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100 Sideways Miles
Finn Easton sees the world through miles instead of minutes. It’s how he makes sense of the world, and how he tries to convince himself that he’s a real boy and not just a character in his father’s bestselling cult-classic book. Finn has two things going for him: his best friend, the possibly-insane-but-definitely-excellent Cade Hernandez, and Julia Bishop, the first girl he’s ever loved.
Then Julia moves away, and Finn is heartbroken. Feeling restless and trapped in the book, Finn embarks on a road trip with Cade to visit their college of choice in Oklahoma. When an unexpected accident happens and the boys become unlikely heroes, they take an eye-opening detour away from everything they thought they had planned—and learn how to write their own destiny.
Then Julia moves away, and Finn is heartbroken. Feeling restless and trapped in the book, Finn embarks on a road trip with Cade to visit their college of choice in Oklahoma. When an unexpected accident happens and the boys become unlikely heroes, they take an eye-opening detour away from everything they thought they had planned—and learn how to write their own destiny.
277 pages, Paperback
First published September 2, 2014
115 people are currently reading
8372 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Smith
19 books1,706 followersAndrew Smith is the author of Winger, Grasshopper Jungle, The Alex Crow, 100 Sideways Miles, and Rabbit & Robot, among others. Exile from Eden: Or, After the Hole, the long-awaited sequel to Grasshopper Jungle, is coming from Simon & Schuster on September 24, 2019.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,171 reviews
May 20, 2014
I fucking love Andrew Smith. That is all.
September 5, 2014
Fantastic.
March 4, 2016
I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed this! Andrew Smith is an author I'm very familiar with, but if you're not and you decide to pick this (or any of his books up), you're in for a real treat. Truly, there is nothing like them that is done quite as well. Crude in a total teenage boyish way, but not disgusting; it's HILARIOUS. I loved the plot of this book. I love how Finn, our main character, is both silly yet intelligent. I loved that he had a seizure condition; it made the book so real. He had such a range of emotions that he felt like a real high schooler going through these problems. This book was just so realistic and yet so quirky, delivered perfectly and humorously. I listened to the audiobook, and it was great! The book just sort of fell a little flat for me because the plot was sorta boring. I mean, I wasn't bored listening to it, but nothing of real substance happened, and the ending/climax was sorta random. Also, the relationship in it is a bit arbitrary, even though I did like the girl and how he handled his feelings for her. Once again, realistic and well-done.
Andrew Smith books are just getting better and better!
Andrew Smith books are just getting better and better!
September 12, 2014
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
“Sometimes books imitate life. And sometimes books imitate lives that imitate books.”
How do I even summarize 100 Sideways Miles? Rather than blubber all over the page, I’m going to use the author’s own words to tell you what it’s about: “A story involving alien visitors from outer space, an epileptic kid who doesn’t really know where he came from, knackeries and dead horses falling a hundred sideways miles, abandoned prisons, a shadow play, moons and stars, and jumping from a bridge into a flood.”
Dear Andrew Smith,
I mean, your destiny.
THIS book is a prime example of why I get really torked off when people say Young Adult selections are only for young adults. Pigeonhole yourself into believing that bunk and you’ll miss out some great stuff. Stuff like what comes out of Andrew Smith’s head. He’s damn good. He writes honest, relatable, believable teenagers in realistic situations. He makes you laugh and he makes you cry (sometimes simultaneously). He’s not a believer in insta-love, but he does recognize that 17-year old boys will experience “insta-lust.” He writes an excellent best friend. He makes old codgers like myself feel young again. “Imagine that.”
"Life goes on. Twenty miles per second." It only took me about half a million miles to read this book - I just couldn’t put it down. This is my third go ‘round with Andrew Smith and it’s easily the best. His words are like magic:
“We sailed along, wrapped wholly and firmly together, flying twenty miles, twenty miles, twenty miles, twenty miles. And in that turning, unfolding, opening, I forgot everything about me.”
and I anxiously wait for more.
“Sometimes books imitate life. And sometimes books imitate lives that imitate books.”
How do I even summarize 100 Sideways Miles? Rather than blubber all over the page, I’m going to use the author’s own words to tell you what it’s about: “A story involving alien visitors from outer space, an epileptic kid who doesn’t really know where he came from, knackeries and dead horses falling a hundred sideways miles, abandoned prisons, a shadow play, moons and stars, and jumping from a bridge into a flood.”
Dear Andrew Smith,
I mean, your destiny.
THIS book is a prime example of why I get really torked off when people say Young Adult selections are only for young adults. Pigeonhole yourself into believing that bunk and you’ll miss out some great stuff. Stuff like what comes out of Andrew Smith’s head. He’s damn good. He writes honest, relatable, believable teenagers in realistic situations. He makes you laugh and he makes you cry (sometimes simultaneously). He’s not a believer in insta-love, but he does recognize that 17-year old boys will experience “insta-lust.” He writes an excellent best friend. He makes old codgers like myself feel young again. “Imagine that.”
"Life goes on. Twenty miles per second." It only took me about half a million miles to read this book - I just couldn’t put it down. This is my third go ‘round with Andrew Smith and it’s easily the best. His words are like magic:
“We sailed along, wrapped wholly and firmly together, flying twenty miles, twenty miles, twenty miles, twenty miles. And in that turning, unfolding, opening, I forgot everything about me.”
and I anxiously wait for more.
January 26, 2016
“I thought about words - like words in books - and how just saying them made things real.”
This is the first book I've read from Andrew Smith and I chose this because it is not that long compared to his other novels. Hahaha.
100 Sideways Miles is a coming-of-age novel that I enjoyed reading because of its realistic characters. If not for them, this will be an ordinary/typical read for me. In books that seem plotless, the characters and their growth are what I am rooting for. It is a great factor for me if they can affect me and be connected to them in any possible way. Alas, the characters in this book passed my criteria and I'm happy with it.
Finn Easton is an epileptic and an interesting character. Cade Hernandez is a funny one. The fascination in physics of Finn and the humor of his bestfriend Cade is a great combination, in my opinion. And this is what I truly enjoyed in this book. Besides, their friendship was really admiring and true to the bone that I missed my high school friends when I'm reading it.
Mainly, this book is about finding oneself, finding the true you. And this is what Finn is trying to prove to himself and to others. That he, Finn Easton, didn't come from the bestselling novel of his father. That he is a real boy. And he will enjoy his life the way he want it to be.
