Winger

“Joey told me nothing ever goes back exactly the way it was, that things expand and contract- like breathing, but you could never fill your lungs up with the same air twice.”

Winger
by Andrew Smith
439 p. Simon & Schuster. May 2013.
Gr. 9 Up

14-year-old junior Ryan Dean West, nicknamed Winger for his position on Pine Mountain’s rugby team, is a self-proclaimed loser.  Told through frenetic first-person narrative, short comics, charts, and diagrams, he relates the story of his first couple of months at school.  He’s hopelessly in love with his best friend Annie, who sees him as a little boy and stuck in Opportunity Hall, the dormitory for troublemakers, rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team.  Ryan Dean’s narrations of his missteps are laced with wit and profanity, revealing the thoughts of a 14-year-old boy authentically.  Smith’s writing displays his understanding of teenage boys and he cleverly depicts the inner turmoil of boy just trying to fit in.  Despite being 400+ pages, the book is a quick read with a fast-moving and engaging pace.  Humorous, and ultimately devastating, this moving, coming-of-age story is impossible to forget.

The Feels

I am utterly heart broken. I had heard that something happened in the end of this book that would probably make me cry–one review I read said they cried until they were dehydrated!–but I still wasn’t quite expecting the emotional gut punch.  I was laughing out loud for 400 pages to the hormonally charged humor and misadventures of Ryan Dean until the book took a dark turn.  There are subtle hints along the way, so I thought I was prepared, but I was wrong.  I was completely shocked by the climax that left Ryan Dean speechless and forever changed, and I couldn’t help but cry.  I’m glad no one was around, because I was curled into a ball crying big, ugly tears.

No, I take it back. I actually could have used a hug at that point, in all honesty.

I wish there had more attention given to the aftermath of the dark conclusion, but I am still blown away by Smith’s book.

Also, there is apparently a sequel in the works: Stand-Off.Welcome to my TBR list, Stand-Off.