16-year-old Victor Konig is miserable. His parents are truly terrible people, and he's been bullied by the same kid, Bull Mastrick, since kindergarten.
Bull, meanwhile, is just as miserable. His home life is also terrible, though for different reasons.
Due to a suicide attempt and a gunshot wound, they both end up on the psych ward.
As roommates.
Pros: Two distinct voices, and despite Bull's abuse of Victor, he's easy to empathize with, root for, and even like.
The two sets of adults in their lives are awful—so awful that 50 pages in, I was following Josh around the house, shaking the book at him and zombie moaning "I'm sooooooooooooooooo depresssssssssssed"—and Walton does a great job of showing that people can be absolutely hideous parents without ever laying a finger on their children.
While Victor and Bull come to a point where SPOILER—they respect each other, they never become, like, BFFs—END SPOILER. Which I felt was realistic, given their history and personalities.
Cons: I didn't particularly buy either romance, and the girls involved were never more than vague outlines of people. Also, SPOILER—both boys end up with new adult advocates, girlfriends, and all-around happy endings—END SPOILER. Which felt a bit unlikely to me. Then again, after the horribly depressing first quarter of the book, I was pretty ready for Some Happy Times.
Recommended to: Fans of The Issues.
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Amazon | Indiebound.
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Book source: ILLed through my library.
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