Review: Strong first novel, funny and moving with an authentic protagonist
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 8, 2012
I received a request from the author to review this book in exchange for an honest review.This book centers around the protagonist, Jeep Trembley, a nerd that has never gotten laid and his journey through a year at a state school. We are in Jeep's head the whole time, hearing every thought separated by the minutes that he thinks them. He lives in the shadow of a famous brother and a family tragedy, and surprisingly joins the football team against all odds, and falls for a beautiful girl. What follows is both hilarious and moving all at the same time as he ventures through the year and discovers more about the people around him and ultimately, about himself.I was really surprised by this book. I've been receiving a lot of duds lately, and this one definitely caught me from the first page. For the first 30%, I laughed out loud so many times that my husband wanted to know what I was reading. I'm not a guy, but I felt like Jeep's voice was very authentic. Several of the characters were surprising and all the male characters ended up being three dimensional, which I loved. Several of the twists in the story I was not anticipating, and I'm glad those steps were made.Issues I had, which were mainly personal preferences. I felt like while all the male characters were deftly drawn and three dimensional, I wasn't as into the women characters. Melody was a prime example-- she was a sweet girl, but Jeep is so smart-- would she really hold his interest forever? I also thought some moments with his brother Brent were heavy handed and were a little too close plot wise to A League of Their Own.That said, I blazed through the book from start to finish and was really drawn into the story by the authentic voice. I look forward to future work by Martin Reed.