YA New York

I’ve been waiting impatiently for today. Very impatiently. Because, you see, although today is the official release day of Matthue Roth’s new book, Losers, it’s been on sale in stores for awhile. But you know the rules: No reviews before the release date.

All right. The story takes place in Philadelphia, centering around a high school kid named Jupiter. Yes, it’s a funny name for a funny kid who immigrated to the US from Russia when he was a child. It seems to me that anyone named Jupiter is destined to be bullied.

Which Jupiter is, of course. On the first day of school, a bully gives him a nice little beating and demands that he “share” his locker. But somehow, things start to get better as a result of Jupiter crashing a party and making a place for himself, one that allows him to mingle with members of just about every clique in the school. And throughout it all, we get to experience his hilarious mishaps with him.

What’s amazing about Matthue’s book is that it’s not only funny, but also a pretty decent breakdown of high school cliques. Of how the people in them are maybe not so evil. Of how everyone, even the bullies, are just trying to find a place for themselves. So yeah, it’s a little heartwarming and fuzzy, but in a good way. A really, really good way. Indeed, I was so charmed by this novel that I went out and got myself a copy of Matthue’s memoir (not YA), and am working my way through it right now.

I’ve also got an interview with Matthue that I was hoping to post today but will have to post a little later in the week. So watch for that, coming soon. And for now, go get yourself a copy of Losers, yeah?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.