Going Nowhere Faster

April 2, 2007
The summer after high school graduation isn't going as expected for the emotionally troubled narrator of Beaudoin's debut novel. Stan is a mathematically brilliant, sarcastic teenager with aspirations of becoming a famous screenwriter. Instead of fame and fortune, he finds himself working the register at Happy Video with no college prospects and an inability to write anything other than hackneyed movie treatments and the obsessive-and amusing-lists that dot his intentionally flawed narration (Stan is a self-described "serial exaggerator"). Additionally, Stan strains to deal with his eccentric parents: his health-obsessed, vegan mother grows and sells "organic (mealy) produce" out of their home, and his father, an amateur inventor, designed and built their house, which "looked like a haunted scrap pile" and has engineered their ancient Mercedes to run on cooking oil, requiring frequent trips to fast food restaurants to fill up the leaky rooftop storage tank. Beaudoin adds a touch of menace to Stan's coming-of-age story by making him the target of escalating, anonymous threats that strike increasingly close to home. Stan is an empathetic hangdog hero, and though he sees his own life as stagnant and directionless, readers ought to enjoy this wryly narrated trip through his emotional failings, betrayals, neuroses and triumphs. Ages 12-up.

April 1, 2007
Gr 8 Up-Seventeen-year-old Stan Smith, a chess champion and former child prodigy, shirks most of his scholarly and social responsibilities, instead choosing to spend his time working as an underpaid clerk in a video store. His hippie vegan parents, though well meaning, only embarrass him and make his self-defeating attempts to wrest control of his life all the more pathetic. Paths to recovery do surface only to be thwarted by one of the novel's offbeat characters or through Stan's own mistakes, which result in a seemingly directionless plot that eventually fizzles away. The narrative style follows suit, and the various lists and imaginary film treatments composed by Stan do little to infuse any personality into the story, let alone aid in moving it along. Moreover, these conceits feel stale and overused, especially when compared to the ingenious and hilarious characterizations contained in John Green's similarly themed "An Abundance of Katherines" (Dutton, 2006). What results is a half-baked and formulaic exploration of loserdom that lacks any of the dumpy, ironic, underdog charm that could raise it to "Napoleon Dynamite" heights."Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 21, 2007
The summer after high school graduation isn't going as expected for the emotionally troubled narrator of Beaudoin's debut novel. Stan is a mathematically brilliant, sarcastic teenager with aspirations of becoming a famous screenwriter. Instead of fame and fortune, he finds himself working the register at Happy Video with no college prospects and an inability to write anything other than hackneyed movie treatments and the obsessive-and amusing-lists that dot his intentionally flawed narration (Stan is a self-described "serial exaggerator"). Additionally, Stan strains to deal with his eccentric parents: his health-obsessed, vegan mother grows and sells "organic (mealy) produce" out of their home, and his father, an amateur inventor, designed and built their house, which "looked like a haunted scrap pile" and has engineered their ancient Mercedes to run on cooking oil, requiring frequent trips to fast food restaurants to fill up the leaky rooftop storage tank. Beaudoin adds a touch of menace to Stan's coming-of-age story by making him the target of escalating, anonymous threats that strike increasingly close to home. Stan is an empathetic hangdog hero, and though he sees his own life as stagnant and directionless, readers ought to enjoy this wryly narrated trip through his emotional failings, betrayals, neuroses and triumphs. Ages 12-up.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.