Prep by Jake Coburn, Dutton Books, 2003
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Nick is a teenage boy who resides in the city of Manhattan. He has friends and a family at home. Nick's life is based on gangs, sex, alcohol, drugs, graffiti, and love: what every teenager's life is like in Manhattan. Nick has a best friend named Kris that he is in love with. Kris is yet to find out about Nick's dark secret. Nick is also in the process of being recruited in a prep-school gang: a huge movement from a three-man crew whose purpose is revoled around "tagging". In a world of trouble, Nick is faced with the initiation of a prep-school gang and revealing his deepest, darkest secret, which can put his friendship at risk.
"In Prep, Jake Coburn has written a minimalist movel that turns the world of J.D. Salinger inside out. A fresh, startling look at an unexpected subculture, the raw, ugly world of affluent prep-school gang boys in name-brand jackets who talk like punks and put their knives where their mouths are." -Norma Fox Mazer, author of After the Rain, a Newberry Honor Book.
Prep is based on Jake Coburn's teenage life. He went through everything that Nick did and even grew up where he did. Jake Coburn uses a large amount of profanity in his story. The usage of expletives in the story sets the personality of the characters. It also exhibits the area of which the story takes place which is Manhattan.
This story reminds me of Payback by Paul Langan. The story revolves around love, sex, and fighting and is about teenage life. For example, in Payback Tyray Hobbs is bullied by Darrell Mercer. This connects to when Nick is bullied and threatened by Derrick, a member of MKII which is a prep-school gang.
"Well, I didn't know square one. So I asked Jessica if he's her boyfriend, and she just starts laughing and reaching for her nose candy. Right there on the fucking floor. I bug out, throw on my shirt, and run down the back staircase with a hard-on. It's fucking difficult to run with a hard-on." (18).
From readin this piece of literature, I fell in love with Jake Coburn's work. It relates to my life, as things are rough in my city. I reside in Holyoke so I can relate to Jake Coburn and Nick in that they grew up in a rough neighborhood. Although I loved the book, I became frustrated at the end. It couldn't have just ended the way it did. What happened between Nick and Kris? What;s going on with the gang? I still have unanswered questions and I hope that there is another part to the book.
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Julian sseems not too thrilled about the book that i could tell but he seemed to somewhat enjoy it. He nnoticed that the writer was deep in his writing and got into it while writing the book. The passage was pretty good it introduced some of the key parts to the book.JUlians blogged seemed like any other normal review. I would most certainly not consider reading this book. I do not like reading anyway and this book seems boring.
ReplyDelete1. Julian seemed to enjoy the book and he can make many connections to the book. He really wanted to figure out some of his questions that were left unanswered.
ReplyDelete2. Julian noticed that the author can really relate and write what really happened during the story.
3. The piece was very interesting. It gave readers an inside look at writing style.
4.The review is similar to i have read. It has the basics and covers everything needed.
5. This book does have some interesting pieces but I would not consider it.
The reviewer loved the book, but was left with unanswered questions. He noticed that the writer uses a lot of profanity in his writing. He picked a passage, an interesting passage, which he then said reminded him of his own life which personally man not a good idea to use that paragraph and compare yourself to a guy running whilst being aroused. Its a good solid review hits all the points, a few spelling errors but its all good. No I wouldn't consider reading it, why read a book about pathetic teenage drama when we all got to live through it I rather read something I can escape into.
ReplyDelete1) Julian seemed to enjoy the book by the way he explained the way the author writes.
ReplyDelete2)He noticed that the writer uses a lot of profanitys.
3)He picked a passage that showed a lot a profanity in it to show the authors tone.
4)He seems to not put feeling in his review, he writes calm and to the point.
5)I would not read this book because it seems like a book that could be to graphic to the point were it is juststupid.
copyright JIMMY DEEN Lego Owl---
1) He loved the book and wants to read more from this author.
ReplyDelete2) He notices the characters come to life with their swearing and the author writes deep.
3) The quote was interesting but doesn’t really pull me in.
4) This a pretty average review.
5) I probably wouldn’t read this book because I like fiction.