Boy Minus Girl

This was a delightful insight in to the thinking and wishfull sex life of an average teen age boy. Being a girl, I had no idea how boys think! I wish I'd had a chance to read something like this when my son was younger. It certainly opened my eyes and gave me a laugh. I passed it on to my daughter and son in law to read as they have two sons. I will be anxious to read more wonderful things from this author.

It's About: Fourteen year old Lester is trying to figure out the same things most fourteen year old boys are: how to be cool, how to get a girl and how to deal with parents that turn out to be, well, actual people. In this delightfully crass coming of age novel, punctuated with tips on how to be a seductive man, Lester thinks he can find the secrets of becoming a man from his itinerant uncle Ray- a womanizing drifter with a cherry car and a secret past. And while he's getting tips from the gun-toting, wife-stealing Ray, Lester's also trying to make his first moves on Charity, a Louise Brooksalike who turns out to be a lesbian and a friend. But Lester learns more about being a man when a woman from uncle Ray's past collides with Lester's present- and he has to step up to take responsibility where his uncle won't. This novel is a fascinating intersection between the Aughts and the Eighties- the backdrop is very 1984, and some of the attitudes are true to the era, but the novel itself has a very 2008 sensibility to it- accessible to teens whose lifetime Republican president is George W., and who's never seen the Tonight Show with anyone hosting but Jay Leno. It never feels anachronistic, though- Uhlig manages to fuse now with then, with a lot of humor and honesty. Would I Give This Book to a Teen: Absolutely. I think teen boys would feel like they're getting away with something reading this, because of the wicked, frank sexuality- but boys and girls will take away more than illicit thrills. Lester is genuinely complex, and it's a pleasure watching him learn to relate to the people around him. Would I Give This Book to an Adult: Totally depends on the adult. Some of the more... anxious adults might have a problem with a text that admits that straight teenaged boys masturbate (*gasp!*) and like to look at naked women (*shock!*). But I'd be pleased to share it with more reality-based adults, because I think they'd enjoy both the main story, and the complicated histories of the adults going on in the background.