July 10, 2015
► Sometimes I don't want reality, it seems. Although I can't deny that Finn's voice is pretty believable, the writing is bugging me for two reasons :
➊ Overly long sentences that drive me nuts : Look, I read far worse (particularly during my college years, with La Route des Flandres, or The Flanders Road in English where Claude Simon writes sentences of 3 pages - I'm dead serious. 3 fucking pages. AW-FUL. My teacher used to say that it was aimed to lose the reader like the character in WW2. Yeah. Whatever. Awful still) but it's a writing feature I struggle to deal with (except with Hannah Moskowitz, weirdly) :
"I lay on my back, completely naked, on the tiles of the shower floor in a half inch of dirty water while three ambulance attendants with latex-gloved hands strategized methods for lifting me onto a perfectly white rolling gurney strecher."
or
"So at the end of our sophomore year as the week for the State of California Basic Educational Standards Test (they called it the BEST Test) neared and hundreds of number two pencils were being sharpened in preparation for hours of mindless bubble filling by the kids at Burnt Mill Creek High School, Cade Hernandez came up with a wicked idea; one that he got every tenth-grader in our school to play along with too."
► Passages like this make my brain hurt.
➋ Repetitions, as in, names repetitions :
"Blake Grunwald was a grade ahead of me and played backup catcher.
Blake Grunwald still hated me.
It was perhaps a hundred fifty miles back, in February, I got into a fight with Blake Grunwald."
► See, I know it is a writing choice and absolutely not a lack of talent from Andrew Smith, but the fact is, it's not for me. It spoils my enjoyment and sadly I'm not sure I can be objective about the story if I don't like the writing, so yeah, I prefer to stop right now. Moreover I get the feeling that the plot is all over the place but maybe that's just me^^. DNF @42%
December 21, 2014
Warning: Rant Incoming.
I had so many issues with this novel...where do I start? How about with the gross overuse of the terms " I've got a boner" ,"ridiculous" and "knackery"(we get it everything is a damn knackery!).
The characters are 17 but act more like 13, which may or may not be a realistic portrayal of teenage boys. Finn was kind of an asshole, and although his outbursts were always blamed on his " blank outs", an asshole is an asshole is an asshole. What really grinded my gears to the point of no redemption was his assumption that his crush
The first half of the book reminded me a bit of John Green, with the quirky and somewhat random personalities of all involved characters but after 50% the novel just became more and more boring.
The one good thing that I can say about this book is that I did enjoy Finns' relationship with his father, and the writing did make me chuckle a few times. I do think that this author has talent and I would probably check out another book by him. I'm going to give this a 3/5, even though it wasn't my cup of tea I do think it has an audience.
Note: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
I had so many issues with this novel...where do I start? How about with the gross overuse of the terms " I've got a boner" ,"ridiculous" and "knackery"(we get it everything is a damn knackery!).
The characters are 17 but act more like 13, which may or may not be a realistic portrayal of teenage boys. Finn was kind of an asshole, and although his outbursts were always blamed on his " blank outs", an asshole is an asshole is an asshole. What really grinded my gears to the point of no redemption was his assumption that his crush
The first half of the book reminded me a bit of John Green, with the quirky and somewhat random personalities of all involved characters but after 50% the novel just became more and more boring.
The one good thing that I can say about this book is that I did enjoy Finns' relationship with his father, and the writing did make me chuckle a few times. I do think that this author has talent and I would probably check out another book by him. I'm going to give this a 3/5, even though it wasn't my cup of tea I do think it has an audience.
Note: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
August 25, 2019
"A story involving alien visitors from outer space, an epileptic kid who doesn't really know where he came from, knackeries and dead horses falling a hundred sideways miles, abandoned prisons, a shadow play, moons and stars, and jumping from a bridge into a flood..."
I can go either way with these books meant for teen readers...but really freaking kind of loved this one. I laughed and laughed. One teacher is a total trainwreck and tried to get the school to stop saying "fuck." That went over....so well😂
Teenage boys everywhere should read it, girls too, and everyone else. It's a little odd at times and has all the quintessential jocks, parties, girls, and a main character with seizures who had a 22 year old dead percheron fall and break his back. The characters were hilarious but really pretty good dudes. Plenty of accidental nudity and drunkenness and the road trip of a lifetime, where facts may or may not have been learned. I wish more of the book had been about the roadtrip
No problem recommending this one!
I can go either way with these books meant for teen readers...but really freaking kind of loved this one. I laughed and laughed. One teacher is a total trainwreck and tried to get the school to stop saying "fuck." That went over....so well😂
Teenage boys everywhere should read it, girls too, and everyone else. It's a little odd at times and has all the quintessential jocks, parties, girls, and a main character with seizures who had a 22 year old dead percheron fall and break his back. The characters were hilarious but really pretty good dudes. Plenty of accidental nudity and drunkenness and the road trip of a lifetime, where facts may or may not have been learned. I wish more of the book had been about the roadtrip
No problem recommending this one!
October 10, 2014
Finn Easton is a 16 year-old boy living in the middle of no-where, California. Finn never tells anyone how he really feels. He is very good at just "being fine." He's okay. Always okay. Except he's not, really. This is the story of Finn's becoming more than okay with who he is. The journey of an epileptic, baseball-playing, poetic, never-been-kissed teenage boy. And it is a journey that all boys someday go on: how to escape from the book of their life and write their own story.
By the second chapter I had a crystal clear picture of who Finn Easton was, what he sounded like, and how he felt about everything. This is character building; it is connecting to your reader; it is identifying with a fictional human being. This is great writing. Finn Easton is a poet, and that is the truth. His narrative is a hypnotic, colorful whirlwind of words coalescing into unexpected poetry as it falls from the page into your head.
Finn is a boy with problems. As a little kid his mother was killed by a horse falling from a bridge, and that same horse broke Finn's back. Finn has epileptic seizures. He lives constantly under the shadow of his father's most famous book, which features a boy very much like Finn himself. One summer, Finn meets a girl, and he falls in love with this girl. After Julia moves back home, Finn and his best friend Cade go on an unexpected road trip to plan the rest of their lives.
Next, I want to devote an entire paragraph to Cade Hernandez, Finn's best friend, so I will. Just, Cade, okay?
Cade Hernandez is a god among boys. He is everything. Confident, attractive, funny, bold, the best friend a guy could ever have. But there are moments, and in those moments I know that Cade is even more than everything. He is loneliness. He is longing. He is the truth about boys and that's how it is. I love that kid. He reminds me of Conner Kirk from The Marbury Lens, and I love that kid, too. These best friends in Andrew Smith's book are simply the most well-written characters I've ever discovered.
