Krovatin, Christopher. Heavy metal and you.KROVATIN, Christopher. Heavy metal and you. Scholastic, Push. 186p. c2005. 0-439-73648-X, $16.95. S The author is a 20-year-old student at Wesleyan University who grew up in Manhattan, where this edgy story takes place. The summer before his freshman year, he was a Scholastic Push Writing Intern; presumably pre·sum·a·ble adj. That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. this debut novel is the result of that experience. The narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. is Sam Markus, also known as Conan (the Barbarian) to his friends. His passion in life is heavy metal music Noun 1. heavy metal music - loud and harsh sounding rock music with a strong beat; lyrics usually involve violent or fantastic imagery heavy metal rock 'n' roll, rock and roll, rock music, rock'n'roll, rock-and-roll, rock - a genre of popular music , about which he has encyclopedic knowledge. Sam is also a good student who loves Holden Caulfield and understands Baudelaire's poetry; he goes to a prestigious all-male prep school in NYC NYC abbr. New York City NYC New York City . He likes to get drunk to become intoxicated. See also: Get , smoke pot and go to horrible horror movies with his friends. In fact, he sees his beloved music as another form of a horror movie. When the guys get together, they happily insult one another and make crude jokes. Enter Melissa. She is straightedge (no alcohol or drugs) and has no understanding of heavy metal music, but she is willing to listen and even to attend a raucous concert, which she hates. Their relationship lasts some months, and they both feel they are in love, yet each has reservations about the other's friends and interests. When Sam finally meets Melissa's friends he finds they are all that he despises in preppy prep·py or prep·pie n. pl. prep·pies Informal 1. A student or former student of a preparatory school. 2. A person whose manner and dress are deemed typical of traditional preparatory schools. snobbery and artifice, and this brings to a head the couple's dilemma. The talk between Sam and his buddies is appropriately crude and raunchy raun·chy adj. raun·chi·er, raun·chi·est Slang 1. a. Obscene, lewd, or vulgar: "[He] , with frequent obscenities--puerile, but they understand one another and accept one another. Sam explains to Melissa why he is so attached to heavy metal. It seems to be a way to channel his auger, most of which arose from his childhood when he was bullied at school and couldn't fight back. (The music dissipates his anger, not fuels it.) Sam's story of his first real love will resonate with many YA readers, most of whom have experienced something like this relationship--the chemistry is powerful, but the connections that bind them together are weak. Claire Rosser, KLIATT S--Recommended for senior high school students. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion