I thoroughly enjoyed "Better Nate Than Ever" and didn't connect it to the same author (that was an upper Elem/Middle School title) as I began reading this book, which is distinctly high school and up. This one is more personal than the Nate series, and it shows. Mr. Federle's evident passion, fully-fledged characters and powerful "inner voice" saves this jumble of a story. It's not bad, it's just not "smooth". Written almost as a stream of consciousness, there is a jumpiness about the narrative and many elements (many many elements) do not connect. In the end, our protagonist Quinn has had some huge life moments but there is not a sense of what happens next. At some points, sentences aren't actually sentences. Take this example: "
And just when that's the saddest little memory -- because all of the saddest memories are the small ones that creep up on you quiet and scary as a summer bug -- Geoff does a cannon ball right beside Carly, and soaks her, and we all laugh and shriek." It made for choppy, slow reading for me. I connected because the characters are so real they leap off the page. No single character is two-dimensional and every person in the book has layers upon layers, more than you really get to see as a reader. Teens will identify with Quinn's burgeoning sexuality and everyone will understand the deepness of his grief over a family loss. Federle doesn't spare here and delves into this pain from page one right through to the end. What could be a moralistic tale to teens about texting while driving becomes a complex story of loss, pain, growing up and moving on. The novel is a mish mash but it is human, which makes it work. (Picky note -- Pittsburgh isn't in the Midwest. Not even close.)
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