My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger
A post from Jo
I am going to blatantly lie and say
I have read this book five times- I have read it way many more times than that.
I discovered it the summer before
my freshman year of high school (and we all needed help around that time,
didn’t we) and checked it out of the local library. The description had looked
interesting, but not interesting enough to not maximize the number of holds I
had on it as I kept putting off reading it.
Finally I picked it up and told
myself I would only read the first chapter, and return it if it wasn’t
interesting. Approximately one page later I was hooked. Funny, romantic,
feel-good, this book is my go-to whenever I am down or stressed.
The story is written in a diary
format, with article entries and IMs dotted throughout. It follows the stories
of three friends named TC, Ale, and Augie, who are freshman who live in Boston.
TC and Augie self-proclaimed brothers. TC is crazy about baseball, and is head
over heels over Ale. Ale is a diplomat’s daughter who is beginning to spread
her wings in the school theater, while Augie is a theater addict (references to
plays galore, and I found myself renting Kiss Me, Kate and Hello, Dolley! on
Netflix after finishing the book for the first time) and is coming to terms
with his homosexuality.
Throw in a six year old deaf boy, Manzanar, JFK,
Mary Poppins, and purple balloons and this novel oozes charm and will delight
at every turn, leaving you beaming by the end, and wishing this had been what
high school was actually like.
No comments:
Post a Comment