Rating: 
Summary: Was it really that good?
Review: A friend of mine let me borrow this book, he'd bought it from Amazon UK, as the reviews both there and on the Amazon.com website were so good. He was non-commital on what he thought about the book, letting me make up my own mind.The story is, I suppose, a sort of cross between "My Own Private Idaho", "Natural Born Killers" and "Trainspotting" in that it's gay, violent (at the end) and replete with drugs. To that extent, I already felt that it was somewhat derivative. The main character is deaf, uncertain of his sexuality and 14. I sighed deeply as the only original bit of this was the deaf part, which to give the author credit, he carries off with considerable skill. Why is so much gay fiction devoted to the rites of passage of 14 year old boys who have crushes on older boys/men? Time some something different guys - this concentration on adolescents has surely been done to death! The style of writing takes some getting used to - the spelling I found irritating rather than original ("kweer" instead of "queer", "sk8board" instead of "skateboard", and "boyz" instead of "boys" for example). Added to which, the storyline became increasingly absurd. I returned the book to my friend, who I discovered had been similarly disapppointed with it. This novel may be required reading among teens (or is it teenz?) and in the clone bars - which is fine - but I remain surprised at the more general acclaim that it's received.
Rating: 
Summary: ADDICTING!
Review: I couldn't help but compare reading this book with snorting a huge line of the same chemicals the characters in this addicting novel were so fond of. And if you extend that metaphor out further, you'd eventually realize that each "line" of amphetamine that was heartily devoured in this story could be compared to the reader devouring each line of text in the same addicted manner. "Radboy" thinks differently than anyone he knows. He has to, to survive. Only 14, and a deaf-mute, he lives moment to moment on the street, never sure where his life is taking him. He fled his abusive father, but not before his father attempts to kill him for falsely testifying against him in the "accidental" death of Radboy's mother. He is rescued and taken in by "Jonnyboy", another street survivor, and sworn "meth" addict...or tweeker. Jonnyboy and Radboy become good and fast friends, mainly because on the street, there aren't many you can trust. Through Jonnyboy, Radboy learns quickly the ways to survive, and is introduced to Jonnyboy's various friends, whom Radboy takes to hanging out with when Jonnyboy disappears for days at a time. The story is told solely from the perspective of Radboy in a hyperkinetic narrative that free-associates its way to a brutal and nail-biting climax. The narrative device is at first off-putting, but lends itself perfectly to the story once the rhythm is found. We find ourselves following Radboy and his exploits almost as if we ourselves are amped up on speed and anxious for action. In this, his first novel, Kief Hillsbery delivers a fantastic new perspective to the world around us, and wraps it up in a tidy moral story about trust, real family, and friendship. I eagerly await his next book!
Rating: 
Summary: Very Interesting Read
Review: I would have given this story 5 stars except for the subject matter (everyone was tweaking on crystal meth). Regardless, this is one heck of a fascinating read. The concept of taking a deaf-mute 14 year old and telling his tale in first person, using run-on sentences, modern slang, and a frenetic pace was simply brilliant. The fact that Radboy is gay was great as well. The plot was sort of odd, but I was much more interested in the highly unusual (good!) writing style, which, I think, places this book in a category all its own. My favorite scene was the bunny that had gotten into the crystal. My second favorite one was where Radboy hooked up with Jason after acknowledging his affection for him. I have the hardback copy and the cover has a picture of a black boy on it. There were no blacks in this story, so I was sorta confused about that at first. But, that's just me. Read this story for something really different.
Rating:
Summary: A Coming of Age Like No Other
Review: Talk about an amazing piece of literature. War Boy is the story of a 14 year old deaf-mute skater punk and the problems that arise after he escapes his abusive family. The story is fast paced, completely enthralling, and surprisingly touching. Hillsbery's unique style of story telling is akward to read at first, but as soon as you catch on, you don't want to stop. The story completely captures those moments of early love, where your heart feels as though it might burst with the anticipation of a small crush blossoming into something real. Aside from the love story are numerous sub-plots and conflicts that deal with friendship and the need to make a difference in the world. If you were ever part of the skate-punk or traditional skinhead scene, or just had a crush on a sk8erboy or Oi Boy, this is a must read. I am eagerly awaiting more work from Kief Hillsbery.
