Rating: 
Summary: An easy formula
Review: This book has as much to do with "Bright Lights, Big City" as it does with a cook book(except for the stolen idea of dead mother). So chill with the comparisons. This McConnel in no way has McInerney's talent for the Manhattan description.What I will compare this work to is Bret Ellis. It is as if the kid beefed up Ellis' prose slightly, stole the whole format of Mr. Ellis' first novel (the rich, drug/sex addled kids with even more debaucherous parents, the dead family member, the past tense written in italics etc.) and mixed in a little of that violence and hyperrealism-running-concurrently-with-ennui of Ellis' "Glamorama". I mean McConnel can describe pop culture white boys and girls, but with the monotany and accesability of popular culture MTV, it's not so hard. So you take "SPY NOTES ON.....and all those other hip urban 80's novels" and you use its Novel-o-Matic to form your story, emphasizing the very early work of Ellis and the very latest. You change the pop culture references of the 80's with those of the new millenium and you have this novel. Other than the plot and format being borderline cribbed, this book was pretty cool. It's my kind of book.
Rating: 
Summary: A review of Twelve in 12 words by Fox
Review: "Since reading Twelve I have a pleasant tingly sensation in my belly." Twelve is a very good book, a real "page-turner". In all honesty, owning a copy of this book will soon become 'en vogue', so you'd better buy yourself a few dozen, hmm? The more you have, the cooler you are, and the cooler you are, the higher your chances are of making my aquaintence... Next thing you know, all the prep school gangmembers are going to be flashing copies of Twelve and tagging storefronts with 'Twelve' in huge red letters. If you don't show the gangs your copy, then they know you're an enemy, and that often leads to terrible embarrassment.
Rating:
Summary: same old same old
Review: A voice we've heard before, telling a story we all know. Why are cynicism and detachment so stylish these days? Why do we think stories by and about kids -- who by definition don't know very much -- have something to say to the rest of us? I'm tired of stories about kids with too much of everything except character and self-doubt; tired, too, of talented 18-year-olds who don't believe there's much to be said for experiencing life a little and working hard to hone a craft before getting published. This writer would have done better to turn his back on his parents' literary connections, let life toss him around a little, learn everything he could from the masters of living and of writing, and sit down in front of the computer maybe 10 years from now -- then maybe he would have had a story to tell, maybe he would have made something of his obvious talent. As it is, he'll be a tremendous sensation for the next 10 minutes. Too bad.
Rating:
Summary: bothered by cantbebothered
Review: As an English teacher, I'm always thrilled to see people get excited about a book, especially one written by someone as young as McDonell. The potential that my students will read more than what I assign increases when they see their peers writing, or more specifically, writing about their own generation. I have not read the book yet, but why should I when the "shocking" ending has been ruined by cantbebothered (who did not include an email address)? I suggest that he stick to Proust and Faulkner and the rest of the old guard if he wants to give away the ending; at least those have been on the shelves long enough to warrant the "well, what have you been waiting for?" response after spoiling the ending. Shame on you you lunk.
Rating: 
Summary: Want to Have A Kid Perform Onanism Right on Your Face?
Review: Then you will like this book! Richie Rich wrote a book, and here it is! Ain't that cute...his godfather published his book...awww. Nick McDonell blasts a good one, Pete North-style, on the face of anyone stupid enough to buy this pretty little book.
Rating:
Summary: Very Dull, Very Stupid...
Review: Let's see... Nick McDonell quotes Nelly songs to death...
Nick McDonell thinks that a pampered white kid from the projects could easily beat up an inner-city black athlete in a fistfight. McDonell, apparently inexperienced in sexual matters, thinks that drugstores still keep condoms behind the counter, and you have to ask for them. McDonell thinks a good ending consists of: everybody dies. McDonell thinks a rich white kid can get sent to jail in NYC and find out that 'it's not so bad' and 'the other prisoners don't bother him.' McDonell can't write. McDonell's godfather owns the company that published that his book.
Nick McDonell ...!
Rating: 
Summary: Hey, Nick, slow down, buddy!
Review: As an eighteen year-old reader of this eighteen year-old author, I have to say that "Twelve" is a very accomplished first outing for Nick McDonell. His adept ability to construct a network of characters, all of whom are artfully linked in an Altmanesque house of cards, will serve him well in the future. The depictions of teenagers are some of the most truthful I have come across, and as a frequent visitor of Manhattan, McDonell certainly knows his way around the town. My problem is not with his characterization nor with his plot setup (which comes together and is ultimately ripped apart in 97 concisely clipped chapters). I just feel that he didn't give enough payoff to accenuate his build-up. By the time the novel hits it's graphicly violent Columbine-style climax, I was shocked, yes, but also felt a bit cheated. It was a feeling of..."Is that it?" When it comes time for young Nick to pen his second book, let's hope he puts his undeniable skills at work to draw out the storyline instead of smashing it into a brick wall. Otherwise, "Twelve" is an unflinching look at the desensitized teenagers of modern America and should earn it's author some much-deserved praise.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining
Review: Although I read the book from start to finish in one night, I would not say that it was a literary masterpiece. However, it was entertaining. Throughout the novel, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. McDonnel does a good job of enticing the reader, however, the numerous characters cause the depth of each character to remain rather shallow, other than White Mike. Other than the ending, which I felt was a bit rushed, I enjoyed the book and will read it again.
Rating:
Summary: "Twelve" degrees of separation
Review: The publisher's his godfather, his dad writes for Sports Illustrated, and mom's a novelist. This is a lot like going to your friends' house and being subjected to their precious child clunking away on the grand piano as they watch worshipfully. Lesson: you don't have to have talent, just family connections... and he's not even a Bush.
Rating:
Summary: Nick: Deranged misfit or simply a misunderstood meglomaniac
Review: I don't know the answer to the above...ALL i know is that Nick is a man. You see sometimes theres a man...Sometimes theres a...
Well theres a man for his place and time. Not that Nick is that man, i'm just saying that sometimes such a man exists. Nick, come to think of it, certainly is not this man. Nick is a man who cries out in his sleep. Nick is a man who eats radishes with peanut butter.
Suffice to say that sometimes there is man; and Nick, well Nick, is not the man, just a man...except on weekends.
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