Don't be afraid of the horse on the cover. You'll discover something mesmerizing inside. Like all the words in your head just spill right out, until before you know it you're filled right up with "Twenty miles, twenty miles, twenty miles," and then you've traveled 60 miles sideways across the face of the Earth and you didn't even know it.
This is a book for every reader. Girls, boys, parents, new adults. Sure, go ahead and recommend it to them. Especially girls who like books by John Green. Boys who don't like to read, or have a hard time sticking with a book. Anyone looking for a refreshing contemporary teen book that isn't mired down in love triangles. Yes, you. This book is for you.
This is a book I am so grateful to not have to wait until September for. Thank you very, very much (you know who you are, both of you) for the advance review copy.
By the second chapter I had a crystal clear picture of who Finn Easton was, what he sounded like, and how he felt about everything. This is character building; it is connecting to your reader; it is identifying with a fictional human being. This is great writing. Finn Easton is a poet, and that is the truth. His narrative is a hypnotic, colorful whirlwind of words coalescing into unexpected poetry as it falls from the page into your head.
Finn is a boy with problems. As a little kid his mother was killed by a horse falling from a bridge, and that same horse broke Finn's back. Finn has epileptic seizures. He lives constantly under the shadow of his father's most famous book, which features a boy very much like Finn himself. One summer, Finn meets a girl, and he falls in love with this girl. After Julia moves back home, Finn and his best friend Cade go on an unexpected road trip to plan the rest of their lives.
Next, I want to devote an entire paragraph to Cade Hernandez, Finn's best friend, so I will. Just, Cade, okay?
Cade Hernandez is a god among boys. He is everything. Confident, attractive, funny, bold, the best friend a guy could ever have. But there are moments, and in those moments I know that Cade is even more than everything. He is loneliness. He is longing. He is the truth about boys and that's how it is. I love that kid. He reminds me of Conner Kirk from The Marbury Lens, and I love that kid, too. These best friends in Andrew Smith's book are simply the most well-written characters I've ever discovered.
Don't be afraid of the horse on the cover. You'll discover something mesmerizing inside. Like all the words in your head just spill right out, until before you know it you're filled right up with "Twenty miles, twenty miles, twenty miles," and then you've traveled 60 miles sideways across the face of the Earth and you didn't even know it.
This is a book for every reader. Girls, boys, parents, new adults. Sure, go ahead and recommend it to them. Especially girls who like books by John Green. Boys who don't like to read, or have a hard time sticking with a book. Anyone looking for a refreshing contemporary teen book that isn't mired down in love triangles. Yes, you. This book is for you.
This is a book I am so grateful to not have to wait until September for. Thank you very, very much (you know who you are, both of you) for the advance review copy.
May 14, 2015
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Andrew Smith's novels always fill me with intense feeling of wonder and happiness; 100 Sideway Miles made me want to scream my love for it from the rooftops because it's just that good. This isn't your average coming-of-age story, it's so much better (but if you've read anything by Smith, this isn't news to you). 100 Sideway Miles is a wonderfully strange novel that will make readers laugh and fill them with so many raw, irrepressible emotions.
I'm not going to summarize this book because this is a book that you need to explore for yourself. There was something so satisfying about just delving into this novel and knowing so little about the plot. This is a book about a boy trying to find himself, while trying to escape from the constraints of his father. Finn Easton doesn't just want to be that boy from his father's book, he wants to be himself -- whoever that might be.
Andrew Smith channels his inner teenage boy and Finn's voice is so on point and authentic that it feels so familiar to my angsty, adolescent self. This is a story about a boy transitioning to adulthood, but Smith makes this book so approachable and real, he doesn't skip any of the awkward moments that novels and films usually gloss over. 100 Sideway Miles will remind older readers what it means to grow up, both the difficult and amazing aspects, and what it feels to fall in love for the first time. Smith has written a truly amazing coming-of-age tale, readers will feel the passion and sincerity of this book reverberating right off the page.
The characters that Andrew Smith has written in 100 Sideway Miles feel even more real and tangible than most people that I know. There aren't just blobs of ink; Finn, Cade and Julia are three of the most realistic characters that Smith has ever written about and it's not surprising that I felt a connection to this trio. Finn and Cade are true teeangers and they get into such ridiculously entertaining adventures that readers will wish they could join this duo on their road trip.
Finn feels that horrible feeling of being trapped in his adolescence and Smith makes this even more horrifying with the inclusion of Finn's father's novel. All those feelings that Finn feels throughout the novel are so perfectly bottled in this novel and this is a novel that all teenagers need to read to know that what they're feeling isn't exclusive -- that someone else is feeling those awkward growing pains.
I applaud Smith for writing a book about a character with a disability because finding books about disabled characters is extremely difficult. Finn has epilepsy and he's extremely prone to having seizures that make him black out and piss himself. Something that I found amazing was that Smith doesn't ever make Finn "special" or "different", he shows how normal epilepsy is and never tries to make readers feel bad for Finn because of the disease.
Andrew Smith always writes that book, the one you spend all night reading and that you can never stop talking about, even weeks after finishing. 100 Sideway Miles is the book to read; I found myself in this book and I have a feeling that countless readers will empathize with Finn's struggles. No author can capture the beauty and awkwardness that comes with adolescence like Andrew Smith does.
Andrew Smith's novels always fill me with intense feeling of wonder and happiness; 100 Sideway Miles made me want to scream my love for it from the rooftops because it's just that good. This isn't your average coming-of-age story, it's so much better (but if you've read anything by Smith, this isn't news to you). 100 Sideway Miles is a wonderfully strange novel that will make readers laugh and fill them with so many raw, irrepressible emotions.
I'm not going to summarize this book because this is a book that you need to explore for yourself. There was something so satisfying about just delving into this novel and knowing so little about the plot. This is a book about a boy trying to find himself, while trying to escape from the constraints of his father. Finn Easton doesn't just want to be that boy from his father's book, he wants to be himself -- whoever that might be.
Andrew Smith channels his inner teenage boy and Finn's voice is so on point and authentic that it feels so familiar to my angsty, adolescent self. This is a story about a boy transitioning to adulthood, but Smith makes this book so approachable and real, he doesn't skip any of the awkward moments that novels and films usually gloss over. 100 Sideway Miles will remind older readers what it means to grow up, both the difficult and amazing aspects, and what it feels to fall in love for the first time. Smith has written a truly amazing coming-of-age tale, readers will feel the passion and sincerity of this book reverberating right off the page.
