, not a mixed feelings one! And I'll roll with it because I WANTED IT TO HAPPEN. If it hadn't, I don't think I'd feel the same about the book.
2. Seriously, the writing on this book is fantastic, just like Quick's other works that I've read. Quick really has a grasp on what it is to be a teen and think like a teen and act like a teen in a way that other adults writing for teens do not. He also handles really tough issues with humor (black though it might be) and solid emotional writing. Quick makes me believe all the things that are unbelievable and the characters balance each other out so nicely.
3. There are definitely interesting adults in this book that are fully fleshed characters with faults and all. It makes me happy!