Youth in Revolt is the story of Nick Twisp, an ordinary, studious 15 year old boy living with his loving mother in Oakland. Well, not quite. This novel takes its readers through a particularly eventful year in the life of Nick. Among other things, Nick is chased by the police in several different cities, has several sexual( and homosexual) encounters, betrays friends and family alike, adopts alter personas, lies, cheats, and steals, all in an effort to win the love of the (not-so-) wonderful Sheeni. By the time Carlotta, Nick's female counterpart, appears on the scene much of the original plot has been lost. Payne has a way of getting caught up in detail and forgetting the point he was trying to make.
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The review of this Book prepared by Colleen
Nick Twisp goes from an ordinary disaffected 14-year-old to a cross-dressing fugitive multimillionaire over the course of about a year, all because of his love for (and obsession with) the elusive, beautiful, and fickle Sheeni. In pursuit of Sheeni (and sex), Nick ranges all over California and violates most of the criminal code. His misadventures are legion, and include: mass property destruction, theft, faking the death of a friend, and fraud, as well as an assortment of petty crimes and misdeeds. The book is truly funny and well worth reading.
The review of this Book prepared by Ivy
Nick Twisp is a very smart but underachieving 14-year-old who bounces between his divorced parents' homes in Oakland and Marin County, and desires his beauteous, delightful, but very fickle classmate Sheeni. His farcical adventures range to Ukiah (and the woods around it), Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, a private girls school, and involve fires, cross dressing to avoid the FBI, various fictional romantic entanglements concocted to spark jealousies, great wealth suddenly won and lost several times, a car in a living room, and lots of other colorful characters, both teens and adults. (There are more incidents of coitus interruptus in this book than any I've ever read!) Kind of a cross between _The Catcher and the Rye_ and _Confederacy of Dunces_, and though not as good as either, it's plenty of fun.
The review of this Book prepared by David Loftus