The characters that Andrew Smith has written in 100 Sideway Miles feel even more real and tangible than most people that I know. There aren't just blobs of ink; Finn, Cade and Julia are three of the most realistic characters that Smith has ever written about and it's not surprising that I felt a connection to this trio. Finn and Cade are true teeangers and they get into such ridiculously entertaining adventures that readers will wish they could join this duo on their road trip.
Finn feels that horrible feeling of being trapped in his adolescence and Smith makes this even more horrifying with the inclusion of Finn's father's novel. All those feelings that Finn feels throughout the novel are so perfectly bottled in this novel and this is a novel that all teenagers need to read to know that what they're feeling isn't exclusive -- that someone else is feeling those awkward growing pains.
I applaud Smith for writing a book about a character with a disability because finding books about disabled characters is extremely difficult. Finn has epilepsy and he's extremely prone to having seizures that make him black out and piss himself. Something that I found amazing was that Smith doesn't ever make Finn "special" or "different", he shows how normal epilepsy is and never tries to make readers feel bad for Finn because of the disease.
Andrew Smith always writes that book, the one you spend all night reading and that you can never stop talking about, even weeks after finishing. 100 Sideway Miles is the book to read; I found myself in this book and I have a feeling that countless readers will empathize with Finn's struggles. No author can capture the beauty and awkwardness that comes with adolescence like Andrew Smith does.
January 5, 2015
Leaning more toward 4.5 stars...maybe.
I really liked this book! There were a few minor flaws, but the story and character development finally fell through in the end. I have to say, though, that the blurb on the inside jacket of the hardcover literally spoils the entire book...the road trip and climax of the story happen in the last 50 pages or so. It's a little misleading.
My main complaint is that the love interest, Julia, strangely felt like she had no personality. Their relationship and love felt a little random, with little basis for it to come from. However, I choose to believe that it's the way it's supposed to be...teenage relationships can be so materialistic and physical rather than deep and meaningful (sometimes). I don't know. I still liked the book though.
The earth travels at a speed of twenty miles per second.
Throws your world into perspective.
I really liked this book! There were a few minor flaws, but the story and character development finally fell through in the end. I have to say, though, that the blurb on the inside jacket of the hardcover literally spoils the entire book...the road trip and climax of the story happen in the last 50 pages or so. It's a little misleading.
My main complaint is that the love interest, Julia, strangely felt like she had no personality. Their relationship and love felt a little random, with little basis for it to come from. However, I choose to believe that it's the way it's supposed to be...teenage relationships can be so materialistic and physical rather than deep and meaningful (sometimes). I don't know. I still liked the book though.
The earth travels at a speed of twenty miles per second.
Throws your world into perspective.
August 24, 2014
"The planet of humans and dogs spins and sails, spins and sails.
There is nothing I can do about it. Things keep moving. The knackery never shuts down."
This book is perfect. All around and in every possible way. It's not for everyone, it's probably not for most of y'all, but to me it is perfect. It's special and meaningful and intelligent and clever and freaking awesome and if I was Cade Hernandez I would totally get a boner now. Thank you, Andrew Smith.
There is nothing I can do about it. Things keep moving. The knackery never shuts down."
This book is perfect. All around and in every possible way. It's not for everyone, it's probably not for most of y'all, but to me it is perfect. It's special and meaningful and intelligent and clever and freaking awesome and if I was Cade Hernandez I would totally get a boner now. Thank you, Andrew Smith.
April 26, 2019
100 Sideways Miles is my least favorite of Andrew Smith's books that I've read so far. I enjoy the author's off-the-wall writing style, and if you're a fan of his I still recommend picking it up. Fair warning: Cade is incredibly irritating. Finn though definitely grows on you, if you give him the chance.
August 14, 2015
Short Review:
I love Andrew Smith and I loved this book. This one is a little lower on the "WTF" scale than some of his other books, but it definitely has that trademark Andrew Smith style--great writing, great characters. A really sweet, funny, and moving story.
Full Review:
~coming eventually~
I love Andrew Smith and I loved this book. This one is a little lower on the "WTF" scale than some of his other books, but it definitely has that trademark Andrew Smith style--great writing, great characters. A really sweet, funny, and moving story.
Full Review:
~coming eventually~
October 31, 2014
4.5 stars
Even though it often is awash in a cascade of quirk (sideways-falling horses at twenty miles a second, fallen angels that...ahem...have their way with and eat their hosts, emoticon-shaped cicatrices, sticky atoms, knackeries, "bullfighting names", little girl-ghosts, flood disasters, lakes-that-are-not-lakes, abandoned prisons, character-swallowing books, etc.), Andrew Smith's 100 Sideways Miles is a real charmer. Though the quirk level often seemed to drown the fact that there wasn't much core story to be had here, I laughed throughout. It reminded me a lot of Tom Robbins at his earliest and best. This is also a prime example of a YA book that (despite ridiculous assertions of some that feel YA fiction has no literary value) can easily be appreciated by YAs and OAs alike.
This OA (um, that is, I) loved the epileptic heterochromatic Burnt Mill Creek High School junior Finn Easton and his best bud, all-around BMOC, shenanigan-scheming and atom-dispersing Cade Hernandez, along with Finn's dream girl Julia Bishop as they set about extricating Finn from both his sordid sideways-horse-falling past, and from the pages of his father's best-selling novel.
This (a national book award long-lister for 2014 YA lit) is my first Andrew Smith experience. I can't believe he's flown under my radar this long. With at least six acclaimed novels like Winger and Grasshopper Jungle under Smith's belt that I've yet to read, i've got a lot of catching up to do.
**minor spoiler
(and mega-props to Smith for inserting into the plot of this novel some Southern California trivia I'd, in the 37 years I lived there, never heard of: Early 20th Century LA icon and engineer William Mulholland (namesake of the sinuous roadway-to-the-stars Mulholland Drive) was responsible for one of the worst catastrophes to ever befall So Cal: the St. Francis Dam disaster. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Fr...
Wow.)
