Phil Lamarche

I expected to like this book, having read a number of four-star and five-star reviews. For some reason, it never really grabbed me. I guess it was hard for me to believe that guns, alcohol, pot, sex, and vandalism are more or less matter-of-course in a suburban teen's life. It was also difficult to really like Ted (Teddy, Theodore, "the boy") although I could see how he was caught between his mother, the law, and his various "friends". Not a complete waste of time, but I'm not inspired to show more read more by LaMarche. show less

Ted LeClare, a New England ninth grader, is showing off his father's guns when he hands one to visiting brothers. While he is in another room, one accidentally shoots and kills the other. Ted's terrified mother tells him not to tell the authorities that he loaded the gun. When Ted, who is referred to as the boy throughout the novel, returns to school after this violent incident, he is rejected by most classmates but is befriended by a group who call themselves American Youth. Their interests show more lie in vandalizing houses in the new subdivisions that are taking over the countryside. The Youth embrace gun rights, vigilante acts, and their own brand of religion that helps them rationalize their activities. As Ted begins to see the Youth for what they really are, he finally tells the truth about loading the gun and begins to feel release from his own guilt and pain. T show less

American Youth was a very enticing piece of literature to read. LaMarche wasted no time getting the reader hooked and wanting to read more. American Youth was full of very unlikely characters and they were all tied together by the accidental shooting that happened in Teddy’s house. I enjoyed reading this book because it was so different than anything else I had read so far.
The group of kids known as American Youth were terrorizing kids who had no tolerance for kids using alcohol or show more drugs. I found their group very interesting to watch throughout the book because of the way they carried themselves. When I first started reading about them, I thought that it was pretty awesome that they had a group that was against teen substance use. As the book progressed however, you find out that they are so strong as to their beliefs that they will stop at nothing to get one kid busted for doing marijuana. I don’t think that the actual group themselves knew that they were taking it too far. The American Youth even tried to kill one kid who quit the group because he no longer believed in their morals.
American Youth was willing to go places where all previous books I had read never went to. I think that it was a great book to read because you learn from it as you read it. This book will actually teach you to become more tolerant of other people, even if they don’t necessarily share the same morals or values as you. However, it also shows you how incredibly insane some people are with their views. The main lesson from this book would be that you have to accept that some people have such radical views and beliefs even if they may not accept you for who you are. American Youth would be a good book for teenagers to read because it gives them a dose of reality and how the real world is. Our world is not a fantasy land and people will not always be nice, but that doesn’t mean you need to cause any harm. show less

[Cliché alert] - A simple story well told. Ted (Theodore) is involved in an accidental shooting at his house. The novel explores the effect this event has on him and the surrounding community. This is the novelist's first and I felt that he wrote about what he knew. Because of the honest writing all of the events in the novel felt real. I especially enjoyed the scene where the boy helps his uncle skin a deer. This novel was in the adult section of my library, but because it dealt with show more teenagers trying to makes sense of their world I would recommend it to mature teenagers and anyone who felt like a dose of contemporary US realism. The only jarring thing in this novel was the novelist's decision to use "the boy", "the mother", "the father" etc when speaking of the main protagonist and his family, it seemed a bit contrived. show less