Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin

3.5 Stars

 

Richie Sudden has some time to reflect on his life.  Ninety days, to be exact.  That’s how long he’s stuck in juvie – pondering his existence and what got him to his breaking point.  The bad things like a dead sister, a dad who split and started a new family a nanosecond after the death, and his mom’s new girlfriend.  The good things like his best friend, the girl he fantasizes about and the battle of the bands competition he competed in. 

 

I was seriously loving this book until the last 20 pages or so.  We’re talking solid 4 stars, maybe even 4.5.  This book has great momentum, the overused but somehow okay once again “tough kid dealt a tough hand – the young cynic” lead character, gazillions of pop culture references that a nerdgirl like me can truly appreciate.  Beaudoin’s writing style is pretty genius.  The back-and-forth storytelling between the past and the present flows.  And, if you are unlike me and happen to know ANYTHING at all about music, you’re probably going to have an even deeper appreciation of how smart this book is that I can’t even pretend to understand.  But then the “A-HA” moment came.  And it was such a letdown that Wise Young Fool will be forever known on the internets as a 3.5 Star book by me. 

 

Wah wah.

 

I don’t know what happened to the end of the book.  Time crunch?  Fizzled out?  Thought he’d reach an awesome conclusion when he got to that point but it just didn’t happen?  I don’t know the answer, but I feel like there needed to be MORE.  I’m not writing Beaudoin off just yet, though.  He’s got several other acclaimed novels that I need to read before I finalize my opinion.