Maybe [Hardcover]

Brent Runyon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2006

Maybe everything will be different here. Maybe I should drive away and never come back. Maybe my brother didn't mean to. Maybe my brother was right. Maybe I can get someone to have sex with me. Maybe no one will ever love me. Maybe I should be an actor. Maybe I shouldn't pretend to be deaf.

Maybe if I mouth the words no one will know I'm not singing. But maybe someone, somehow, will hear me anyway.

Brent Runyon offers a raw, wrenching novel of a boy on the edge. It's a powerful story about love and loss and death and anger and the near impossibility for a sixteen-year-old boy to both understand how he feels and to make himself heard.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up–A novel about the loss of a sibling should be painful and poignant, and this one is both, but it's also surprisingly funny. Brian, 16, is a smart but ordinary student coping with family tragedy–though readers don't get the details until almost the end of the book–and also adjusting to a new high school. His first-person, present-tense narrative lets readers peer into his often-random thoughts as he moves through his classes, makes new friends, and dates all the wrong girls. Meanwhile, his grief is something he pushes to the background. Brian's voice is clear and authentic; his thoughts come across as uncensored and raw, ranging from angrily self-destructive to sharply observant. His reflections on the opposite sex are both amusing and sad–for instance, he struggles to decide whether to break up with a girlfriend who annoys him, but who may offer him a chance to lose his virginity. Slowly, he reconnects with his parents, figures out a few things about himself, and comes to terms with his brother's death. Readers looking for action and adventure won't find it here, but this is a superb exploration of sudden loss, romantic disappointment, and general adolescent angst.–Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 10-12. In an unaffected, deliberately inarticulate first-person narrative, Runyon offers his first work of fiction, revisiting themes of troubled male adolescence found in the unforgettable chronicle of his own suicide attempt, The Burn Journals (2004). Brian has lost his brother in a car accident and has moved with his parents for a fresh start. While battling intense feelings of alienation at his new high school, he spends most of the time obsessing over losing his virginity (accomplished in an excruciatingly unromantic scene) and avoiding painful memories, often by tediously dissecting even minor daily events. Brian is a hard character to like, with his uninflected commentaries (events are typically "awesome" or "suck") and bald candor about sexual urges ("I think it's nice to treat a lady like a lady. Also, maybe it will get me laid"). Still, many teens will identify with Runyon's grim portrait of a teen caught in the storm of bereavement and moody adolescence, and share Brian's relief in the emotional breakthroughs that bring the novel to a quiet close. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; Fifth Edition edition (October 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375835431
• ISBN-13: 978-0375835438
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,464,104 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, November 26, 2006

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maybe (Hardcover)

In MAYBE by Brent Runyon, Brian's unpredictable behaviors make it hard to know him at first. In fact, I disliked Brian so much in the beginning and didn't know if I wanted to continue reading the book. He didn't share any deep thoughts and tried to cop cheap feels on girls at his new school. Even Brian admitted that he was a <>. And an <>. At least we agreed on something.

So I decided to give him a chance. And I'm very glad I did.

Brian began the book being p.o.'d about having to move to a new town and go to a new high school. As Brian left his old house he ripped a sign off of his brother's bedroom door. It was a sign his brother had made in shop class. He "just wants to have something." I didn't know what that "something" was, but figured he wanted a part of his brother with him. Yet when Brian registered for classes at his new school he had to decide between chorus and shop. His brother took shop, so Brian picked chorus.

As Brian began to get comfortable at school, he made friends with a group of students involved in theater. Thespians. He made guy friends, had a few girlfriends, but seemed to only think about how he could get laid. Or he thought about his brother. Brian struggled between feelings of anger towards his brother, fondness, and terrible longing for him.

Throughout most of the book Brian had a difficult time showing people anything real about him. His parents were the same way. Neither Brian nor his parents ever said much. They sat through silent meals, found reasons to leave the room when others joined them. And his brother continued to not be around.

However, as Brian got closer to people, he began to let them into his heart.

But only a little.

And when Brian allowed himself to think about real feelings, he wondered if maybe he would feel better if he actually talked about what bothered him. What no one in his family would say.

Maybe.

Maybe he could let a person get close to him.

Maybe.

MAYBE is a heart-wrenching book for anyone who has ever had feelings bottled up inside. It's for anyone who has been confused, sad, hurt, and angry all at the same time. If you have ever been reluctant to let someone close to you because they may hurt you or leave you, then you will know exactly why Brian is hurting. You'll ache for his emptiness and celebrate his attempts to reach out.

Reviewed by: Dianna Geers

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The narrative is moving and involving - hard to put down., January 6, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maybe (Hardcover)

Brent Bunton's MAYBE uses the first person narrative style to display the emotions and thoughts of Brian, who is still gripping with his older brother's death. He's recently moved to a new town and is starting a new school - but he's unable to escape his past. The narrative is moving and involving - hard to put down.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My 14 year old likes it., May 1, 2011

By 

makorunner013 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Maybe (Paperback)

My kid said the book was real good. (I don't read, gave it up for lent in 1972 and never went back. All those words and all..)