Even though it often is awash in a cascade of quirk (sideways-falling horses at twenty miles a second, fallen angels that...ahem...have their way with and eat their hosts, emoticon-shaped cicatrices, sticky atoms, knackeries, "bullfighting names", little girl-ghosts, flood disasters, lakes-that-are-not-lakes, abandoned prisons, character-swallowing books, etc.), Andrew Smith's 100 Sideways Miles is a real charmer. Though the quirk level often seemed to drown the fact that there wasn't much core story to be had here, I laughed throughout. It reminded me a lot of Tom Robbins at his earliest and best. This is also a prime example of a YA book that (despite ridiculous assertions of some that feel YA fiction has no literary value) can easily be appreciated by YAs and OAs alike.
This OA (um, that is, I) loved the epileptic heterochromatic Burnt Mill Creek High School junior Finn Easton and his best bud, all-around BMOC, shenanigan-scheming and atom-dispersing Cade Hernandez, along with Finn's dream girl Julia Bishop as they set about extricating Finn from both his sordid sideways-horse-falling past, and from the pages of his father's best-selling novel.
This (a national book award long-lister for 2014 YA lit) is my first Andrew Smith experience. I can't believe he's flown under my radar this long. With at least six acclaimed novels like Winger and Grasshopper Jungle under Smith's belt that I've yet to read, i've got a lot of catching up to do.
**minor spoiler
(and mega-props to Smith for inserting into the plot of this novel some Southern California trivia I'd, in the 37 years I lived there, never heard of: Early 20th Century LA icon and engineer William Mulholland (namesake of the sinuous roadway-to-the-stars Mulholland Drive) was responsible for one of the worst catastrophes to ever befall So Cal: the St. Francis Dam disaster. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Fr...
Wow.)
January 24, 2016
100 Sideways Miles. An odd title isn't it? But it makes so much sense. I LOVED THIS BOOK.
This is the first book that I have read by Andrew Smith. Yes I am probably the only one who has yet to read his famed Winger series. Trust me, I'll get to it soon enough.
I am in awe with this writer's skills of storytelling. I loved it so so much.
Every character in the book were relatable and they felt age appropriate. Nothing seemed out of place and I must say that Cade and Finn are my absolute favourites! Cade's sense of humour cracked me up several times throughout this read. Finn's virgin spirit and innocence was admirable and his whole method of calculating distance instead of time was brilliant; creative.
The last few chapters were the best. Their adventures, heroic acts and the plain weirdness of their situations made me LOL.
The main character, Finn Easton suffers from an identity crisis. With the passing of his Mom in a freak accident that left him with a medical condition known as epilepsy; he passes out and usually wakes up in a raging anger.
Finn wonders if the tales his father has written about him in his infamous novel is written based on Finn's entire life, including that weird scar on his back. The novel doesn't have the ending and I guess he ventures out to finish the book in his own way; breaking free from the book.
Finn finds love after a sad 17 years of pure loneliness, he discovers himself as a person and realizes things he never knew about himself before.
I did relate well with the main character, not with Cade as much. That boy has got some boner issues I must say.
I guess with this, its about time I pick up Winger.
This is the first book that I have read by Andrew Smith. Yes I am probably the only one who has yet to read his famed Winger series. Trust me, I'll get to it soon enough.
I am in awe with this writer's skills of storytelling. I loved it so so much.
Every character in the book were relatable and they felt age appropriate. Nothing seemed out of place and I must say that Cade and Finn are my absolute favourites! Cade's sense of humour cracked me up several times throughout this read. Finn's virgin spirit and innocence was admirable and his whole method of calculating distance instead of time was brilliant; creative.
The last few chapters were the best. Their adventures, heroic acts and the plain weirdness of their situations made me LOL.
The main character, Finn Easton suffers from an identity crisis. With the passing of his Mom in a freak accident that left him with a medical condition known as epilepsy; he passes out and usually wakes up in a raging anger.
Finn wonders if the tales his father has written about him in his infamous novel is written based on Finn's entire life, including that weird scar on his back. The novel doesn't have the ending and I guess he ventures out to finish the book in his own way; breaking free from the book.
Finn finds love after a sad 17 years of pure loneliness, he discovers himself as a person and realizes things he never knew about himself before.
I did relate well with the main character, not with Cade as much. That boy has got some boner issues I must say.
I guess with this, its about time I pick up Winger.
July 31, 2014
I received an Advance Reviewer Copy of 100 Sideways Miles from Simon and Schuster Canada though Goodreads First Reads. I'm really grateful to have gotten my hands on this book, and not having to wait until September was even better.
I'd never heard of Andrew Smith before I found this book listed as a giveaway. I read the summary and read a few reviews and I thought the book sounded really cool. After I read the actual book, I decided that the book is more than just cool. It's fan-freaking-tastic! Seriously, Smith deserves a round of applause and more. Bring out the book awards!
I fell in love with both Finn and Cade. They're both so relatable, for different reasons. Also, they have a type of friendship that I think most people want to have, which probably drew me in to the story even more.
I love how the book took me on a journey with Finn. I went from being happy, to being sad, to feeling Finn's love for Julia, and more. This book completely sucked me in and wouldn't let me go until the end.
Honestly, I was a bit hesitant to read this book at first because it's not my usual genre, but I'm glad I did. It got me to want to read more books in this genre and more books by Andrew Smith, and that's an amazing feat since I'm generally stuck in my ways. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It was awesome!
I'd never heard of Andrew Smith before I found this book listed as a giveaway. I read the summary and read a few reviews and I thought the book sounded really cool. After I read the actual book, I decided that the book is more than just cool. It's fan-freaking-tastic! Seriously, Smith deserves a round of applause and more. Bring out the book awards!
I fell in love with both Finn and Cade. They're both so relatable, for different reasons. Also, they have a type of friendship that I think most people want to have, which probably drew me in to the story even more.
I love how the book took me on a journey with Finn. I went from being happy, to being sad, to feeling Finn's love for Julia, and more. This book completely sucked me in and wouldn't let me go until the end.
Honestly, I was a bit hesitant to read this book at first because it's not my usual genre, but I'm glad I did. It got me to want to read more books in this genre and more books by Andrew Smith, and that's an amazing feat since I'm generally stuck in my ways. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It was awesome!
April 7, 2019
This is a lovely coming-of-age story with (almost) 17 year old Finn trying to break free of being his father's son (a famous author who wrote a main character called Finn in his books), and his life as an epileptic teenager.
Finn's best friend, Cade, is foul mouthed, obsessed with sex, and doesn't know anything about the fictional Finn - which works perfectly for their friendship and provides some good comic relief through the book.
