Customer Reviews

Screwed Up Life of Charlie The Second

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As he begins his senior year of high school, Charlie Stewart is your classic 17 year old cynical and sarcastic geek ... somewhat like a "Napoleon Dynamite," except he is growing up as a constantly-horny openly-gay teen, in a suburban town outside of Chicago. His parents accept their son's sexuality, although they suffer from the usual teen-parent communication problems that make Charlie (named after his ambitious and somewhat overbearing father, whom he refers to simply as "First") feel alienated from them. Bink, His best friend since second grade, is a straight jock (and the subject of many of Charlie's frequent masturbatory fantasies) whose new girlfriend monopolizes most of his time, and leaving Charlie's only real connection with his peers as the goalie for the school's somewhat-successful soccer team.

In the months that follow, Charlie finds his first love, with Rob, a new boy in town with a mother dying of ALS. He also deals with the possibility of his parents divorcing, unwittingly getting involved in some of his friends' family conflicts, uncertainty about his future, as he becomes a more self-assured and ambitious young man.

The book is structured as a series of entries in Charlie's private journal, a gimmick I usually frown on, but it's perfect here in letting us get to better know Charlie's feelings and concerns, as well as his mindset in working through problems. His takes on his classmates, teachers and his parents are very perceptive and always hilarious, and you can't help but root for Charlie in his encounters with the "P's" (his parents) and how he bears up to torment by his peers at school, on the soccer field, and around town. Charlie's struggles ring familiar to the "inner geek" in all of us, and he gives us hope for everyone going through such struggles. This is a witty, realistic, engaging and well-written "coming-of-age" novel by a promising new author, which I enthusiastically give five stars out of five!

Wow. This was a refreshing and hilarious way to end my summer reading.

While set in present-day conservative Chicago suburb of Crystal Lake, it will be comically familiar to anyone who survived high school thanks to a few good friends, their own killer ironic sense of humor, vivid imagination and healthy libido.

In one summer between Junior and Senior years, Charlie endures coming out to his family, the hilarious and ill-timed support of a best friends liberal family who offer gay icons of the past as proof his life is worth living only to realize mid-sentence what a tragic example it was - and even though Charlie is neither suicidal nor born in an era where he is overly concerned about his being gay, and the grand ups and huge downs of first love.

While my own high school experience is one I usually avoid revisiting with an almost religious fervor, this reminded me of it in amusing, blunt and touching ways that just ... worked.

I would think the book should appeal to all age groups from young adult and up - highly recommended.

Since the first 4 reviews here read like a term paper, I thought I'd give my two cents. I started reading this book yesterday afternoon, and stayed up late just so I could finish it. Incredibly easy reading, very entertaining, hours and hours I read this just because I really REALLY wanted to know what would happen to the characters! If you're gay, you'll absolutely dig this book, I knew I personally related to SO much of the characters' experiences myself. Some of the sex scenes are kind of explicit, which was a turn on for me :) This book made me laugh out loud at the hilarious clever sarcasm and humor, it brought me to tears, and it even made me examine myself and my own value systems just by my reaction to the way it ended, with things between Rob and Charlie. Do yourself a favor and read this today.

this book really, really, made me crack up late into the night. and the author does such good job at warming to the reader with its realism. DEFINITELY worth reading, even buying! I would wish there was more.

The Screwed Up Life of Charlie the Second really took me back to being gay and in high school. I couldn't put this down. I laughed out loud, and I cried when it was all over with. I really wish this book didn't have to end. It is thoroughly entertaining and the pages really seem to fly by. There are very explicit parts where much detail is gone into in sexual situations. It may be a big vulgar for some, but if you keep an open mind, the author does a great job of painting vivid scenes for your imagination. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of Drew Ferguson's writing.

As a junior high teacher, I have read a lot of YA literature over the years. This book easily makes my top 10 list. Most of the other reviews do a good job of summarizing the plot, so I will just say that I think every high school student should read this book.
My only concern is that many HS libraries will refuse to carry it due to the graphic language and sex. And that will be a shame.

I can't comment on the accuracy of the portrayal, not being a 17 year old gay guy. But, I did grow up in the suburbs and the angst is way too real - I can only imagine that the voice is authentic. This is a unique turn on the coming-of-age story, and I really liked it. The character is believable and is someone that you empathize with, even as his story is graphically told. (Be warned: there is graphic sex in this book. It's all appropriate to the story, but it is graphic.) It's actually refreshing that the author doesn't shy away from the sex scenes - most of which, true to voice, involve the author alone without a partner.

Beyond the sex, there is a story line, and it's also believable. The author gives just enough plot to move the book along, while maintaining a focus on interpersonal relationships: the narrator with his parents, his friends, his classmates, his boyfriend. His boyfriend with his parents. His parents with each other. The resolution at the end of the book finishes the story in a satisfying manner without being overly Hollywood or trite. It's also thought provoking, and readers will find themselves contemplating the issues that are subtly raised throughout the book.

I look forward to his next book!

How nice it is to welcome a brand new and promising author to readers!

In this book you spend a few months in the life of Charlie: a witty, insightful, very funny, sweet yet mega-sarcastic and out-of-the-closet 17 year old.


Told in first-person and journal format, you find that there is a LOT going on with poor Charlie: his rapidly changing body (hormones in a rage!),living in a borderline-broken home in a tight race for public office, struggles with his new love (whose Mum is dying),the ever looming fears of College and what is hell he is going to do with his life!


The book is a fast ride with some surprises! In short order, you will find yourself laughing, sighing, rolling your eyes and having loads of teen-aged flashbacks.


You can't help but worry about and root for this gangly, gutsy gay teen in McHenry, Illinois.


For me, Drew Ferguson's book begs an important question: Is Charlie himself the one Screwed-Up? Or really, is Charlie doing just fine while it is the world itself who is all Screwed-Up?


Read this fun book and draw your own conclusion! :-)

Screwed Up Life is told from the diary of a high school boy. One traumatized by all the usual pains of merciless peers, demanding parents and a search for self identity. What's more? He's also a gay athlete in love with a complicated boy who is at once dealing with being the new kid in school and with watching his mother die.

Sometimes Screwed Up Life is laugh-out-loud funny; sometimes heartrending. The strange, at-times squeamish thread that ties it together is the all-too-human narrator who is both frighteningly obsessed with masturbation and sex and a sweetly innocent commentator on the world around him.

If the sexual strife doesn't remind you of your own high school experience, the intentionally shallow view of everyone else's motives surely will.

Screwed Up Life is a coming of age story told in the style of Chabon's Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Moody's Purple America and Ridley's Everybody Smokes in Hell. It's a little raw, a little unpolished, and a lot better for it.

One of the funniest Young Adult novels involving a gay protagonist I have ever read. I found the scene where his mother walks in on him in the bathroom one of the funniest scenes in any book. I have read that part and others aloud to my friends! Also, who knew there were so many expressions for masturbating???? I can't wait to read another book by Drew Ferguson! Where is it? We're waiting!!!