Twisted

Tyler Miller, former nerd, returns for his senior year with a new buff bod, courtesy of the manual community service he was forced to perform for graffitting the school. To his surprise, school Queen Bee Bethany Milsbury starts paying attention to him. This causes conflict with his nemesis, Bethany's twin brother Chip, and is complicated by the fact that Bethany's dad is his father's boss. When he rejects her (drunken) advances at a party, things become complicated when anonymous nude camera photos of Bethany wind up on the Internet. Suddenly, the police are paying attention to the former school defacer and he faces hostility from the other students. Like Melinda in "Speak," he has a dysfunctional family and minimal support from peers and adults. As he begins to implode from the pressure, finding a way to clear his name and stand up to the bullies in his life looks more and more difficult.Pros: The sympathetic characters (Hannah and Yoda) were appealing, but the bullies and Bethany, the school princess, were stereotypes. Other messages were basically what we've seen in teen movie after teen movie. Abusing your kid is bad because he will eventually snap. (Ferris Bueller's Day Off). Messing up in Little League scars child and dad for life. (Parenthood). Rich people are soulless, decadent zombies. (Virtually every movie ever made.) I wish the author had tried to turn the formula a little more inside out, the way the "Ordinary People" author did when she made the Bad Dad a Mom. I enjoyed the book until the end, but felt it painted an inaccurate portrait of what recovering from clinical depress is like. It's usually two steps forward and four steps back at a time for the average person. You don't just reach a turning point, gain the ability to stand up to anyone in your way, and then your tormentors start backing down in record numbers. Melinda's journey from victim to survivor in "Speak" was far more believable because it took place over an entire school year, not a semester like in "Twisted."(This is where the review loses objectivity.)Some reviewers have written about the great message this book sends. I disagree. Standing up to one's abusive parent is NOT the same as facing a school bully or even a school authority figure, like a principal, and to imply that it is does a disservice to people who are victims of child abuse and who have to co-exist at least until they come of age. Threatening one's father with a baseball bat probably won't have the same effect as it does in the book, i.e. Domineering Dad bursting into tears and apologizing for years of cruelty. If they were capable of feeling such remorse, they probably wouldn't be abusing you that badly in the first place. Right?. Taking Tyler's route might make you feel like more of a "man," but you're likely to wind up on the streets or in the hospital. At least outside of YA lit or Hollywood. Maybe this isn't what the author intended at all, but it's what I wound up taking away from the book.

I loved the author's New York Times Bestseller SPEAK and since I had recently written a novel from the teen boy POV, I just had to read TWISTED. This line on the dust jacket thoroughly captivated me: "Everybody told me to be a man ... Nobody told me how."Tyler used to be a nameless nobody with a secret crush on the hottest girl in school. That is until he got into trouble that landed him probation and a community service stint working with the school's maintenance crew over summer. As the new school year starts, Tyler's ripped, six-feet tall and hot! And he's thinking he might have a chance with the girl of his dreams. But he has also become the infamous bad boy from last year who committed the "Foul Deed," which continues to plague him during senior year.I loved the author's depiction of Tyler. She does an excellent job of writing from the teen boy perspective...he's moody and angry at times, funny and caring, hormonal and lusting after his secret crush, Bethany. An overall normal teenage boy! Even with a "twisted" dysfunctional family and a world gone awry from his one big mistake, he totally enthralled me."THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR CHILDREN" is stamped on the inside cover of the book. I had to laugh at that. TWISTED is for teenagers, their parents and anyone who wants a real look into the inner psyche and struggles of a teen boy growing into manhood. This is not just a book for boys. It's a book for girls who want to learn about a boy's mind and to see how boys struggle just as much as girls do as they grow into adulthood. Even when Tyler thinks his problems are insurmountable and he toys with the idea of suicide, there's so much hope in this story. So many people are there for Tyler from his best friend, his mother and sister, his English teacher to the janitorial crew he befriended over the summer. They all make him realize he has so much to offer to the world beyond high school.With a dose of humor, TWISTED is an insightful and powerful page-turner. It's an excellent example of a young adult novel from a male point of view that should be read by boys, girls and adults alike. I highly recommend it and look forward to reading more of Ms. Anderson's work. I'm hooked.

As my first read by author Laurie Anderson, I have to say TWISTED was a great place to start. This raw and fiercely honest account of a young man's struggle to survive his not so atypical suburban life; is captivating and gut-wrenching as well as hysterically funny. I'm sad to say that the strife's Tyler endures are probably more common in many American households these days than we'd like to think. I commend Anderson on her ability to convey the story of a teen male with such candor and insight that it felt that the book was written by a man... A true credit to just what a talented story teller she is.Through Tyler's eyes we watch how his world is affected by one mistake. How that mistake changes the way people around him see and treat him... some for the worse and others for the better. But also how, that mistake also changes Tyler's view of himself.There are many heavy topics in this book with very real and serious situations, but it's not an all dark and deep read. Anderson does a fantastic job balancing the weighty and contemplative with the light and comical moments that are the reality of teen life. I laughed out loud just as much as my heart broke while reliving this young man's senior year.Twisted is a beautifully crafted read that is impossible to put down. A brutally honest look at a broken family and a teen that is basically a good guy struggling to make the right choices and be a better man... Even when no one else believes he can be... Even when doing the right thing still lands him in life changing hot water. I absolutely love the quote on the back of the book and think it does an excellent job summing things up... "Everybody told him to be a man. Nobody told him how."

I am a fan of the teenage fiction that is enjoying a surge at the moment. With so much of it floating around at the minute it was nice to discover this book that didn't just jump on the band wagon and addressed other pressing topics that teenagers could relate to. This is a very riveting read! I will look out for more books by this author.

Great book!, The story is really interesting as are the characters and it is a quick easy read.

I bought this book after reading the amazing Speak, by the same author, but I was very disappointed.The story is simply boring and irrelevant.

The story is interesting and with a nice twist (sorry for the pun) at the end. It's an easy read and gives some insight into the teenage world, the peer-pressure and the hormones that run high and their relationships with adults as well as those with their friends and classmates.A short and good read!

Given as a gift, but the person that got it was very pleased with it