Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Title: Twenty Boy Summer
Author: Sarah Ockler
Source: City Library
Number of Pages: 290
Published By: Little, Brown and Company
Rating: 5.0
Strongly Recommended

Synopsis: "Don't worry, Anna. I'll tell her, okay? Just let me think about the best way to do it."
"Okay."
"Promise me? Promise you won't say anything?"
"Don't worry." I laughed. "It's our secret, right?"

According to her best friend Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy ever day, there's a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there's something she hasn't told Frankie—-she's already had that kind of romance, and it was with Frankie's older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

My Review: I'm just going to start off saying that Twenty Boy Summer was more than just amazing. The writing, the characters, the situations, the duologue, absolutely everything was spectacular.

Anna is a loving, selfless and down to earth protagonist. She is always there for her best friend, Frankie. Even when Frankie turns into a bit of a brat after her brother, Matt dies. I could tell you about these incredibly real characters, but in all honesty, it wouldn't do them justice. Every single character is just so well developed and complex. Personally, Frankie was my favorite character. It's very clear she has some definite problems she needs to deal with and seeing exactly how she deals with them is fascinating.

This story was just so completely honest. I felt raw reading it. I may have even shed a few tears for a character or two. Dealing with death is always going to be a sticky subject. But Sarah Ockler did a superb job. I don't know how she managed to write something this real. This honest. This complex. There's so much going on and so many emotions being dealt with. There's no way any review or summery could truly express how emotional, complex, and real this story is.

If you chose not to read this book, I promise, you are doing yourself a big disservice. This is more than just your average YA book dealing with sensitive issues. This is a masterpiece. A work of art.

2 comments:

Natalie said...

I bought this book at the beginning of last semester when a guy in my community (the infamous Wesley Scroggins) was advocating to have it banned from local high school libraries. While I haven't gotten around to reading it yet, I've heard a LOT of great things about it. I can't wait! So glad you enjoyed it!

Brianne said...

Someone tried to have this book banned? Oh my word, that is so crazy! Wonder if he actually read the whole thing or just heard it had some sexual themes to it... Well, I hope you like it as much as I did!