After some consideration, I have lowered my rating to 1-star. The more I think about this book, the less I like it. I suppose for me it was not "okay", so I am revising accordingly.
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This book was a big disappointment to me. For the first 3/4 of the book, I found the plot ludicrous. I attended high school in the 60s in the South. The events portrayed in this book could never have happened in my school at that time nor in any school in my state.

In last 1/4 of the book, there was improvement, but I felt it came too late to do much in the way of salvaging the plot, and in truth, I had to imagine this taking place in more recent times to make even that part of the book work.

I would have given it a 1-star rating had I not thought the writing itself was of a higher quality than the plot deserved. In fact, I would have stopped reading it less than halfway through had it not been a group read.

I’m afraid Childress is not going on my list of authors to read more of. ( )

Story moved from being a funny coming of age story to all the issues of racial integration, homosexuality, and bullying. Enjoyed having Daniel telling his story with his conflicts of trying to stay friends with both Tim and the black girl Arnita. Brought back memories of the 70s with the references to Sonny and Cher along with all the shows and songs of that era. Laughed at the lyrics to the musical "Christ". ( )

I found this coming-of-age tale of a friendship of two high school misfits entertaining and engaging although some of the people who I read this with found that it didn’t ring true to them. That could be because they were raised in the South during the 1970s and saw few similarities between the novel and their own experiences growing up. It could also be that the author, Mark Childress, has a habit of injecting a high degree of absurdity into his novels. (Readers of Crazy in Alabama will know what I mean.) I find his unique way of looking at the world both humorous and thought-provoking. The reader may have difficulty seeing the events happening in the real world but it is interesting to suspend disbelief and just roll with it.

Some of the events in the book, unfortunately, are far too familiar to most readers. Bullying those who don’t quite fit is so common that one would be hard-pressed to name somewhere where it doesn’t occur. The psychic damage it causes can last a lifetime.

Bottom line: I really enjoyed this novel although I’m not sure it is quite as memorable as Crazy in Alabama. This may be because the events that it deals with can be found almost daily in the news.

My thanks to the folks at the On the Southern Literary Trail group for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss this and many other fine books. ( )

Good coming of age book. I liked it for that reason. Good read but a little drawn out. ( )

Wow - would one kid, in one year, have had to deal with multiple family challenges, racism, issues related to homosexuality, a brother getting drafted to Vietnam, and coming-of-age and losing his virginity and trying to get through high school? Well, maybe in 1970-71, in the years of turmoil following the Civil Rights Act and corresponding with the Youth revolution. ( )