Rating:
Summary: Luscious
Review: The comparison to James Joyce in another reader review isn't overkill, believe it or not. The language of War Boy is dazzling and startling, beautiful and (yes, sometimes) challenging. The characters leap off the pages, fully realized and unforgettable. It doesn't matter if you've never ingested a controlled substance or listened to a note of alternative rock or had the briefest conversation with a sexual minority. You will hope with them, fear with them, laugh with them and root for them. Oprah and the other apostles of tolerance are missing the boat by not promoting this novel: War Boy walks the walk; it doesn't need to talk the talk. Kief Hillsbery deserves far more attention than he's received for his remarkable debut. By turns moving and hilarious, robust and tender, sweet and sinister, it surges everywhere with full-blooded life.
Rating:
Summary: Fierce read
Review: The lads who find this great rush of a book wanting because it's not their idea of a gay novel just can't see the wood for the trees. It's not a gay novel at all. (How could it be, set in San Francisco without a whisper of the Castro Street?) The narrator, Radboy, discovers he's (...), but he's not the slightest bit guilty or wrought up about it. It seems to me Kief Hillsbery has written a hyper-modern fable about tolerance and how it leads to love, though War Boy is rollicking good fun as well. The language is pure delight.
Rating:
Summary: What are these people talking about?
Review: This book has a compelling main character, an interesting setting and the fact that it's told in a Sk8board language compelling - however as a story it really meanders and you wonder when something is really gonna happen here.
Finally when it has a story it is something really unbelievable. Think of Dickens style coincidences or something from a bad late night soap opera.
This was a tough book to get through and when it was over I was sorry I wasted my time.
I think the author is good at coming up with characters but he needs to give them a story. Even a simple coming of age story would have been better than nothing.
Read Permanent Midnight or Dry instead.
Rating:
Summary: On The Road Meets Catcher In The Rye
Review: This book pulls you in from the very first sentence. I read it in one sitting, stayed up very late to finish and had the same feeling of excitement and identification as I did reading important coming-of-age novels like A SEPARATE PEACE and THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. Radboy's (the fourteen year old narrator) hardliving, big-hearted older friend Johnny -- who he travels with from Monteray into the punk rock, skate rat underworld of San Francisco -- is like a modern day Dean Moriarty. This book somehow manages to be sexy, moving, shocking and political and has the most contagious, appealing narrative voices. I can imagine hip, lit teenagers and college students stealing copies of this book all over the country.
Rating:
Summary: Not sure how to rate this one
Review: This is one book I am not sure how to review. Part of me loved it, another part of me disliked it. However, I had trouble putting it down and I found myself completely drawn into most of it. The most amazing aspect of it was the writing style. As a scuba diver and pilot, I often feel privleged and sometimes superior for seeing parts of the world most people do not. The author of this book allowed me into a world I would never be welcome in, nor have the opportunity to even be close to. I feel privledged to have been invited into such a world. The author's use of real, raw street language is fantastic. To obtain a glimpse of a deaf/mute/skateboarder's life was a real treat. My criticism was the ending and the development of a love affair between two characters (I do not want to go into details, as I do not want to ruin it for someone about to read this book). The ending was a bit too easy and bit too sentimental. The love affair developed too easily and moved too fast. It needed to be more developed, explored and believable. I also think this is one of the rare books where a bit more sex would have helped - the sexual tension was amazing, but not fullfilled. The fact that several days after finishing this book (at 4:30am), I am still puzzled, amazed, confused, overjoyed, disappointed and thankful for the book, all at the same time, makes it something special. I wish I could tell you to run right out and buy this book or tell you to totally avoid it. I cannot. All I can tell you is that I am thankful I read it, yet I feel it could have been better. However, it brought me into a world I would never have known and it has me thinking - maybe that is enough to urge you to buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling, original read.
Review: Told from the first-person point of view of a fourteen year old deaf-mute, War Boy traces our protagonists cross-country adventures with his older friend. The author's unusual choice of protagonist first struck me as off-putting, but the manner in which the story is written is inspiring. The reader, literally, is placed in the mind of a deaf-mute, which explains the prose's unconventional sentence and paragraph structure. The plot itself is a fusion of a coming-of-age, adventure, romance story and is secondary to the characters we meet.
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