Synopsis
Tim Macbeth, a seventeen-year-old albino and a recent transfer to the prestigious Irving School, where the motto is “Enter here to be and find a friend.” A friend is the last thing Tim expects or wants—he just hopes to get through his senior year unnoticed. Yet, despite his efforts to blend into the background, he finds himself falling for the quintessential “It” girl, Vanessa Sheller, girlfriend of Irving’s most popular boy. To Tim's surprise, Vanessa is into him, too, but she can kiss her social status goodbye if anyone ever finds out. Tim and Vanessa begin a clandestine romance, but looming over them is the Tragedy Paper, Irving’s version of a senior year thesis, assigned by the school’s least forgiving teacher.
I think it should be mentioned that most of the book consists of flashbacks as Tim retells events from the past year that intertwine with Duncan's (current senior) life as well as Duncan's senior year at Irving and how Tim's experiences affect his own life.
Review
★★★★★
This is a stand alone novel that's quite different from my normal reads but great nonetheless.
The narration alternates between two main characters: Tim (last year's senior) and Duncan (current senior).
Tim, a hopeless teenager in love, expresses his struggles at fitting in as a new albino student while trying to forge friendships and stay on task for school.
Duncan has been attending Irving School since freshman year and doesn't have the same issues as Tim had his senior year.
They do, however, share something important: they were present the night everything changed. As Tim retells the events leading up to that night in his own words, Duncan realizes that he may have misjudged last year's senior. Hoping to avoid the same results, Duncan makes changes in his own life.
When I was younger, I wanted to go to boarding school. I thought it would be fun! I rarely read books that are in such settings so this was a nice change. Life in a boarding school isn't everything you'd imagine but it's far from being prison-like (at least in this book).
All throughout the book, many references are made to tragedy, hubris, magnitude... I enjoyed this because it made me think about my own life. Am I living it to the fullest? Am I setting myself up for a tragic event?
Okay, I know this may sound dramatic and you're probably wondering why you should read something so mood-crushing. The fact is, it makes you wonder what could be without overwhelming you. Tim is a humorous guy and, thankfully, provides comic relief when it's needed.
Once I got immersed in the story, I couldn't put it down!
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