I am a sucker for a book about youthful excess if it's written well. Down the Shore scratches that itch. The tale of Tom Alison, the scholarship student at a fancy boarding school, on probation for selling drugs, with a life and friends that intersect many different social strata. A random encounter at a party brings him into a friendship with Clare Savage, the rich son of a Wall Street financier whose parents have absconded with ill-gotten proceeds leaving Clare adrift on the tide. Together they venture off to St. Andrews University in Scotland - a school famous for second chances.

Down the Shore follows Tom and Clare on their journeys and sweeps us along as we watch the pair begin to grow up, begin to figure out who they are. I imagine that some reviewers may dislike the casual drug use and general narcissism and flailing about in the book, but it was precisely these qualities that made it so real for me - this is what it's like to be young and experimenting with who you want to be. We are none of us paragons of compassionate virtue at 18. Loved the story and its characters, found it all highly entertaining and well worth my time. A great summer read. ( )

This book was a surprise for me. A good one. I was not quite sure if I would like this book. However I did. While Tom and Clare are not the most loveable guys and at best likeable can be a stretch but they were honest. This is what I liked the most about the book. The raw honestness that the author wrote in telling Tom and Clare's story. Despite all the drugs, alcohol, and women; Tom and Clare were good friends. I don't know what it was about reading about Tom and Clare hanging out together made me think of summer. Maybe because I am craving summer to come or maybe it was them having fun for the summer surfing and not having a care in the world. However the ending was a little disappointing. I was hoping for a stronger ending. It just left me going "meh". So I read this whole book for this. I would check out more books by this author. ( )