Grab On To Me Tightly As If I Knew The Way
Book Reviews | Jan 13th, 2008
Author: Bryan Charles
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 240
Retail Price: 9.99
Buy on Amazon.com link
I read this clumsy, unlikable teen-angst book awhile ago, but it left so little impression that I couldn’t review it. But recently I read another clumsy, unlikable teen-angst book, Corpse of Freedom, and it was so bad that it made me see Grab in a new light.
This book is not good. It’s one of those books where the author revisits and rewrites his own high school life, having a character stand in for him who is impossibly cool and angst-ridden, always with the cleverest quips and edgiest observations. These types of books tend to be as hollow, unengaging, and pointless as the suburbia they’re set in.
To make matters worse, the story is set in the early 90s, with grunge permeating the book’s soundtrack. Likewise, the characters are all grungy and angsty and sex-fueled and self-loathing, as if being suburban high school students wasn’t nauseating enough to read.
Charles writes in a style that’s a little stream-of-conscious beat, which is sometimes exasperating, but it does add creative flair. Many lines are both poetic and crude, like the oddly inspired, “I worked that wimp like a five-year-old filling out a job application.”
I said that another book made me think more highly of Grab. That is true. Grab is angsty teen lit, and its main characters remind of people I hated in high school – you know, the frat boys in training. But the book at least succeeds in fleshing out the inner life and thoughts of the main character (even if I don’t like him). His thoughts will have long tangents and poetic flourishes, and while the book is a breezy read, it’s at least got a little meat to it.
That’s really the best thing I can say about it. If you really want to read a heartfelt and smart book about angsty teens that rings true, pick up King Dork.
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