K. M. Soehnlein

I am not sure what a normal boy is, but I am sure that I was not one, at least not an average one. This book has an appeal with its central protagonist on a journey of discovery about himself - trying to find out what it means to be a "normal boy". The journey itself, the characters he meets, and his family become less and less interesting as the book proceeds. Perhaps the author tried to mix a few too many problems and in the process lost some of the focus on the central character, Robin MacKenzie. That explains, at least in part, why I did not find the novel satisfying.… (lisätietoja)

Was surprised to like this as much as I did....Not sure what i was expecting, but what i got was a rather poignant tale of the late1970's suburban New Jersey teen-age sexual awakening of 13-year-old Robin Mackenzie....and that awakening is not necessarily a resolution. Having grown up in the 1970's, graduating from high school in 1979, the representation of suburban home-life, expected moral behavior was startlingly as i remembered it.....as was the mental turmoil so clearly captured as to what it is like to begin that journey to adulthood: fitting in (or not), sexual discovery, never seeming to live up to what is expected, peer rivalries, family rivalries, friendships and betrayals, hurt and deception, experimenting, going against your own principles to do things in order to seem to be more 'normal'......wow! it was like reliving that period of my life. I suppose the details were a bit more graphic than i expected, but the tone was certainly appropriate if the goal was to capture the goings on in the head of a teenage male struggling with his sexual identity. The tragic family event was also unexpected and allowed us to view the truly fragile nature of our family structures when confronted with the unexpected, but also to see where a dark page in our story can often be and opportunity for a new chapter. I enjoyed not knowing what was coming next, or how the relationships were going to resolve, and that unexpectedness certainly overcame the occasional sappy turns in the story...but then again, I'm probably not being fair....in my own life.....well, i guess i won't go there......All in all a good read that i plowed through very quickly and enjoyed, although the subject matter was completely relatable to my own story and time....cannot guarantee the same feel for those whose story is more removed....… (lisätietoja)