Narrative Loserdom by Ryan Collins

Goodreads Summary: Justin Taggart doesn’t know anything (about being a loser). He likes girls and plays sports and has some friends. Unfortunately his fear of rejection outweighs his ability to deal with these well. Mostly there’s Sterling, the girl of his dreams who knows how to stop his heart by not knowing he likes her. Another thing is trying to get money with Adam, who’s rich anyway so it’s more about hanging out. As for Justin, he makes ends meet by mowing people’s yards with Adam, and sometimes by breaking into vending machines and selling late-night cable programming to peers (also with Adam). But it’s not like he doesn't feel bad about it, since Jesus died for his sins. School is pretty terrible with all the work and practice, but there are a few people there worth mentioning. Anyone who picks up his journal will be in for something, if they feel like getting through a lot of grammar and spelling problems. They’ll probably end up seeing that they shouldn't have looked at it anyway, because this is someone’s private anthem of girls, grass, and loserdom.


Why I Read This Book: I was given this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.


Review: This book is written in short, journal style chapters from the POV of the main character, Justin. Justin is a high school student, with normal high school issues, engaging in normal (although often not well thought out) high school student activities. I liked this book's flow, I liked the characters, and the stories were often pretty funny. I could relate to how many of the characters acted, as in the not so distant past I was a normal high school student as well. Justin and Adam reminded me of regular guys just like the type I went to school with. The book is pretty short, so its a quick read.

There were only a few things I thought didn't fit with the book that well. 1) Justin seems to become crazy religious out of nowhere about 1/3 of the way through the book. Any time before this part, if God is mentioned it seems almost sarcastic, or a that church is a chore forced upon him. I'm not against Christian books or anything, I have read a few and enjoyed them, it just seemed forced for the character, and it fit in awkwardly. 2) Since the book was short, and I read it in a few days, I thought it was unnecessary to remind the reader of who certain characters were. For example, Ace is a big part of the first half of the book, but then he goes away for a little bit (which is fine) but then later he is mentioned, and who he is is re-explained, but I didn't have any trouble remembering who he was. Its seemed odd.

Otherwise, the book was good, and as the title includes (From Journal One) I assume there will be more, which I will definitely be interested in reading when they come out.

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