Shane+A

Shane A's Book Review


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In times of extreme stress your mind can be your worst enemy. When I think of just the stress I go through in school I can not imagine what it would be like to have to live with accidentally killing someone, which is what of course happens to the young skater in Blake Nelson's "Paranoid Park". Titled very appropriately this book is based around paranoia and what people do when under extreme stress. This is the story of our main protagonist (who goes unnamed), he is a preppy young high schooler balancing the dramatic events of high school and the heavy weight of concealing his accidentally killing a security guard.Everyone can relate to this book in some way. Everyone at some point has heard that voice in the back of their mind screaming your sins and secrets at you. You feel the characters pain and distress as he constantly holds conferences about his next move and you experience his tedious break down of what he can do that is in his best interest. As he walks away from the body and passes people on the streets you can feel the suspense rise out of the page as you start working out his options in your mind. Along with the murder and stress side of this book there is a teen socialization aspect to it with the differences of "Preps" and "Sreeters" as it is put in the book, and the dramatic tension of getting together and breaking up with girlfriends.There is also a difficult divorce going on between the main characters parents.These events are very common among teens (with the exception of murder) which makes it a lot easier for the reader to really feel for the main protagonist. "Paranoid Park" gives very nice insight into teen culture and colloquialisms. This relation to reality gives the main character a lot of depth because he will remind you of you.I also must praise the way that this book is written. "Paranoid Park" is written out as a series of letters to, (blank), which by the result of the book were prompted by the protagonists former neighbor (Macy McLaughlin) who had a crush on him long before the whole 'murder' incident. He falls for this girl and decides to address the letters to her. Nearing the end of the book it stops being all about the murder and more about the relationships between these two characters. The protagonist becomes attracted to Macy because of the support she gives him during the intense events he had gone through. At this point in the book I had ceased to be an interested reader and become a fan because of the strangeness and randomness of the ending of the story. The result came far out of left field but in a very good way.Contrary to my expectations finding someone to trust was the Kid's main objective after the murder not to just survive.I recommend this book to just about anyone but I am not sure that a 50 year old women will be able to relate to it as well as I did. If you skate you will definitely want to go pick up a copy. "Paranoid Park" is one of the best books I have ever read, it will keep you turning the pages until the surprising but meaningful conclusion.