From Goodreads: A Novel Of America’s Most Disillusioned Generation

For Steve, Sophia, Dave, and Brooke, life hasn’t turned out as planned. Rather than easy fame and fortune, these happy-go-lucky teenagers of the 1980’s found young adulthood a mystifying series of dead-end jobs, failed relationships, family scandal, and surging frustration.

Now approaching middle age, all they want is to reverse their gradual alienation from life and one another, reconnecting with their earlier, innocent selves.

But there’s a catch. Before any of them can move forward, they must collectively confront that one outrageous night back in college that first drove them apart, revealing secrets potentially shattering everything they ever were.

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This is a pretty interesting novel that follows the disappointing lives of three “used-to-be” friends (the fourth couldn’t be contacted, so Steve finds a stand-in).  There are a lot of funny parts that made me snicker aloud; these characters are definitely crazy, and I really hope they don’t emulate too many people out there.  Really, I spent much of the novel thinking, “what is wrong with these kids?” So, here’s the line-up:

Dave married a crazy girl named Jen, and he really should have gotten rid of her when he had the chance, but he never did, and she’s been plaguing his life ever since.  A lot of the information surrounding their relationship is a bit quirky and I can’t help but feel sorry for him, but I also think he’s an idiot for falling into the trap she “set” for him, aka. making him the fallout boy all the time, etc.

Steve wants to be a writer, and when the story focuses on him, it’s pretty hilarious.  I loved his side-commentary, especially when he was talking about the people who run out to grab the tennis balls during a tennis match—good thoughts there! Why are those people there?  How did they apply for that job?  Did they want to grow up to be a ball grabber?  It just makes you stop and think for a moment, and it definitely brought a smile to my face.  It’s a bit twisted, too, I mean, I kept asking myself, “where does this stuff come from?”, as I was reading.  It actually reminded me of an awesome book of short stories called Watching Grandma Circle the Drain, where the author comes up with crazy and hilarious scenarios.  And for that, I loved Steve (though I’m not going to lie, some of what he had to say is offensive, such as his comments about fat people and homosexuals).

Sophie… has a lot of sexual escapades.  I actually felt like she was just a part of the story to add that sexual element… I’m not a fan of lots of sex in my novels, so she wasn’t my favorite, but… oh well.  On that note, everyone seems to be a tad bit obsessed with sex in this novel.  I think there’s more to life than that, and this novel really talked about sex way too much for my liking, but overall, the story was interesting, though I, personally, found their falling out that one, fateful night, to be a bit anticlimactic.  But, overall, I liked the plotline and depth of the characters, craziness and all.  Four stars.

I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.