An easy read recommended to YA fans looking for a story about friendship.
Finn's best friend, Cade, is foul mouthed, obsessed with sex, and doesn't know anything about the fictional Finn - which works perfectly for their friendship and provides some good comic relief through the book.
An easy read recommended to YA fans looking for a story about friendship.
July 4, 2021
I like this author but usually have the same reaction: initially the books are interesting but they do not sweep me along. Then again, to be fair, I am not the target audience.
One theme in this novel was the belief that "Distance is more important than time." The earth moves through space at 20 miles per second, so time in this novel was repeated as miles. So three weeks ago is 56 million miles — I'm just making that number up to give you the idea, but the book was stuffed with millions and billions of miles. This interesting gimmick was overused and became meaningless, intrusive, and boring.
Finn's best friend was Cate. They are similar but different. Finn's father doesn't want his son to be like Cate. I didn't understand this at all — what was supposedly so unappealing about Cate?
As I mentioned in the review of Grasshopper Jungle, this author reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut. This book felt like the love child of Kurt Vonnegut and John Irving (and that is merely an observation, not a criticism).
As a note to book designers, having ANDREW SMITH, large and bold, at the bottom of every other page is a distraction. 3.5 stars rounded down because of the lay-out.
One theme in this novel was the belief that "Distance is more important than time." The earth moves through space at 20 miles per second, so time in this novel was repeated as miles. So three weeks ago is 56 million miles — I'm just making that number up to give you the idea, but the book was stuffed with millions and billions of miles. This interesting gimmick was overused and became meaningless, intrusive, and boring.
Finn's best friend was Cate. They are similar but different. Finn's father doesn't want his son to be like Cate. I didn't understand this at all — what was supposedly so unappealing about Cate?
As I mentioned in the review of Grasshopper Jungle, this author reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut. This book felt like the love child of Kurt Vonnegut and John Irving (and that is merely an observation, not a criticism).
As a note to book designers, having ANDREW SMITH, large and bold, at the bottom of every other page is a distraction. 3.5 stars rounded down because of the lay-out.
February 7, 2017
2 stars
I didn't really like this book. It was boring and i didn't like the beginning when the author kept switching back and forth between different topics and then continuing with one of those topics a couple pages (or sometimes chapters) later. I do like the concept of instead of measuring by time, you measure in distance instead. That was the only part I found really interesting. As for the rest of the book, I couldn't care less. I didn't care for the characters (especially Cade). And as much as I like reading from a guy's perspective instead of a girl's, I couldn't stand it. I found out things I never really wanted to find out and I cringed so much during this book from those thoughts. I also didn't care for the writing style, so I don't think I will try anything else from Andrew Smith.
I didn't really like this book. It was boring and i didn't like the beginning when the author kept switching back and forth between different topics and then continuing with one of those topics a couple pages (or sometimes chapters) later. I do like the concept of instead of measuring by time, you measure in distance instead. That was the only part I found really interesting. As for the rest of the book, I couldn't care less. I didn't care for the characters (especially Cade). And as much as I like reading from a guy's perspective instead of a girl's, I couldn't stand it. I found out things I never really wanted to find out and I cringed so much during this book from those thoughts. I also didn't care for the writing style, so I don't think I will try anything else from Andrew Smith.
January 27, 2015
*2.5*
I'm really conflicted on how I want to rate this. Like I think I enjoyed it, but I feel like there was no point to the novel at all. I'm reviewing it now, and I really don't know where I want to round it, because I feel like it was a little better than just 'okay,' but I didn't like it as much as some of my other 3 star books, like Princess of Thorns, or Rites of Passage for example. So the 2.5 stays, with rounded down to a 2. It was a really quick read, that was mostly just funny, but I didn't feel like it held anything else. Let me explain myself...
Plot- My biggest issue. There really wasn't a plot. Now, this can work sometimes, like the book I just read and reviewed, Everything I Never Told You. In that book, it worked wonderfully, and made for a great book delving deep into the characters. However, it didn't work for this book. I don't feel like there really was a plot, and I don't think anything else really made up for it. I was quite bored while reading, even though I read it in two sittings. During the second sitting, I just decided to get it over with, and push through. Not to say I didn't enjoy myself reading, because the novel's saving grace was it's writing style and one character, which I'll get into later. The plot really just didn't go anywhere, and while there were a lot of funny incidents in this book, most were quite unbelievable. The humor of the book is what made me keep reading, and made me enjoy it overall, because even though I just harped on it, while reading I enjoyed the experience of reading it, if that makes any sense.
P.S- If you're going into this thinking it's going to be a roadtrip book, like I did, it's not. The roadtrip doesn't happen until probably the last 50 pages or so, and even then it's not what I was expecting. The majority of this book is just Finn's daily life.
Writing- This was what made the book pretty funny, and the experience worth having. Finn was brutally honest, and had an interesting voice. It was quirky, and I liked it. The narrative wasn't your traditional narrative, and he had little things he would do like "Look:" followed by some explanation, and occasionally he would put a moment into a "play" format. I like when books do this, go off the beaten path for a bit. I thought the dialogue was funny, because it was pretty honest to how teenage boys talk, cussing galore, and a lot dick jokes.
Characters- Sadly, for the most part this fell flat for me too. I say for the most part, because I did really like one character, and I liked another. I really liked Cade. He's the best friend of our main character, Finn, and he was hilarious. He was kind of an asshole, but he was the "King of the School, class clown" type. I know it's not the most original character design, but I think Smith did it right here with Cade. Cade was a main reason why I kept reading, I sometimes would skim scenes if Cade wasn't in them, and then I would feel relieved when he was in them. He also had some surprise development (?) at the end. Finn was the other character I sort of liked, and he was the main protagonist. I liked him as a narrator, he was interesting. He had epilepsy, and he had some interesting quirks about him that were fun, but he wasn't very interesting, and I really didn't care that much about what happened to him. Other than those two, I didn't really like any of the characters. Don't even get my started on Julia. She felt so flat and un-interesting, and I honestly felt more chemistry between Cade and Monica than I did with Finn and Julia. I didn't buy their relationship, and I didn't really care how that subplot went.
Overall- Even though it may seem like it because of this review, I didn't dislike this book. If I really disliked this book, I would have given it one star. I stand by my 2.5 star rating. I thought it was okay. I thought it was a funny novel about a teenage boy who has some interesting things happen to him, and that was about it. I didn't get anything out of it, and I could tell how the author was reaching and trying to make it into something more, but I wasn't exactly buying it. I'm not mad I read it though, because as I said, it was fun, I snorted at some parts, and I did really like Cade.
