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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
I initially read this book as a wee middle schooler when I found it shelved among the YA novels in the public library. To young me this book was a breath of fresh air, how it satisfied the need for an age-appropriate counterpart to the King, Vonnegut, and Thompson I'd been consuming in an effort to "be grown".
As an adult this book has not held up. When you're young and feel immune to consequences or to the awful things that happen in the world, it's just a passing fling and onto the next book. Upon rereading it I found myself identifying with no single character, and having trouble "rooting for" anyone. It brought me instead to wonder what sort of young people are picking this book up and using it to rationalize their own disturbed or depressed thoughts. How easily the main character is groomed into a killer is mirrored all too cleanly in current events, where children are so easily manipulated into self-harm and dangerous situations all for the sake of feeling accepted.
It's a rough ride, and definitely a book I won't be revisiting.
As an adult this book has not held up. When you're young and feel immune to consequences or to the awful things that happen in the world, it's just a passing fling and onto the next book. Upon rereading it I found myself identifying with no single character, and having trouble "rooting for" anyone. It brought me instead to wonder what sort of young people are picking this book up and using it to rationalize their own disturbed or depressed thoughts. How easily the main character is groomed into a killer is mirrored all too cleanly in current events, where children are so easily manipulated into self-harm and dangerous situations all for the sake of feeling accepted.
It's a rough ride, and definitely a book I won't be revisiting.