Angry Young Man
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Delve into the mind of a teen whose journey of self-discovery leads to the unthinkable in this tense and terse novel from award-wining author Chris Lynch.
Alexander, who wants to be called Xan, is a misfit. He has never fit in—not in academics, sports, or social life. He’s an awkward loner who hasn’t been able to find his place in the world.
Robert is Xan’s half-brother, and unlike Xan, Robert seems to have his life together. At eighteen, he’s enrolled in community college with a decent job and a great girlfriend. Robert often teases his brother, but he’s also his biggest supporter. No matter what, he’s got Xan’s back.
When Robert starts to suspect that Xan is traveling down a dangerous path, he may be the only one who can save Xan from self-destructing—before it’s too late. But can Robert save himself?
This edgy exploration of what goes on in the mind of someone pushed to the brink examines the seeds of extremism that exist in everyone—and is sure to captivate readers of all kinds.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
During a soccer game early in Lynch's latest novel, 17-year-old Xan, enraged by opponents' unsportsmanlike antics, fouls a player so hard that he's given a two-week suspension. Reading this story of economic and emotional desperation is only slightly less of a body blow. Robert, Xan's older half-brother, narrates with a cerebral wit and detachment that belie the stresses of life with their single mother in a small home that's been no stranger to bill collectors lately. Robert is eager for Xan to shed his outsider tendencies, but begins to realize that, caught up in his own life, he's never really had Xan's back. And social pressures, combined with Xan's sense of moral responsibility (and his susceptibility), are leading his brother down a dangerous path. "It is not because he is stupid or weak-minded," Robert says. "It is because he cares so much, and because he wants, so much, to belong." For those who wonder about the roots of homegrown terror and extremism, National Book Award Finalist Lynch pushes the spotlight from the individual to society in a story that can be brutal and ugly, yet isn't devoid of hope. Ages 12 up.
