I found some of this is amusing...but I quickly grew weary of reading about Ryan Dean's obsession with his nether regions and the rest of toxic masculinity at Pine Whatzit boarding school. Female characters are either 'hot' or 'not hot' and offer little more in regards to character development. I did a fair amount of eye rolling after the initial charm started to wear thin. And the penultimate crisis is yet another tired bury-your-gay trope. ( )

Ryan Dean West is 14 and in eleventh grade at boarding school. After some unfortunate circumstances at the end of Sophomore year, he's being forced to move into Opportunity Hall.... basically the dorm for delinquents. And he's moving in with Chas Becker, a guy who could kill Ryan Dean at any moment. Ryan Dean is on the Rugby team and that pretty much saves his skin; as well as making friends with Joey (the gay but tough Senior) and his nerves of steel. For being "the little kid" in his circle of friends, Ryan Dean is probably the one with the least amount of fear. He's determined for things to be different this year, and he pushes himself to do things that are kinda crazy.

With Annie (his BFF & crush) growing closer to him, but also Megan (Chas's girlfriend) intensely flirting.... this year is definitely going to be different.

My Thoughts:
I think there may be something wrong with me. I love books with immature male main characters. Maybe I'm a teenage boy at heart?? I just find the thoughts and antics of teenage boys hilarious. Is that weird?

Anyway when I first saw this book, the cover kind of threw me. I mean is it a joke? Is this book about bullying? I couldn't tell. I had seen a few good reviews of it, so I decided to just go for it regardless of the icky cover. And I really really liked it. Like-laughed out loud and smiled and wanted to go back to being 16 and be friends with a 14 year old junior-liked.

The best part of this book was all the crazy adventures the boys get into living in dorms together. It reminded me of my freshman year of college. For example, the boys would super-secretly play poker after "lights out". Who ever was the first one out would be delivered a "consequence" by the winner. These "consequences" were utterly hilarious. Especially one where Joey, Ryan Dean, and Chas went on a drive into town. It was epic, that's all I can say.

I loved the way Ryan Dean saw the world. He was SO immature at times, but then he was also charismatic. It seemed like he would get himself into these really dumb situations because he was naive and headstrong... but then he would know the just-right thing to do or say to get himself out of it also.

Then.... there was a then. This book had a total Looking for Alaska moment that I didn't see coming. I was all la-de-da having fun reading about silly boys and all their crazy times, I didn't realize shit was about to get serious. And then my heart broke a little.... or a lot. But this made the book all that more meaningful because they did go through something life changing besides catastrophic penis injuries. I just wish there was a little more time spent on the wake of such a tragedy. It was sort of like here you go, something completely unexpected and horrible, and the end. There was no time spent on dealing with it. What I got out of it was that Ryan Dean was clearly a lover of words. As a narrator he was constantly rambling and telling us every little thing... but then this thing happens and he has no words. Regardless, I still felt really emotional about what happened and what was said and wasn't said in the aftermath.

OVERALL: UGH I love books about boys that make me laugh and cry. Ryan Dean West is definitely a piece of work and you won't soon forget him. It's worth reading and worth nominating for awards. I recommend for fans of Looking For Alaska.

My Blog:

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What I liked :
Some of it was funny
Ryan Dean was unlikeable in a likable way for me

What I did not:
It rushed the ending. I also hate it when one of my favorite characters die and it felt so random and there was only thirty pages left when it happened.


I know some complained Ryan Dean was pervy, but honestly I find him more realistic than YA boy characters you find in books and what teenage boy doesn’t have sex on the brain? Not saying all boys are, but most are at least feeling a little something towards their crushes. ( )

If you haven't read this book yet, here's a friendly warning: read the blurbs on the back (or wherever they are in the edition you have) and take note of the word "heart-wrenching". I noticed this when I had about 50 pages or so left in the book, so I had a little time to brace myself for Joey's horrible end (although I didn't know what exactly I was bracing myself for). Up to that point, there had been nothing more heart-wrenching than normal teenage angst, and I would never have been ready for the blow to come if I hadn't decided to glance at those blurbs. I still wasn't ready, but it helped to have a vague sense of impending doom.
Most of the way through, the book is lighthearted and hilarious. Ryan Dean is kind of a mess, and he makes one stupid decision after another. But he's a very funny bad-decision-making mess, and I couldn't help but root for him, even when I wanted to reach in the book and strangle him.
Smith's writing style reminds me of Jacqueline Moriarty's. Her Ashbury High books are some of the funniest I've read, and I think Andrew Smith might just be her soul mate. I hope that's true. I'll have to read more of his books to test that theory.
But back to the heart-wrenching. Believe it. Prepare for it. It was an abrupt change of direction that packed a powerful punch. It pretty much killed me. I had to sit and think for a bit about whether I thought it was cheap of the author not to prepare me better with more foreshadowing or ominous music or something. But it wasn't cheap. It was valid, and it worked, despite the fact that it didn't fit the tone of the rest of the book.
I hear there's a sequel coming out, and I will be salivating for it. And hoping that he doesn't kill me too hard the next time. But still liking him if he does. ( )

adult/teen coming of age/male friendships. Hilarious "dick lit" (if that's a thing?) with violence and lewdness intended for older (if not more mature) audiences. It does get serious in the end, so it's not all happy gooftime, but I did enjoy this quite a bit. ( )