Sean Beaudoin - Böcker

Stan Smith is a loser. At 17, the former junior chess champion has become the 'Town's Laziest Register Monkey at the Town's Only Video Store'. Having graduated high school, Stan decides to forgo college to live in his parent's garage and write a movie. Despite his 165 IQ, all his movie ideas are horrible, not that he even comes close to finishing one. His only transport is his beat-up 10-speed bike that keeps getting vandalized. With no future and no car, a girl is obviously out of the question and if that weren't pathetic enough, he has to deal with a nutty family featuring his health-store-owning, organic-food-loving, vegan-freak mother and his inventor father who is obsessed with his eccentric creations. Even his dog has a farting problem. And to top it al, there's a bonehead jock threatening to kill him, for no apparent reason. Everyone thought Stan was going to Be Something and Go Somewhere but when this boy genius can't even get out of Happy Video, it looks like he's going nowhere, faster. When a crisis strikes, Stan must decide what kind of man he wants to be, and soon finds himself going somewhere after all.

The novel begins with alternating chapters from two characters: Sophie, an angry Goth teenager and sarcastic social outcast; and Kenny, the 'big man on campus' whose life may be a little TOO perfect. Gradually the reader begins to see some parallels between the two teenager's lives, building up to the big reveal. Kenny, in fact, is Sophie reincarnated and living out a fantasy life! But is she really dead? Sophie gradually unravels the mystery of what is happening to her, what is happening to the real Kenny, and what happened when her father mysteriously disappeared a year earlier. There is a science fiction/fantasy element, discussion of medical research, philosophy, commerce and ethics throughout. Ultimately, this is a wildly innovative young adult novel filled with appealing, sharply-drawn characters, and crazy twists and turns.