Paranoid Park [Hardcover]

Blake Nelson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 21, 2006

It was an accident. He didn’t mean to kill the security guard with his skateboard—it was self-defense. But there’s no one to back up his story. No one even knows he was at Paranoid Park. Should he confess, or can he get away with it? It’s an ethical question no one should have to answer.

Writing more intensely than ever before, Blake Nelson delivers a film noir in book form, complete with interior monologue and dark, psychological drama. This is a riveting look at one boy’s fall into a world of crime, guilt, and fear—and his desperate attempt to get out again.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up–As if his parents' impending divorce isn't stressful enough, the 16-year-old unnamed protagonist and self-described Prep skater dude writes a confessional detailing his remorse over his role in the gruesome death of a railroad security officer while hopping a train to Safeway to get beer. Also, he has fallen into an uneasy relationship with cheerleader Jennifer, who seems more interested in losing her virginity than he does. Nelson's natural-sounding teen speak authentically grounds this story in contemporary high school/skateboard culture. After deciding not to call the police immediately following the accidental homicide, it gradually becomes easier to justify continued silence, and simultaneously becomes harder to imagine coming forward to anyone about what happened. What finally moves him–and the plot–is the formerly pesky little girl down the street, Macy, now an attractive sophomore, who genuinely listens to him and cares enough about him to recognize his distress. She suggests that if he truly cannot tell anyone what's bugging him, perhaps he should at least write about it. Thus, this novel, which probes the cultural divide separating the narrator from the rough-and-tumble Streeters, examines the chasm separating moral responsibility from the eternal damnation of keeping a horrible secret. The story is less resolved than Michael Cadnum's Calling Home (Viking, 1991), but many teens will relate on one level or another to this teen's terrible dilemma.–Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In a compelling voice, the 16-year-old narrator tells how he got into the mess he is in. He is heavy into skateboarding, so when he gets a chance to visit sketchy Paranoid Park, where the rougher element skates, he is so there. On his second visit, he jumps a train with a street kid. Waiting at the yard is a transit cop, who goes after the narrator with a fury enforced by his billy club. The boy fights back, hitting the cop with his skateboard, and then watches in horror as a train crumples the man. Now what? Nelson captures the confusion, fear, and despair that alternate with moments of normalcy as the kid tries to pick a path through this labyrinth. Readers will have a visceral reaction to this story, but on a literary level, they'll also appreciate Nelson's clever plotting and spot-on characterizations: the boy's parents' acrimonious divorce adequately explains how the kid escapes adult scrutiny, and his girlfriend, tediously eager to lose her virginity (mission accomplished), seems depressingly real. Nonstop page turning until the surprising conclusion. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile (September 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670061182
• ISBN-13: 978-0670061181
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,240,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Blake Nelson grew up in Portland, OR. He attended Wesleyan University and NYU.

He began his career writing short humor pieces for Details Magazine. His first novel GIRL, was serialized in SASSY Magazine and was made into a film starring Selma Blaire and Summer Phoenix.

Nelson has since published ten more novels, including ROCKSTAR SUPERSTAR and THE NEW RULES OF HIGH SCHOOL, PROM ANONYMOUS and GENDER BENDER.

His science fiction novel THEY CAME FROM BELOW was a Kliatt Editors Choice pick in 2008 and his 2006 novel PARANOID PARK was made into a film by Gus Van Sant which won the Cannes Special Anniversary Prize Award in 2006, as well as Italy's Grinzane Literary award.

His latest book DESTROY ALL CARS has been praised as "Smart and entertaining" by the New York Times, and was called "A wonderful novel" by the Los Angeles Times.

His novel RECOVERY ROAD was released in March of 2011. His newest novel, DREAM SCHOOL, the sequel to GIRL, is being released in December, 2011 from Figment.

