Twelve

I'd seen the movie and hadn't thought the movie was that bad. Sure, it needed improvements, but I didn't realize just how much improvement had been made on the source material. Putting it bluntly, this book sucked. This was the kind of book that makes you want to, in a line from the television series Friends, "push my finger through my eye, into my brain, and swirl it around."

Yes, it was THAT bad.

The writing style was choppy at best. The characters were undeveloped. The topic could have been interesting, but the writer seemed to believe that his purpose was not to develop a story. He just seemed to throw words and phrases onto the page without any regard for what they did to or for the story.

I've read better from elementary aged show more children doing their first creative writing lessons. At least they understand some writing basics. I guess that McDonell never had anyone explain to him that a story has to have something to keep the attention of the readers. Or someone explained it to him and he just didn't care. Honestly, it seems like it was probably the latter.

I couldn't finish the book because it was just that bad. I don't understand how anyone makes it more than halfway. The only people I would recommend this book to are people that I think deserve to feel the agony of being tortured. show less

I spent the entire book wondering if anything was actually going to HAPPEN in this story. Then something happened. The author got tired of writing and decided to blow all his characters away with a bazooka.

I don't understand why this book was such a sensation when it came out. Okay, I sorta do: the author was only seventeen, his father is a rich publishing figure and Hunter S. Thompson wrote a blurb. However, none of that makes this a good book. In fact, I couldn't stand it.

I don't think Nick McDonell is without talent, but this book definitely betrayed his age. It was like he was trying to prove how grown up he was by writing about all the sex and drugs. And I thought the ending is horrible -- but it closely resembles the video games show more adolescent males love so much.

In conclusion: blech. Try again in about ten years, Mr. McDonell. And I'm not just saying that cause I'm jealous of your youthful success, either. (Although I am, when it comes to that.) show less

Well written, a little too many platitudes though, especially in the first 100 pages.
You recognize the writer age while reading. I was sometimes hearing my students talking.
Nevertheless, I really loved McDonell's sparse language, the short chapters and the constant switching point-of-view. White Mike is a well-developed character whose psychological flaws and strengths make him interesting and lifelike. The plot has its weak points. I got really used to this fatalistic stories, and in the end I wasn't really interested in who gets killed and who doesn't. Maybe I'm as nihilistic as the kids in this novel.
Just like watching series like Gossip Girl or any other teen drama I had to try to remember that the protagonists are just kids. show more Although, in contrast to these teen trash series the kids here are adolescents. They don't whine as adults do and above all they don't have adults supervising them and teaching them a valuable lesson once in a while. These soapy parents are only there to remind the young audience that they shouldn't try the things they see on TV at home anyway. In this novel there simply are no parents. show less

Read pp 1-2. Author is only 17 years old but guy writes like he is 30. Incredibly mature voice altho the story does drag in parts and Claude's huge shoot-em-up at the end goes over the top. White Mike's emotional connection to his cousin Charlie wasn't well-defined for me, wasn't convincing enough. Still, an amazing story.

Nick McDonell was just seventeen when he wrote Twelve. And I can tell you that this kid will one day probably write an excellent novel. But Twelve isn’t that novel. While the writing is outstanding the story reads like a bad Hollywood blockbuster, right down to the not-so-surprising surprise ending. McDonell hints at genius in his writing style, which avoids wordy descriptions and therefore moves along quickly. And it’s a good thing that the novel is quick moving and short (using the same wide margins loved by every seventeen year old student) because the characters and plot certainly don’t move the story along.

McDonell’s best-defined character, White Mike, is a NYC rich kid who takes a year off after high school to decide what show more he wants to do. What he ends up doing is selling (but never using) drugs to other NYC rich kids. Each encounter with these kids is documented in its own short chapter. The book takes place on the five days leading up to a New Year’s Eve party that all the characters have a part in. Much of the book deals with the way rich urban kids end up bored and neglected while their parents are out making more money or off spending it in the Caribbean or Europe. It would have been hard enough to care about these spoiled kids even if McDonell had bothered to develop the characters. And while the conclusion comes quickly, it – and a slapped-on postscript - is so ridiculous that I’m still not sure if it wasn't meant to be satire.

As one of the sixteen year old girls in the book says, Whatev. show less

This book completely grabbed me from the first few pages. The way it is written allows a very sharp first person view on the world of drug dealers and their abusers. Things quickly go south for the lead character, and you literally believe you are in NYC going along with White Mike and his cronies.

Very well written, and wonderfully executed. I look forward to the movie that is being done about it starring Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl.

Twelve by Nick McDonell is the heart pounding, adrenaline rushing, euphoria feeling plot twister that screams to be not only read but heard and understood. White Mike is one of the most permanently indented characters in my mind. His skin is as pale as smoke. His IQ is off the charts. His mother is only an idea. His father is oblivious. If your good at something you stick with it. Right? Yes and no. White Mike acceled in school but was bored by it. White Mike acceled in dealing all sorts of narcotics and lived every second of his life by his beeper. Is White Mike a bad guy for selling drugs? Is he the cliche heartless, miserly, drug and woman abusing, "pay up or get sprayed up" drug dealer? He is well learned, sensitive, caring, and show more ultimately torn between two worlds. That is, life beyond drugs and the drug game. Will he be able to get out of the game before its too late? Is a blank, sanatized cell the only thing his future holds in store for him?

Twelve by Nick McDonell makes your limbs go numb and mind race all at the same time. It is a must read, cannot put down, wonder of a novel. It is the type of novel where the protagonist is constantly trying to avoid that ever present tingle in his mind saying, "What else is there for me?" show less