Perfectly Good White Boy

Starred review from August 11, 2014
As his junior year ends, people keep asking Sean Norwhalt what he’ll do next. But it’s hard to focus on that, when his alcoholic father is gone and he’s living with his mother in a crappy rental. Then a pretty senior’s Frisbee hits in him the face, and suddenly he has a girlfriend—his first. Mesrobian, who took on hookup culture in her acclaimed debut, Sex and Violence, excels at conveying the awkwardness and wonder of sex, and the erotic life of a teenage boy (in this case featuring Sean’s constant, albeit inconvenient hormonal companion, “The Horn”). Sean’s not interested in college, and the main events of senior year are his job at the Thrift Bin; his growing friendship with Neecie, a classmate and co-worker with her own sex quandary; and deciding whether to join the Marines. As Sean comes to some peace with his family, spends time with Neecie, and makes some decisions, nothing very dramatic happens. Yet Mesrobian deftly conveys just how much drama there is in the everyday, especially for a 17-year-old trying to figure out not just what’s next, but what’s happening right now. Ages 13–up.

Starred review from August 1, 2014
An honest, insightful novel about a young man's final year in high school and his eventual decision, which he initially conceals from his family, to join the Marines. At the outset, Sean spends a lot of time ducking the chiding of his overbearing older brother and cursing the crappy rental he and his mom have lived in since she left his alcoholic father. When he manages to hook up with superhot Hallie the summer before she leaves for college, he thinks his luck may finally be changing. However, as he navigates his way through an emotionally trying senior year, it turns out instead to be his friend and co-worker, Neecie, whom he just may be falling for. Intensely introspective first-person narration suits Sean's stoic character very well. His thoughts are often both subversively smart and hilarious-particularly in their treatment of the subtext of communication across gender. When Hallie worries that he's upset that she doesn't want to have sex at first, he thinks, incredulously: "Was she kidding? We were almost naked. My hands were on her tits. She was giving me a handjob. Why would I be mad?" Engaging, perceptive, witty and at times gut-wrenchingly sad-this is an extraordinary addition to fiction for teens and adults alike. (Fiction. 14 & up)

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October 1, 2014
Grades 10-1 Sean's junior year of high school was crap, and he expected the following summer to be crap, too, but then beautiful Hallie picks him up at a party. It feels good, and Sean wants something to feel good about and to help him envision himself as someone other than a loser with an alcoholic dad and missed scholarships. As Sean begins his senior year, Hallie heads off to college, and Sean becomes fascinated with Neecie, his coworker at the thrift store. Mesrobian, whose debut novel, Sex & Violence (2013), was a Morris Award finalist, explores the emotional territory of serial hookups, as both Neecie and Sean have covert sexual partners. Sean's distinctly male narration is saturated with his loneliness and depression. When he reveals that he has signed up to join the Marine Corps after graduation, Sean's friends are appalled. Hasn't he seen the movie Full Metal Jacket? Once again it seems as if Sean has blown it. This slice-of-life novel should appeal to mature readers who are puzzling through their own nexus of paths toward the future.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2015
When Sean's summer girlfriend dumps him before leaving for college, he develops an unexpected relationship with his coworker Neecie and a vague plan to join the Marines. Bumbling through his own senior year, he struggles to sort through feelings for Neecie, lingering issues with his ex, and fresh family wounds. A melancholy but honest examination of life in transition.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)