Recommend?-- I would recommend this only to people who I think this type of humor would cater to, and to people who just want a humor novel. Nothing more than that, and who just want a quick book to get through, basically "brain candy." Will I be going out of my way to recommend this? No. If someone asks for a book like this, then I'll point them to this book, but otherwise I won't be.
I'm really conflicted on how I want to rate this. Like I think I enjoyed it, but I feel like there was no point to the novel at all. I'm reviewing it now, and I really don't know where I want to round it, because I feel like it was a little better than just 'okay,' but I didn't like it as much as some of my other 3 star books, like Princess of Thorns, or Rites of Passage for example. So the 2.5 stays, with rounded down to a 2. It was a really quick read, that was mostly just funny, but I didn't feel like it held anything else. Let me explain myself...
Plot- My biggest issue. There really wasn't a plot. Now, this can work sometimes, like the book I just read and reviewed, Everything I Never Told You. In that book, it worked wonderfully, and made for a great book delving deep into the characters. However, it didn't work for this book. I don't feel like there really was a plot, and I don't think anything else really made up for it. I was quite bored while reading, even though I read it in two sittings. During the second sitting, I just decided to get it over with, and push through. Not to say I didn't enjoy myself reading, because the novel's saving grace was it's writing style and one character, which I'll get into later. The plot really just didn't go anywhere, and while there were a lot of funny incidents in this book, most were quite unbelievable. The humor of the book is what made me keep reading, and made me enjoy it overall, because even though I just harped on it, while reading I enjoyed the experience of reading it, if that makes any sense.
P.S- If you're going into this thinking it's going to be a roadtrip book, like I did, it's not. The roadtrip doesn't happen until probably the last 50 pages or so, and even then it's not what I was expecting. The majority of this book is just Finn's daily life.
Writing- This was what made the book pretty funny, and the experience worth having. Finn was brutally honest, and had an interesting voice. It was quirky, and I liked it. The narrative wasn't your traditional narrative, and he had little things he would do like "Look:" followed by some explanation, and occasionally he would put a moment into a "play" format. I like when books do this, go off the beaten path for a bit. I thought the dialogue was funny, because it was pretty honest to how teenage boys talk, cussing galore, and a lot dick jokes.
Characters- Sadly, for the most part this fell flat for me too. I say for the most part, because I did really like one character, and I liked another. I really liked Cade. He's the best friend of our main character, Finn, and he was hilarious. He was kind of an asshole, but he was the "King of the School, class clown" type. I know it's not the most original character design, but I think Smith did it right here with Cade. Cade was a main reason why I kept reading, I sometimes would skim scenes if Cade wasn't in them, and then I would feel relieved when he was in them. He also had some surprise development (?) at the end. Finn was the other character I sort of liked, and he was the main protagonist. I liked him as a narrator, he was interesting. He had epilepsy, and he had some interesting quirks about him that were fun, but he wasn't very interesting, and I really didn't care that much about what happened to him. Other than those two, I didn't really like any of the characters. Don't even get my started on Julia. She felt so flat and un-interesting, and I honestly felt more chemistry between Cade and Monica than I did with Finn and Julia. I didn't buy their relationship, and I didn't really care how that subplot went.
Overall- Even though it may seem like it because of this review, I didn't dislike this book. If I really disliked this book, I would have given it one star. I stand by my 2.5 star rating. I thought it was okay. I thought it was a funny novel about a teenage boy who has some interesting things happen to him, and that was about it. I didn't get anything out of it, and I could tell how the author was reaching and trying to make it into something more, but I wasn't exactly buying it. I'm not mad I read it though, because as I said, it was fun, I snorted at some parts, and I did really like Cade.
Recommend?-- I would recommend this only to people who I think this type of humor would cater to, and to people who just want a humor novel. Nothing more than that, and who just want a quick book to get through, basically "brain candy." Will I be going out of my way to recommend this? No. If someone asks for a book like this, then I'll point them to this book, but otherwise I won't be.
November 6, 2014
I love Andrew Smith's style. He's a social media master, and his novels have given me many hours of enjoyment. But it all peaked for me with the first Smith book I read,
Winger
, which felt authentic, hilarious, bawdy and fun, just lots of fun to read. The second Smith I read,
Grasshopper Jungle
, was calculatedly weird in an irritating way but still had plenty to admire. Now the latest,
100 Sideways Miles
, was worth checking out but felt foremost to me like a half-baked throwaway.
I read an interview with Smith - he’s disciplined and prolific. He gets up way early and writes through the morning and most days into the afternoon. But until 2014, he was publishing one book a year. Now he’s published two in 2014 and has two scheduled for 2015. I can’t help but wonder if Smith’s quality control is becoming more haphazard. He’s certainly entitled to toss off a minor work here and there - 100 Sideways Miles is a quick 277 pages, compared with Grasshopper ’s almost-400 and Winger ’s 439 pages. I love short books, but this one was short on a lot of stuff.
The main character of 100 Sideways Miles , Finn, is 16 years old and epileptic. He has seizures at all the times that are least convenient for him but perfectly convenient for the plot. You can expect five or six of those. Finn’s other major character-defining quirk is that he measures time not in seconds and minutes but in distance. The earth travels 20 miles per second. One of the cool things Andrew Smith does with the narrative to insert a pause in the dialogue is just write “Twenty seconds.” as a paragraph and then “Twenty seconds.” under it as another paragraph.
Finn’s dad wrote a hugely popular sci-fi horror novel that had a character named and patterned after Finn. The aliens in the book bear the same emoticon-looking scars...
:|:
...that are on Finn’s back. From the surgery he got as a kid. After the time a dead horse on its way to a knackery fell off a bridge and landed on him and his mom. It killed his mom, created his epilepsy and put a bunch of those scars on his back...
:|:
All of which leaves present-day, real-life Finn to wonder how much of him is really him, and how much of his life has been predetermined by his author dad. That’s about it for Finn - he’s a good kid, but as a protagonist he’s far less developed and three-dimensional than Ryan Dean from Winger and Austin Szerba from Grasshopper Jungle .
