This Boy by Lauren Myracle

A day in the life of...well, actually four years in the life of a boy. We follow Paul through his time in high school - freshman to senior years. There is nothing particularly outstanding about Paul. He enters high school hoping to be a different person. He becomes friends with Roby who also wants more from his life.

Through freshman year, we get a dialogue between the two friends and a running commentary from Paul (our narrator). They talk about girls and clothes and sometimes nothing. I found much of their talk humorous and mostly relatable (I was once a teen boy, too). There were moments where I asked myself 'do modern guys really talk like this' that I let slide because I found Paul and Roby so amusing.

As the boys grow physically and change their appearance (Paul becomes tall and lets his hair grow long), the attention from girls, and the attraction to them, becomes stronger. But it is still never any easy road. They are both heavily crushing on Roby's long time neighbor Natalia.

One of the beautiful aspects of Paul's and Roby's friendship is the balance they provide for each other. Paul pushes the limits and Roby's influence keeps him from going too far. It's not to say that they don't have arguments, but they always come back together.

Truth be told, there is no story arc here. There is no motivation driving the plot. It really is just the ongoing life of 'this boy' named Paul. He has ups and downs (and it does get dark and ugly). I have seen some criticism that the story is boring. Obviously, no story exists that is for everyone. I have enjoyed the author's other books, and I liked this one. Maybe that is as much because I was a teenage boy and found my own teen thoughts in some of Paul's.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog.