Anatomy of a Boyfriend [Hardcover]

Daria Snadowsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 2007

Before this all happened, the closest I'd ever come to getting physical with a guy was playing the board game Operation. Okay, so maybe that sounds pathetic, but it's not like there were any guys at my high school who I cared to share more than three words with, let alone my body.

Then I met Wes, a track star senior from across town. Maybe it was his soulful blue eyes, or maybe my hormones just started raging. Either way, I was hooked. And after a while, he was too. I couldn't believe how intense my feelings became, or the fact that I was seeing—and touching—parts of the body I'd only read about in my Gray's Anatomy textbook. You could say Wes and I experienced a lot of firsts together that spring. It was scary. It was fun. It was love.

And then came the fall.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—Dominique and Amy-best friends and high school seniors in Florida-attend the big football game where Dom meets local track star Wesley. Wes is shy, and he and Dom e-mail and IM each other for some time before they start dating. Things get heavy pretty quickly and they lose their virginity on the clichéd prom night. Then they go to different colleges in the fall, and their relationship changes. Snadowsky describes Dom's first intimate relationship in frank and graphic terms. This novel discusses masturbation, oral sex, and intercourse both as part of Dom and Wes's romantic relationship and as casual pastime for Amy. For 17-year-old girls, the main characters have fairly mature voices and some of the novel reads like a Cosmopolitan article. The story is not highly original, but it does deal in modern terms with the real issues of discovering sex for the first time and dealing with it in a responsible way.—Corinda J. Humphrey, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Dominique, a high-school senior in Fort Myers, Florida, is an aspiring doctor whose favorite book is Grey's Anatomy. Wes, a fellow senior, becomes her first boyfriend, and the two inexperienced teens explore first love, and sex, together. Written in Dom's authentic voice, Snadowsky's debut novel is an unusually honest portrayal of a teen girl's sexual discovery. Comparisons to Judy Blume's Forever (1975) are inevitable; even the plot, from the couple's initial fumbles to their breakup after separation, is similar. What feels so new here is the nonsensationalized explicitness. Dom speaks with an almost scientific curiosity: "I can recognize the features of his penis from my anatomy books." And her sexual insecurities are just as direct: "What if I squeal or scream or fart?" Also rare and authentic are scenes of Dom experimenting on her own, when she finally experiences her first orgasm. Snadowsky considers all the questions: Does sex mean love? What's normal in a relationship? Like Forever, this sensitive, candid novel is sure to find a wide audience among curious teens. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers; First Edition/1st Printing edition (January 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385733208
• ISBN-13: 978-0385733205
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,029,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Raised in Greenwich Village and Las Vegas, Daria Snadowsky has written for various publications, including Creative Loafing (Atlanta), Las Vegas Weekly, and Nevada Law Journal. Anatomy of a Boyfriend is her first novel. Visit her at www.daria-snadowsky.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A modern twist on the same type of tale, June 1, 2007

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anatomy of a Boyfriend (Hardcover)

At the beginning of ANATOMY OF A BOYFRIEND, 17-year-old Dominique Baylor hardly has time for boys. She's engrossed in her studies and college applications, and is polishing up on her GRAY'S ANATOMY (the textbook, not the TV show). Dom wants to be a doctor, and while she's not competing on her school's science quiz team, she's spending time playing the board game Operation with her parents.

Dom's best friend is Amy, who goes to a large public school. Dom is a student at the small private school where her mom teaches, allowing her to get free tuition. Amy dates and has more experience with boys. As Dom recounts, "My best friend, Amy, wants to wait until college to 'do it,' but until then she'll do 'everything but' with boys she thinks are cute and have good bodies."

At one of Amy's track meets, Dom meets a mystery boy who helps her when she has an accident. Mustering her courage and with Amy's help, Dom finds out that the mystery boy is a track star hottie named Wes and emails him. Instantly, a bond is formed, and Wes, who is quiet, shy and sweet, eventually becomes Dom's boyfriend. As high school seniors they experience many firsts, including spending the night together on prom night. When they both go away to college, however, they have to determine whether or not their relationship can survive long-distance dating.

Snadowsky's writing is sharp, and Dominique's voice is clever, funny and extremely authentic. While the book discusses sex --- in almost clinical detail --- it is done so through the eyes of a girl who is insecure, curious and deeply in love. Like Judy Blume's groundbreaking novel, FOREVER, which was the first to explore the topic of a girl having sex, ANATOMY OF A BOYFRIEND puts a modern twist on the same type of tale. Curious teen girls might find answers to questions in this book that they were afraid to ask.

--- Reviewed by Kristi Olson

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brings back memories, February 27, 2007

By 

Mary B. (Chapel Hill, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anatomy of a Boyfriend (Hardcover)

I haven't been a "starry-eyed teen-ager in love" in years, but reading this novel about a seventeen-year-old girl who goes head over heels for a boy was just like reliving all those obsessive feelings I mistook for love way back when. Snadowsky really captures that emotional turmoil perfectly, and I wish I could have read this when I was a teen (minus the e-mails and internet chats, as back in my day we still used the phone--imagine that!).
This is a marvelously and tightly written book. It's fast-moving, but there's just enough detail and local color to make it vivid. The characters were believable, and I especially fell in love with the main girl character's parents--how frustrating it is to see your own child suffer through the turmoil of first love and be unable to help them feel better. May I also mention how impressed I was by the love scenes? Snadowsky manages to convey all the awkwardness and humor concomitant with a young couple's first times. (And yes parents, the characters practice safe sex. Well, most of the time. The one time they don't is meant to demonstrate I think how being in love can sometimes cause us to take enormous risks that we wouldn't if we were thinking straight.)
I strongly recommend this story for any person who's ever been deeply in love and deeply heartbroken. I would also strongly recommend this book to parents and other family members to help them understand (or to remember, more likely) what their teen-ager is going through.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolute Pleasure to Read!, September 21, 2008

By 

Mint910 (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Anatomy of a Boyfriend (Hardcover)

It's the day after Christmas, Senior Year. Dominique is at a football game with her best friend, Amy at Amy's high school. Dominique has her eyes set on college and becoming a doctor. She heads over to use the bathroom and takes a dive right into the grass. She's helped up by a cute boy, Wes. This encounter evolves into a relationship between the two of them. It starts innocently, trying to figure out who Wes is in the yearbook. Shooting him an email and instant messaging. Then they are hanging out in a group and then hanging out alone, soon enough they are in a physical relationship and they are about to go off to college....

I absolutely loved this book. I was reading another book, having a hard time zooming through it (I'm still reading it) and I thought I'd pick this up and read a chapter or two to see what I was in for. I read it straight through, well straight through for me. Started it on a Sunday and had it done by the time I was off the bus Monday morning.

The story line is simple but I love that. It's the exploration between this first relationship for two people. It explores what happens when kids leave home and start college, how things are bound to change no matter if you want them to or not. I love the progression of their relationship, nothing happens for months and the bam, it's really serious all of a sudden.

I liked the use of instant messaging and emails. It's very true to the times of how people start friendships and relationships. It's a innocent non-threatening way to get to know someone.
I've yet to read Forever by Judy Blume but definitely need to get to it soon. If it's anything like this book I'm in for another treat.

I think high school kids and parents should read this one along with A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl. They touch on different aspects of teen relationships and I think they make a great pair. I cannot wait to see what Snadowsky comes up with next! And I cannot say enough good things about this book, it was an absolute pleasure to read!