Senior year of High School, I got bored, and my health teacher released me from class to get a book from the library. (In hindsight, teachers let you wander the halls a fair bit at my HS.) Well, in the library, I discovered My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger. I decided to check it out.
Problem: It was just about the end of the year, and all the library books were technically due back to the library that day. See, the school believed that they couldn't check that book out to me and expect to get it back in time. It wasn't anything personal, since they had this policy for all students. (Though, they could've made it personal and had a fair point. I had their copy for Of Human Bondage for about 9 months -- 3 of which were summer vacation. But that book was just really dull.)
So, I did what any self-respecting nerd would do. I went and had a nice chat with the head librarian who was awesome and with whom I had a pretty good relationship. (What can I say, being on the competitive reading team gets you some sway with the people who care about books.) She let me take out the book if I promised to get it back within a week.
I finished that book in about 36 hours. It hooked me by page 4 and I couldn't put it down.
Quick Summary: Three Boston HS seniors recount their freshman year, which they consider the most excellent year of their lives. Ale just moved to Boston with her father, the retired ambassador to Mexico, her mother, and her perfect brother. She doesn't know how to tell them that she doesn't want to do International Relations. She wants to perform in musicals. T.C. is helping his father reenter the dating world after T.C's mom's death a decade prior, helping Augie with his relationship issues, and helping a young, deaf boy with his obsession with Mary Poppins. Augie finally realizes he's gay (something T.C.'s known for years) and falls for a player on the school soccer team who can't seem to come to terms with his own homosexuality.
I probably didn't do such a great job summing it all up there, but this book really is fabulous. There's baseball, musical theater, and young love, not to mention magazine clippings, transcripts of strange convos with guidance counselors, and IMs. Trust me, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll fall in love all over again.
I love this book.
This sounds so interesting! I'll have to add it to my out-of-control reading list.
ReplyDeleteIll read this book.sounds nice!tnx 4 sharing.
ReplyDeleteB.J. -- I'm sure you'll enjoy it. It's that good.
ReplyDeleteShasha -- My pleasure. :)