Guy in Real Life

from Laura:

MMOG meets RPG in this young adult cautionary tale by Steve Brezenoff. Chapters are told alternately by Lesh, Svetlana, and Svvetlana, an online character that Lesh creates after meeting Svetlana late one night. As Lesh starts falling for Lana, another character in the game falls in love with Svvetlana and manages to track down the real Lana IRL (in real life). Confusion and creepiness, not hilarity, ensue. Still, the book has its funny moments and its obligatory love triangle (though, refreshingly, between a guy and two girls).

Favorite quotes:

Something about Fio: he leaves the fly of his jeans open all day, every day. Don't ask him why, because he'll just say, "It needs air," and then stare at you. He's challenging you, but show more you'll never know if it's to a fight or a make-out session.

"He sent me flowers."
"Wow," I say, because I am a genius at conversation.

Now I'm desperate to talk to Roan about this...because she is one of those great observer types. You've no doubt met some, though you might not know it. These people see everything, and they record everything, and they have insight into the motives of people they've never spoken a word to. That is Roan's secret power. show less

Roles and authenticity are the theme being explored in this funny and real book of teens trying to figure out who they are. I loved Lesh and Svetlana and the alternating points of view was a great way to see how the relationship was progressing. The ending scene was wonderful - Lesh's attempts to explain what he is feeling were perfect. The writing is great and the narration is spot on.

So you read "Eleanor and Park" and you're looking for something similar. Look no farther, as I have your next read right here! Steven Brezenoff's "Guy in Real Life," is an excellent companion to "Eleanor and Park." Lesh is into heavy metal and black dusters. After a Labor Day metal show, he drunkenly smashed into Svetlana...no worries, he's walking and she's riding a bike. Even though he knows nothing about her, Lesh is captured by her. After being grounded for drinking at the show and coming home drunk, Lesh's best friend Greg talks him into trying the MMORPG (Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game) he's into. After tying out a character Greg creates for him, Lesh secretly creates another character based on Svetlana and starts show more playing with two other characters he's met online. Here's where the fun begins. You see, Lesh's playing a girl, when really he's a G.I.R.L. (a guy in real life, get it?). Things get more complicated when Sevetlana starts sitting with him at lunch and he starts to get to know her. She's into a different geekdom than he is: Classical music, Bjork, embroidery and being the Dungeon Master for her school's role playing club. Add another player, who has a crush on Lesh's character online and a boy with a crush on Sevetlana in real life, and you have the makings for a fun story.

Lesh's and Sevtlana's stories are told in alternating chapters, with the occasional chapter by Lesh's version of Sevetlana inside the MMORPG. Tensions build as the story gets going...there is the "Will they or won't they?" between Lesh and Sevtlana, the tension caused by both Lesh's and Sevtlana's families and the added layer of suspense added by the choices both Lesh and Svetlana make as they negotiate the halls of their high school. Will the gaming club survive as a legitimate school club? What will happen if Svetalan finds out about Lesh's character?

While the writing isn't as engaging as "Eleanor and Park," "Guy in Real Life" satisfies that need for something like "Eleanor and Park." The subplot about Lesh's online crush was handled well, although (SPOILERS AHEAD!) I found it a bit hard to believe that this online crusher actually lived in the same city and was able to deduce who Svetlana really was and mistake her for playing herself in the game a bit much. The author did a fairly good job of planting hints, but Svetlana's real life crush was too much of a red herring for me to get around. I also loved that the setting of St. Paul got to be so much of a star, as the city often suffers in comparison to it's big sister, Minneapolis. All in all this was a satisfying read that I really enjoyed. Definitely a great realistic novel to start off your summer.

Julie K. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

show less

For those readers familiar with Brezenoff’s earlier YA novel *Brooklyn, Burning*, this one might come as a bit of a surprise. Much lighter in tone than *B,B*, *Guy In Real Life* (or G.I.R.L.) tells the story of a goth guy and a quirky gamer gal who meet cute and experience all of the awkward charm of adolescent romance.

