A review by mwana
Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks by 'Nathan Burgoine
5.0
The mind wants to be open, but all the noise and anxiety and pressure keeps it shut...
If you could walk through a door and turn up anywhere in the world, where would you go?
As for me, I would love to show up in a bank vault, and considering how broke I am, I may get off with enough money to sink an economy. And I would not regret it. Not one bit. But I digress, in all seriousness... I would open the door and end up on a marble balcony with art deco tiling overlooking Central Park.
Cole, on the other hand, ends up in an aviation museum. Confused, groggy and weak, he has to find a way to get back to school before lunch break ends. And he does, only he ends up inside his locker. For someone who is gay, has a history of being teased about his history, it appears like an easy-to-explain situation, amirite?
Nope. Cole has to learn how to deal with the fact that he can literally teleport through doors. Any time he walks through a door, he has to visualise where he wants to go otherwise he will end up in the last place he thought of. That kind of responsibility is not easy to handle. But for Cole, it kinda is because he is a master list maker. A bonafide type A who has to have a plan for everything otherwise he ends up like the rest of us freaks who don't know how to control our minds and end up vomiting over the carefully curated order around us.
He has some great friends around him too. Who are a great lesson in the seamless application of the LGBTQ spectrum in literature. Which we damn sure need more of. His parents are the parents we all wish we had.
This is only the third book I have read this year that has left me looking and feeling like
Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks is the perfect YA Fantasy novel for the grouchy ass adult who needs an exit plan from her grouchy ass life. Well, it is for young adults but speaking as an 11-year-old in the body of a 25-year-old which sometimes feels 75 years old I can say with the utmost confidence that this book will entertain everyone.
Following Cole on his wild misadventures as an amateur teleporter will lead to some interesting places. From the glass door bathroom of his crush [hubba hubba], to his favourite board game cum coffee shop to the creeps who keep following him around and wanting to melt his brain. Luckily for Cole, he always has a plan.
Edit: The author responds to my question via Twitter.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
If you could walk through a door and turn up anywhere in the world, where would you go?
As for me, I would love to show up in a bank vault, and considering how broke I am, I may get off with enough money to sink an economy. And I would not regret it. Not one bit. But I digress, in all seriousness... I would open the door and end up on a marble balcony with art deco tiling overlooking Central Park.
Cole, on the other hand, ends up in an aviation museum. Confused, groggy and weak, he has to find a way to get back to school before lunch break ends. And he does, only he ends up inside his locker. For someone who is gay, has a history of being teased about his history, it appears like an easy-to-explain situation, amirite?
Nope. Cole has to learn how to deal with the fact that he can literally teleport through doors. Any time he walks through a door, he has to visualise where he wants to go otherwise he will end up in the last place he thought of. That kind of responsibility is not easy to handle. But for Cole, it kinda is because he is a master list maker. A bonafide type A who has to have a plan for everything otherwise he ends up like the rest of us freaks who don't know how to control our minds and end up vomiting over the carefully curated order around us.
He has some great friends around him too. Who are a great lesson in the seamless application of the LGBTQ spectrum in literature. Which we damn sure need more of. His parents are the parents we all wish we had.
This is only the third book I have read this year that has left me looking and feeling like
Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks is the perfect YA Fantasy novel for the grouchy ass adult who needs an exit plan from her grouchy ass life. Well, it is for young adults but speaking as an 11-year-old in the body of a 25-year-old which sometimes feels 75 years old I can say with the utmost confidence that this book will entertain everyone.
Following Cole on his wild misadventures as an amateur teleporter will lead to some interesting places. From the glass door bathroom of his crush [hubba hubba], to his favourite board game cum coffee shop to the creeps who keep following him around and wanting to melt his brain. Luckily for Cole, he always has a plan.
Edit: The author responds to my question via Twitter.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.