Jesse Browner

As far as young-adult novels go, I think this ranks right up there with Perks of Being a Wallflower and Speak. There isn't anything traumatic about the book as there is in those other two, but that doesn't mean the novel doesn't equally capture teenage angst and the sort of intellectual machinations teenagers go about. I particularly liked the ways in which Browner tied teenage judgment of adult decisions/situations into the character's thought process: all teens judge their parents particularly harshly, which perhaps becomes one of the biggest regrets of many adult lives.

I gave my copy of this book to my teenage son to read. I hope he likes it as much as I did.… (mere)