Stand Off

Stand Off by Andrew Smith, 401 pages

“It's his last year at Pine Mountain, and Ryan Dean should be focused on his future, but instead, he's haunted by his past. His rugby coach expects him to fill the roles once played by his lost friend, Joey, as the rugby team's stand-off and new captain. And somehow he's stuck rooming with twelve-year-old freshman Sam Abernathy, a cooking whiz with extreme claustrophobia and a serious crush on Annie Altman--aka Ryan Dean's girlfriend, for now, anyway. Equally distressing, Ryan Dean's doodles and drawings don't offer the relief they used to. He's convinced N.A.T.E. (the Next Accidental Terrible Experience) is lurking around every corner--and then he runs into Joey's younger brother Nico, who makes Ryan Dean feel paranoid that he's avoiding him. Will Ryan Dean ever regain his sanity?” This sequel was great.  I read the first book a while ago and found that it didn’t matter that I didn’t remember many details.  A good read for teens, especially boys, who like realistic fiction.

Winger, Andrew Smith

Winger,  Andrew Smith    2013     438 pages

             I wanted to dislike this book. It came recommended by most of the Youth Services staff over here at Central, but I just couldn't see how I could like a character as privileged as Ryan Dean West.  I was proven wrong, and I am glad for that.  This book was funny and endearing, and kind of made me want to cry.  Ryan Dean West is fourteen and a junior at his boarding school. This scenario is nightmarish for anyone to think about. Picture yourself at fourteen and being younger than everyone else in your grade by two years.  That just sounds awful.

              The book opens with Ryan Dean having to deal with the fact that he is living in the dorm set a part for troublemakers, and his roommate is a total bully.  Along with his crush on his best friend who thinks he is a little kid, Ryan Dean's prospects for junior year don't start off that promising. The book deals with some heavy subject matter in a way that is palatable for teen readers. Andrew Smith is an excellent writer and I was really pleased to read this.

Winger

Winger by Andrew Smith, 439 pages

This book is an interesting study. It's an interesting study in narrative, and how we often root for the protagonist of a story simply because he's the protagonist (and in this case, because the book's written in first person), and not necessarily because they're worth rooting for. Let's be honest: for 2/3 of the book, Winger, the main character here, is a largely unrepentant turd who typically thinks, feels, and acts more with his libido than his brain. It's easy to jump to the argument, "sure he makes some mistakes, but at heart, Winger's a good guy!" But is he? Annie is touted as his best friend, but apart from her laughing at his usually-crude jokes, the relationship seems rather one-sided. She seems to legitimately care about him and his well-being, but 9 times out of 10, his mind is more occupied with how hot she is and how jealous he gets at her talking with other guys than it is with anything remotely friend-like. He's routinely a hypocrite, acknowledges he's a hypocrite, and ignores that knowledge so he can keep being a hypocrite. He lashes out at his friends, plays horrible pranks on his enemies, and for the most part, shows no remorse for any of it.

The study goes further though. The story itself is largely about his need to grow out of that mindset - about how, while Winger thinks of "growing up" as getting a few inches taller and having to shave off his first chin hair, it's really about realizing that love needs to go beyond physical attraction, that education needs to go beyond just mindlessly vomiting back what your teacher tells you, and that friendship needs to go beyond surface-level screwing around.

The question becomes: does the book sell that? And that's a question I have difficulty answering. I'd tend towards "yes," but at the same time, the book sometimes feels manipulative. If this book was written from JP's perspective (one of Winger's friends), it could probably be titled "Bad things happen to a relatively decent guy." I just don't know. I'm not sure if I'm rooting for Winger because I believe he's a good person and I want him to learn and grow and win in the end, or if I root for him because I'm as messed up as he is and I associate with some of his worst elements. I don't know if this books an indictment of juvenile thinking or a celebration of it.

I do know this much: Winger is not the most likable character in the story, and the character who is the most likable makes this novel what it is - powerful. Despite my confusion about much of the book, by the end it's hard to argue that. It is powerful.