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A review by sidpeanut
Foster Dade Explores the Cosmos by Nash Jenkins
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
Holy. Shit. What did I just read?
I don’t even know how to organize my thoughts about this book, so let’s do bullet points:
- Nash Jenkins sure seems to have a few favorite vocabulary words (take a shot every time he says “ethers” or “metastasized”)
- All the sex scenes made me uncomfortable. Like, I get that some of them are important to the story, but did he have to describe adolescent sexual behavior in such intense detail?
- In what world would ANYONE—mentally fucked up or otherwise—submit THAT for an English final paper? I get that English class is where you get to hand in your trauma for a grade, but come on.
It sounds like I’m shitting on this book, but it got me out of a reading slump; so, here are some positive bullet points:
- INSANELY gripping. I woke up and reached for the book every morning and read it before I went to bed. In fact, I sat my ass down tonight with 120 pages left and couldn’t put it down until I finished it. Hence why it is currently almost 2 AM as I’m writing this. I devoured this book with an intensity I haven’t really indulged in since middle school.
- Such an honest portrayal of high school angst. I found past versions of myself ashamedly relating to Foster’s melodrama (justified or otherwise) more times than I care to admit. Hell, I still sort of relate to him. I just eat up broken Holden Caulfield archetype characters every time.
- Foster’s Blogspot journaling makes me miss my Livejournal diary I kept for 2 years.
I honestly have so many more thoughts on this book, but I’m far too tired to turn my review into a discussion board right now. Plus my back is aching from the atrocious posture with which I’ve been sitting for the past two hours, so I’ll sign off here.
I don’t even know how to organize my thoughts about this book, so let’s do bullet points:
- Nash Jenkins sure seems to have a few favorite vocabulary words (take a shot every time he says “ethers” or “metastasized”)
- All the sex scenes made me uncomfortable. Like, I get that some of them are important to the story, but did he have to describe adolescent sexual behavior in such intense detail?
- In what world would ANYONE—mentally fucked up or otherwise—submit THAT for an English final paper? I get that English class is where you get to hand in your trauma for a grade, but come on.
It sounds like I’m shitting on this book, but it got me out of a reading slump; so, here are some positive bullet points:
- INSANELY gripping. I woke up and reached for the book every morning and read it before I went to bed. In fact, I sat my ass down tonight with 120 pages left and couldn’t put it down until I finished it. Hence why it is currently almost 2 AM as I’m writing this. I devoured this book with an intensity I haven’t really indulged in since middle school.
- Such an honest portrayal of high school angst. I found past versions of myself ashamedly relating to Foster’s melodrama (justified or otherwise) more times than I care to admit. Hell, I still sort of relate to him. I just eat up broken Holden Caulfield archetype characters every time.
- Foster’s Blogspot journaling makes me miss my Livejournal diary I kept for 2 years.
I honestly have so many more thoughts on this book, but I’m far too tired to turn my review into a discussion board right now. Plus my back is aching from the atrocious posture with which I’ve been sitting for the past two hours, so I’ll sign off here.