Promising Start

This book looks promising so far. I’ve read more than half of part one and it seems like a book I can enjoy reading. Nothing in comparison to Notes from the Underground. The reading itself is so much easier and I actually understand what I am reading about. I like this book so far because it is about our generation. It talks about problems in high school with teachers you like and dislike. It talks about the awkward stage when you are just starting to get comfortable with the opposite sex and don’t really know how to talk to them yet. It talks about a boy’s worst fear when he has a girlfriend; being sexually deprived hurts a boy’s pride, self-esteem, and even his reputation a little. I am curious to find out more about Adrian because he just appears to be such an intellectually interesting character. He doesn’t say much, but that just says so much about him. His ability to know when to be serious and when to “take a piss” is implacable s far and his intellectual level is obviously much more superior to that of his friends, so it got me thinking if he is going to be somewhat like Meursault from The Stranger. Anthony is just a plain average Joe that goes along with life and does not think about the future but rather lives in the moment and enjoy the present. This can be seen when he asks Veronica why they have to think something of their future and not enjoy the moment. Veronica is another interesting character because, as Tony says, she behaves on pure instinct. When he visited her parents, she did not show them her approval of him until they showed theirs first.

This book is also interesting because I can already see a connection to Dostoevsky when the boys are talking about how Robson committed suicide, and all they can think of is that at least Robson had a girlfriend. They year for a girl’s rejection. They yearn for that “slap to the face” Dostoevsky was talking about. They are young and curious and want to experience all emotions.