Figment is a web site for teens and young adults to create, discover, and share new reading and writing. Whatever you're into, from sci-fi to sonnets, you can find it all at www.figment.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dark and intense psychological thriller, January 5, 2007

By 

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

This review is from: Paranoid Park (Hardcover)

PARANOID PARK is a dark and intense psychological thriller of a novel that puts a normal teen in a very difficult situation.

Written as a confessional letter, it starts after a fateful night at a Portland, Oregon skatepark known as "Paranoid Park." Paranoid is "an underground 'street' park, which means there are no rules, nobody owns it, and you don't have to play to skate." But Paranoid is also "kind of a street-kid hangout. There's all these stories, like how a skinhead got stabbed there once. That's why it's called Paranoid Park. It has a dangerous, sketchy vibe to it."

After going to Paranoid Park with his older friend Jared, the narrator (who remains unnamed throughout the book) is enthralled by the experience. Skating at Paranoid meant you were in the "big leagues." The boys planned to return to the skatepark together that weekend, but plans changed when a college girl invited Jared to a party. Still lured by the thrillride of Paranoid, the narrator returns on his own.

At the park, the narrator finds himself hanging out with a "streeter" named Scratch and a bunch of other street-kid types. Scratch tells stories about how he lived up and down the West Coast, hopping trains and living in bus stations. Somehow, our "prep" narrator gets talked into hopping a local train with Scratch and the evening turns into even more of an adventure. The fun stops abruptly when a security guard gets thrown in the mix and a teenage adventure becomes the cause of a crime.

With a dead body and no witnesses, the narrator is paralyzed with fear. What should he do? Who will he tell? Will anyone believe him that this truly was an accident? Trapped by his own paranoia and the possible consequences of one night on the rest of his life, the narrator spends the remainder of the novel in a CRIME AND PUNISHMENT-like dilemma.

Author Blake Nelson, best known for his lighter works like ROCK STAR SUPERSTAR, THE NEW RULES OF HIGH SCHOOL and the seminal GIRL, does a phenomenal job portraying the raw and troubled emotions of a teen in turmoil without casting judgment. It's up to readers to decide how they feel about the character and the moral dilemma he faces. PARANOID PARK is in pre-production with director Gus Van Sant, known for films like Elephant and Good Will Hunting. It will be interesting to see how this haunting novel translates to the big screen.

--- Reviewed by Kristi Olson

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crime and Punishment, November 24, 2006

By 

Trish Carlson (Freemont, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paranoid Park (Hardcover)

The plot of this book is very simple. An innocent skater kid gets in a scuffle with a psycho security guard and accidentally kills him. That's when the tension starts. What should he do? He thinks his family is too screwed up anyway, to risk putting them through a possible murder charge. Plus no one was there, no one who could tell on him anyway. But what about his conscience? And what about the girl he loves? And how is he ever going to look people in the eye with the innocence he started his life with. This book asks some big questions and gives no easy answers. It is also a page turner that will keep you up long into the night. Nelson has an ear for dialogue that is so clear you will think he used a tape recorder. Great book to make you think.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, January 30, 2007

By 

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

This review is from: Paranoid Park (Hardcover)

If you dare visit Paranoid Park in Portland, Oregon, you will find the Streeters and the Preps. In Blake Nelson's new novel, PARANOID PARK, the reader enters the dark side of the skate park world along with the main character, who happens to be one of the Preps.

Paranoid Park is the nickname for an old skate park being used by the less desirable Streeters. While visiting the park, the main character is dared to jump a train car with one of the Streeters. When they are discovered by a security guard, an unfortunate "accident" causes the horrific death of the guard. The Streeter takes off, leaving the Prep with the guard's remains and the decision of what to do next.

What should he do? Tell the police, tell his parents, tell a friend? He decides to keep the truth to himself, but mixed in with his parents' impending divorce, his girlfriend issues, plus school and grades, he may have more than he can deal with.

Nelson's PARANOID PARK is described as a psychological thriller, and I couldn't agree more. If you are a fan of getting into the mind of the characters, this is just the book for you. With its attention-grabbing title and its cool skateboard cover, it will be flying off young adult shelves.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"