****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Since Mr. McDonnell is connected, it seems fitting that one of his friends mentioned to me that i should read it, since I am an aspiring writer as well. Then, a few months later, my school librarian comes up to me and says, "You should read this book." And I respond, "Oh I should, my friend's friend wrote it." And she says, "That's so funny, because that's what this book is about, connections."... then, I reccomend it to my friend, and he says, "well, Nick McDonnell is in my english class at Harvard, so I can introduce him to you if you want." And, I reply, "well, now I have 2 ways of meeting him."Point being - I'm not going to give him five stars because I know him through 2 friends; but I am going to give him 4 stars because I know him through 2 friends.... it validates the reality of Twelve - connections. Corrupt, money-based, drug-related, image-conscious connections.Twelve is to the point. It's clear and simple, and even got me to laugh out loud a few times. I've never read a book in 2 sittings before - I definately read this one that quickly though. Perhaps it's because I related.Some people might view Twelve as depressing or cynical - but it's deeply comic... and while saddening to my idealism, McDonnell obviously knows what he's talking about. Most teens won't truly understand this since it's about Prep Schoolers... we're a breed... not an elite breed, just one of many.His use of labels and dialogue is supurb. His conflicted lead character, White Mike, depicts the product of a corrupted generation. While he strives to be wholesome and intellectual, he lacks the background and motivation to truly follow through. Being the sober drug dealer seems more practical to him. He lacks depth because he was forced to abandon the deep end of the pool too early in life. Meanwhile he's got baggage left over from his childhood.White Mike, along with all the other characters in Twelve, are people that I have met. I know them - undeniably. Most of them won't ever read the book - and if they do, their pseudo-intellectualism will erase any notion that they themsleves are, in fact, pathetic.This book may not harness a universal depth that all teens can relate to. Perhaps that is because McDonnell's maxim within this novel is a sort of passive introspection. A Vanity, and self-hate. No reader that ought to relate to it will admitt to its truth. And the readers that can't relate are baffled.Either way, Twelve did its job, and did it well. It's not Catcher In The Rye - they are much different. If you want Catcher In The Rye part two, pick up Chbosky's "The Perks of being A Wallflower"...But if you want a sort of Owen Wilson & Wes Anderson-like dark comedy, paired with the cynical truth of Alan Ball's American Beauty - laced with a little but of Prep School Elitism (School Ties), buy Twelve.
