With the upcoming sequel of Winger by Andrew Smith, I just hade to make a review on the amazingness of this book!
Actually, fun fact about me: Andrew Smith is one of my favorite authors! Now moving on to the review.
I used to do volunteer hours at a library and one afternoon as I was waiting for my mom to pick me up, I grabed Winger, and I mean, how could I not? Did you see the spine? Those who read the book will know what I mean when I say that my eyes were drawn to it. Anyways, I grabed Winger and started to read it. Not gonna lie, I wasn't a huge fan at first and I left the book there with no second thought. Thankfully! I later came across Winger again in a used bookstore for five dollars: best five dollars I have ever spent!
So let me situate you guys a little bit here:
Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids in the Pacific Northwest. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy.
With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.
Winger was a wonderful book so let's go over the good and the bad things about it.
The GOOD
- A main character that was real.
I keep going back to this, but if a character is too perfect or too dumb, only made to fit in the story, I don't like it. Ryan Dean West was funny and awkward. He made mistakes like all of us. He was flawed and he was REAL.
-A plot that pas believable.
No crazy obstacles just to fill the gaps. Again, it seemed REAL.
-A plot that was entertaining until the end.
You can't help but fall in love with everything and everyone in Winger and I wanted to know what would happen to all them! Plus, there was no reading slumps!
-The writing style.
Andrew Smith has mastered the art of puting himself in the head of his characters. With Winger, I read a story told by Ryan Dean West, not a story told by Anderew Smith trying to write what Ryan Dean West would say or do. Which is difficult for a writer.
-The dialogues.
I said I wasn't a big fan at first. Not because it wasn't interesting, but because... Okay, it's a bit embarassing to tell because it seems so childish now, but it was because of the curse words. I don't curse a lot, and it was the first book I read that had the word ''fuck'' in it instead of ''fudge'' or ''silly crackers!'' as replacements. And you know what? It made sense and it made the dialogues interesting and... You guessed it, REAL!
Some people don't like curse words in their books, and I respect that. But at the same time, I dare you to go in a highschool hallway for a day and listen to how teenagers talk when there are no adults involved in the conversation. Do they say ''schnitzel''? No, they say ''shit''. As a teenager myself, I assure you that what I say is true. Trust me. Because it's the truth.
-Character development
Need I say more?
-Humour
I laughed out loud, which happens even less than me crying.
The BAD
-...
Okay, there is no bad in this book. I wanted to try and do a more ''structured'' review, by opposing the good and the bad, but I can't because it doesn't exist!
This book is perfect in its unperfect way, and you my friend, should read it.
“And then it's always that one word that makes you so different and puts you outside the overlap of everyone else; and that word is so fucking big and loud, it's the only thing anyone ever hears when your name is spoken.
And whenever that happens to us, all the other words that make us the same disappear in its shadow.”
And this? This is a tiny exemple of Andrew Smith' genius mind.
Sophie
