Twelve

Rating:
Summary: Thin and pale like smoke.
Review: Twelve may be the name of the hot new drug--mentioned all of two or three times--but this book has little to do with anything. It is basically a romp through the city over the winter holiday. And then it's a flashback to something of no consequence and a sarcastic comment from the author projected through his characters. This basic format threaded through the story is the only base that keeps the story from falling apart into short character sketches. However, the purpose of a sketch is to show us something about the character, which we don't get in Twelve. What we do get is their favorite brand of clothing (denoting that they are a shallow person), their masturbation habits (meaning... something, I suppose), and their obsession with weapons (telling us that they are dangerous.)

The book was written throughout a summer according to McDonell but it seems more like something written in a creative writing class. Amid the chatter of high school students, it came together as a scattered bunch of quickwrite assignments and hastily scrawled thoughts. There is little substance here. It is, like the main character, thin--and pale like smoke.

Rating:
Summary: Trying to find your footing in the Shallow end of the pool.
Review: Since Mr. McDonnell is connected, it seems fitting that one of his friends mentioned to me that i should read it, since I am an aspiring writer as well. Then, a few months later, my school librarian comes up to me and says, "You should read this book." And I respond, "Oh I should, my friend's friend wrote it." And she says, "That's so funny, because that's what this book is about, connections."... then, I reccomend it to my friend, and he says, "well, Nick McDonnell is in my english class at Harvard, so I can introduce him to you if you want." And, I reply, "well, now I have 2 ways of meeting him."

Point being - I'm not going to give him five stars because I know him through 2 friends; but I am going to give him 4 stars because I know him through 2 friends.... it validates the reality of Twelve - connections. Corrupt, money-based, drug-related, image-conscious connections.

Twelve is to the point. It's clear and simple, and even got me to laugh out loud a few times. I've never read a book in 2 sittings before - I definately read this one that quickly though. Perhaps it's because I related.

Some people might view Twelve as depressing or cynical - but it's deeply comic... and while saddening to my idealism, McDonnell obviously knows what he's talking about. Most teens won't truly understand this since it's about Prep Schoolers... we're a breed... not an elite breed, just one of many.

His use of labels and dialogue is supurb. His conflicted lead character, White Mike, depicts the product of a corrupted generation. While he strives to be wholesome and intellectual, he lacks the background and motivation to truly follow through. Being the sober drug dealer seems more practical to him. He lacks depth because he was forced to abandon the deep end of the pool too early in life. Meanwhile he's got baggage left over from his childhood.

White Mike, along with all the other characters in Twelve, are people that I have met. I know them - undeniably. Most of them won't ever read the book - and if they do, their pseudo-intellectualism will erase any notion that they themsleves are, in fact, pathetic.

This book may not harness a universal depth that all teens can relate to. Perhaps that is because McDonnell's maxim within this novel is a sort of passive introspection. A Vanity, and self-hate. No reader that ought to relate to it will admitt to its truth. And the readers that can't relate are baffled.

Either way, Twelve did its job, and did it well. It's not Catcher In The Rye - they are much different. If you want Catcher In The Rye part two, pick up Chbosky's "The Perks of being A Wallflower"...

But if you want a sort of Owen Wilson & Wes Anderson-like dark comedy, paired with the cynical truth of Alan Ball's American Beauty - laced with a little but of Prep School Elitism (School Ties), buy Twelve.

Rating:
Summary: Aww poor little rich kids!
Review: So, like we're like totally supposed to relate to these heartless, "suffering" affluent teens? Hardly. And why does Nick Mcdonell constantly add those cliche "teenager" words..for example, "like...totally...etc.." I heard he was an excellent teen author, but if he was he would know those words are quite unnecessary and help to get few points across except that people are dolts. I don't know, it just seems like "Twelve" lets the readers down. There is little plot, except that perhaps race means more than it should and that money corrupts. Wow, like we didn't already know the latter comment before we read this book.
The book seems as if it wants to invoke sympathy, but doesn't quite hit its mark. Instead, I almost felt resentment that people with so much can do so little with it. What a waste--in more ways than one.

Rating:
Summary: Less Than Zero With Punctuation
Review: Nick McDonell takes us inside the drug-infested, excessive, bored lives of New York's wealthiest young kids. No doubt some of these kids could end up as college students in The Secret History, if only. The "if only" part is for you to discover.

A tragic, one-day read. Perhaps it's even more of a tragedy because we're all so familiar with this tale by now.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: McDonell's writing is clear, simple and true. He captures the disheartened spirit of the youth of today perfectly. One can easily see beneath the veneer of his characters, and the causes for their misery.

Great work, man.

Rating:
Summary: Provides a glimse into 21st century adolescence
Review: I found it a quick read, with some merits. Looking forward to a more polished novel from the author.

Rating:
Summary: Why so many bad reviews?
Review: I thoght that Twelve was an interesting book. Nick is a very unique guy, and it was very interesting to read what's on his creative mind. I read the book in 2 days, and not because it's short or because I'm a speed-reader, but because I didn't want to put it down what-so-ever. It seems like Nick really knew what he was doing when he wrote this interesting book, and I'll definetely read whatever else he decides to write. The only problem I really had with this book was that it had 98 chapters, and I understand that that's how it's supposed to be and everything, but this book would have been a novella or possibly a short-story if it had been broken up into a normal amount of chapters.

Rating:
Summary: Can't believe it lasted so long!
Review: McDonell's grammar is straight and to the point. His story, on the other hand, is not.

Throughout the entire novel, scenes happen and stop abruptly and they piece slowly together and then unravel, and then piece together and unravels again. nothing is ever fully connected, and the end is choppy and unsatisfying.

However, there's little phrases that are really thought provoking and good, but trust me, it's a very rare find in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Nintendo Ending
Review: Good start, wonderful structuring (did he have heavy editorial help or is he a natural writer?), and a fun read UNTIL you get to the end, which is facile and straight out of a video game or TV.

Rating:
Summary: A Younger, East-Coast Brett Easton Ellis
Review: This is the story of a non-typical drug dealer named White Mike, who is somewhat reminiscent of the adolescent [drug] dealer from American Beauty, and a series of events involving his friends and aquaintences that ends in violence and bloodshed. The story is told through several points of view and flows right along making this a very quick, and entertaining, read.

I was surprised to learn that Nick McDonell is quite young, having just enrolled in Harvard sometime around the publishing of this book I believer. I am quite impressed with his writing abilities and plan on buying any further works he publishes in the future.