Set in St. Paul, MN, the story is co-narrated by Lesh, a sophomore, and Svetlana (or Lana), a sophisticated senior. They couldn’t be more different if they tried, yet despite their mutual reluctance, they are drawn to each other. Their courtship is quite chaste by YA lit standards, but Brezenoff captures well the chemistry between his two protagonists. Lesh struggles with some identity issues (the novel’s title show more refers to his masquerade as a female elf named Svvetlana in an MMORPG) and he is torn between his desire to be Svetlana and his desire to be with her, but this is by no means a novel about queered genders, which is one of the primary themes of *Brooklyn, Burning.*

It’s really just a simple and charming romance spiced up by dashes of teen angst and melodrama. show less

I read the ebook version which I got from the library.

I am married to a man who plays dice and paper RPG games and who LARPs. I've done these games myself and we actually originally met at a LARP event. Neither of us are video gamers though although we know people who are.

I don't usually read YA literature, but some of the reviews for this book compared it to Rainbow's books and I had just read one so I thought I'd give it a shot.

I'm giving this a 4 star review in spite of the fact that I skimmed and skipped several chapters. There was a lot in here, probably very good stuff I imagine, that was about the male character being in the video game playing a female character. You follow that? I've played male characters in RPGs myself, and show more I've seen guys play female characters. It's not much of a stretch for me. But me is over 40 and I didn't feel drawn into this part of the book as much someone else might. I wanted to stick to what was happening face to face more which by itself was still an excellent story.

I did think that too much was put on Lesh's best friend Greg. It was like he was carrying around the job of being so many things, a composite character almost. He was the stoner, gamer, best friend, couldn't get a girl..... whoa. A bit much to lay all on one guy, but whatever. I also didn't get into the names of everyone (Weiner, Cheese, Jelly).. I got lost a little when some people in the story were calling Lesh "Tung" but I finally figured it out. It was a nickname from his last name, which is pretty common in high school but whatever, small details. It's been a long time since high school. Someone closer to that age might appreciate it more.

Anyway, yes we are talking about a love story and about gender roles and about what happens in high school and peer pressure and identity and a lot of stuff, and it's good. I may even go back and read those chapters that I skipped before my loan runs out. show less

3.75 stars.

Guy In Real Life follows two characters, Svetlana and Lesh, who meet one night when one accidentally runs the other over while on a bike ride home. Svetlana is into tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons, while Lesh is into heavy metal music. Throughout the book, the two grow closer and Lesh begins to become interested in gaming (both MMORPGs and tabletop games)

I thought the premise of this book was a really great idea, and I loved the beginning, but some parts in the middle were a little flat for me. The book was told in dual perspective as well as a few "video game character" chapters thrown in there, which were used to show Lesh's progression in the MMO computer game he became engrossed in. I thought these were really show more cool because I've never really seen anything like that in a book before (other than when fanfiction was incorporated in Rainbow Rowell's "Fangirl") and they were important to moving along the plot of the book.

I also really liked the cover of the book and the title. Once you get into the book, you find out what the title means, and if you look closely, you can see that the first letter of each word of the title spells "G.I.R.L." (Girl)

The only problem I had with this book is I didn't really connect with the characters much (not because they were into gaming. I enjoy different types of gaming as well) but because they just seemed really two dimensional to me and there were definitely times when I felt like Lesh was really immature and just couldn't make up his mind about his feelings or what he wanted. And I understand that he's 16, and 16 year old boys are indecisive. 16 year old girls are indecisive too. It just kind of bugged me a little.

The end of the book was a little bothersome as well. I felt like things were only semi wrapped up and everything was rushed. It definitely had an abrupt ending.

Overall, I still enjoyed this book and would recommend it for an easy read! show less

Den verkade lovlig men.... nej.