Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collections
Publication
Bloomsbury USA (2007), Edition: First Edition, 256 pages
Description
So what if your parents hate each other and want you to have therapy? So what if your hoiler-than-thou sister (aka The Nun) and her posse have decided you're going to hell? So what if the school tyrant and his goons are hunting you down, or if your best friend has just outed you to a neo-Nazi? Jaz isn't planning to lose any sleep over it - at least until he meets the guy of his dreams at the local gay bar. Suddenly things are a lot more complicated.
User reviews
LibraryThing member MikeFarquhar
Will Davis' My Side of the Story is a fairly typical adolescent coming of age story and while it's not particularly innovative, it touches all the bases in reasonable fashion.
Jaz is 16, studying for his A Levels, lives with his 'remarkably undivorced' parents, his religious younger sister and his
Davis takes Jaz round the usual houses - family squabbles, teenage angst, early mention of The Catcher in the Rye, running away from it all, trying to find your own space and own identity, school problems, and that most modern of touchstones, therapy - it's all here. Jaz narrates, a fast and breezy style, with a more or less convincing ear for adolescent speech (though it gets a bit overly repetitive in some places). He's a likeable enough kid, and his charm carries the book over some of the rockier patches. Partly because this is narrated by Jaz, and this is 'his side of the story' a lot of the other characters suffer in comparison, coming over as ciphers for Jaz to react against more than fully formed people in their own right. Arguably of course, that's a fairly accurate view of how a teenage boy sees the world.
It's not particularly original, and it doesn't leap out and grab you with its intensity, but this is still a fun, zippy book, with a few laughs along the way, and Davis captures that universal feeling of being a teenager and thinking you know it all well.
Jaz is 16, studying for his A Levels, lives with his 'remarkably undivorced' parents, his religious younger sister and his
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grandmother, and sneaks out to go clubbing with his best mate Al(ice). As the book starts everyone - from his family, to the neo-Nazi bullies at school to the in-the-closet-at work teacher, have all just found out that Jaz is gay, which is what catapults the plot on. Davis takes Jaz round the usual houses - family squabbles, teenage angst, early mention of The Catcher in the Rye, running away from it all, trying to find your own space and own identity, school problems, and that most modern of touchstones, therapy - it's all here. Jaz narrates, a fast and breezy style, with a more or less convincing ear for adolescent speech (though it gets a bit overly repetitive in some places). He's a likeable enough kid, and his charm carries the book over some of the rockier patches. Partly because this is narrated by Jaz, and this is 'his side of the story' a lot of the other characters suffer in comparison, coming over as ciphers for Jaz to react against more than fully formed people in their own right. Arguably of course, that's a fairly accurate view of how a teenage boy sees the world.
It's not particularly original, and it doesn't leap out and grab you with its intensity, but this is still a fun, zippy book, with a few laughs along the way, and Davis captures that universal feeling of being a teenager and thinking you know it all well.
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LibraryThing member callmecayce
Basically, I ended up falling in love with this book. It's extremely quirky and the main character is surprisingly lovable (in spite and because of his faults). The characters are well rounded, especially coming from a first person point of view novel. The writing is strong, though if you don't
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like British slang, this book might be hard to get through. It reminded me of Skins in many ways. And it ended perfectly, not a perfectly happy way, but just the way it needed to end. It was very funny and at times shockingly sad. I'm definitely glad I read it. Show Less
LibraryThing member TpJay
The sleeve note has this as extremely funny - sorry Will - wasted on me.
I finished reading it - but why I couldn't tell you - just stubborn I guess
I finished reading it - but why I couldn't tell you - just stubborn I guess
LibraryThing member tajuddinabd
LIC GAS!
And don't ask me why!
And don't ask me why!
Awards
Betty Trask Prize and Awards (Prize Winner — Winner — 2007)
Waverton Good Read Award (Longlist — 2007)
ALA Rainbow Book List (Selection — Young Adult Fiction — 2008)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2007-03-19
Physical description
256 p.; 5.5 inches
ISBN
1596912944 / 9781596912946
Other editions
My Side of the Story by Will Davis (Hardcover)
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