SNAPSHOT
Lauren Myracle brings her signature frank, funny, and insightful writing to this novel of a teenage boy’s coming-of-age.
Paul Walden is not an alpha lobster, the king lobster who intimidates the other male lobsters, gets all the lady lobsters, and wins at life. At least not according to anyone in his freshman seminar. But Paul has found a funny, faithful friend in Roby Smalls and, just maybe, caught the interest of smart, beautiful Natalia Guitierrez. Life as a sharply dressed beta lobster seems just fine, but in the tricky currents of high school, it’s pretty easy to get pulled too deep.
With perfect frankness, Lauren Myracle explores the point of view of a middle-class white kid as he navigates friendship, love, loss, addiction, and recovery. It’s life at its most ordinary and most unforgettable. (synopsis courtesy Hypable)
Reading about someone growing up through the hustle and bustle of high school life is cathartic in a way.
If you’re long past those years, and thank the educational gods I am, diving vicariously back into them through someone like Paul Walden is illuminating and give you a whole other perspective on what people go through, especially if like me you were bullied and harassed and spent your time at high school struggling to survive, let alone attempt to flourish.
Books like This Boy remind me that, flawed and difficult though it can be, that growing up can be rewarding as much as it is emotionally exhausting and I am glad we have people as talented as Lauren Myracle to tell these stories.
You can read an excerpt from This Boy on Hypable.
This Boy releases 10 March, 2020.