I’ll say the same for this incarnation of Smith’s “awesome best friend character” trope, which was one of the best things about Grasshopper Jungle . Here we have Cade Hernandez, who is so undefinably cool that German exchange student Monica Fassbinder pays him five bucks per session to jerk him off. Cade is so cool he gets away with another Smith trope, which is being a boy who can’t stop talking about boners and semen. The male characters in Winger and Grasshopper Jungle were much the same, but here it seems more perfunctory.
But there’s one Smith trick I love that started in Grasshopper Jungle and is repeated wholesale in 100 Sideways Miles , to equally satisfying effect. It’s a simple one. The characters, when faced with a line of dialogue they don't know how to react to or would rather not actually comment on, will just say “Uh,” or “Um,” and that’s it. Sounds kinda stupid when I write it out like that, but it always works for me, and I’m glad to see it back.
There's a small cast of characters here, which is a big contrast to Winger and Grasshopper , which each had a nice-sized ring of memorable peripheral characters who would keep popping up at the most opportune moments. In 100 Sideways Miles , there’s a love interest, Julia Bishop, who first seems unattainable then becomes attainable then moves away. There are Finn’s dad and stepmom, who are grownup and functional. There’s the kid on the baseball team who hates Finn, there’s a teacher or two, there’s the visiting governor of the state of California. None of it amounts to much.
I don’t regret reading 100 Sideways Miles . There were laughs, and there were well-observed moments. And it was over quickly. But of the three Andrew Smith books I’ve read, this finishes a distant third.
I read an interview with Smith - he’s disciplined and prolific. He gets up way early and writes through the morning and most days into the afternoon. But until 2014, he was publishing one book a year. Now he’s published two in 2014 and has two scheduled for 2015. I can’t help but wonder if Smith’s quality control is becoming more haphazard. He’s certainly entitled to toss off a minor work here and there - 100 Sideways Miles is a quick 277 pages, compared with Grasshopper ’s almost-400 and Winger ’s 439 pages. I love short books, but this one was short on a lot of stuff.
The main character of 100 Sideways Miles , Finn, is 16 years old and epileptic. He has seizures at all the times that are least convenient for him but perfectly convenient for the plot. You can expect five or six of those. Finn’s other major character-defining quirk is that he measures time not in seconds and minutes but in distance. The earth travels 20 miles per second. One of the cool things Andrew Smith does with the narrative to insert a pause in the dialogue is just write “Twenty seconds.” as a paragraph and then “Twenty seconds.” under it as another paragraph.
Finn’s dad wrote a hugely popular sci-fi horror novel that had a character named and patterned after Finn. The aliens in the book bear the same emoticon-looking scars...
:|:
...that are on Finn’s back. From the surgery he got as a kid. After the time a dead horse on its way to a knackery fell off a bridge and landed on him and his mom. It killed his mom, created his epilepsy and put a bunch of those scars on his back...
:|:
All of which leaves present-day, real-life Finn to wonder how much of him is really him, and how much of his life has been predetermined by his author dad. That’s about it for Finn - he’s a good kid, but as a protagonist he’s far less developed and three-dimensional than Ryan Dean from Winger and Austin Szerba from Grasshopper Jungle .
I’ll say the same for this incarnation of Smith’s “awesome best friend character” trope, which was one of the best things about Grasshopper Jungle . Here we have Cade Hernandez, who is so undefinably cool that German exchange student Monica Fassbinder pays him five bucks per session to jerk him off. Cade is so cool he gets away with another Smith trope, which is being a boy who can’t stop talking about boners and semen. The male characters in Winger and Grasshopper Jungle were much the same, but here it seems more perfunctory.
But there’s one Smith trick I love that started in Grasshopper Jungle and is repeated wholesale in 100 Sideways Miles , to equally satisfying effect. It’s a simple one. The characters, when faced with a line of dialogue they don't know how to react to or would rather not actually comment on, will just say “Uh,” or “Um,” and that’s it. Sounds kinda stupid when I write it out like that, but it always works for me, and I’m glad to see it back.
There's a small cast of characters here, which is a big contrast to Winger and Grasshopper , which each had a nice-sized ring of memorable peripheral characters who would keep popping up at the most opportune moments. In 100 Sideways Miles , there’s a love interest, Julia Bishop, who first seems unattainable then becomes attainable then moves away. There are Finn’s dad and stepmom, who are grownup and functional. There’s the kid on the baseball team who hates Finn, there’s a teacher or two, there’s the visiting governor of the state of California. None of it amounts to much.
I don’t regret reading 100 Sideways Miles . There were laughs, and there were well-observed moments. And it was over quickly. But of the three Andrew Smith books I’ve read, this finishes a distant third.
October 14, 2014
5 Stars
I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!
100 Sideways Miles proved to me once again why Andrew Smith is a favorite author of mine. He writes for the male population…Like the Marbury Lens series this novel is really a clever way to tell a coming of age story. Finn our young hero in this book easily stands with Jack from the Marbury lens series.
I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!!!
Why did I enjoy this read from start to finish. It is really quite simple. Andrew Smith knows what the men and boys like and is not afraid to tell it. This book is filled with potty humor, penis jokes, foul language, and awkward situations…all of which is of course surrounded by obsessions of girls, women, and sex… Boys life period.
100 Sideways Miles takes a look at an epileptic teenage boy named Finn that has to deal with so much more than the average growing up teen. His mother was killed and his back was broken when he was a boy when a freak accident occurred near his home. You see, a dead horse fell off a truck and down a hill where it struck Finn and his Mom. She died. He had a back and head injury that has left him scarred and epileptic. To make things even harder on him, his father is a famous author that has led our young hero to believe that he is a creation straight out of his pops books.
“There is something important in running a knackery. When you think about it, the universe is nothing but this vast knackery of churning black holes and exploding stars, constantly freeing atoms that collect together and become something else,
and something else again. Here is what I think about that horse falling on us: I figure it
took a little more than four seconds for the horse to travel from the span of the bridge, over three hundred feet above, to where my mother and I stood on the bank of Salmon Creek. During that fall, the earth moved approximately one hundred miles. If you were to walk a straight line for a hundred miles and drop a total of three hundred feet, you wouldn’t even realize you were descending in elevation at all.
That horse fell one hundred sideways miles.”
One of the best features of the writing style of Andrew Smith is his use of repetition. He used repetition a great deal in the Marbury Lens series and he once again employs it here to great effect. Simply fabulous.
“What else can you do? It all just keeps going. Twenty miles per second. Twenty miles per second.”
Twenty Miles per second.
This was a magical ride for me that transported me into the life of Finn Easton. I did not want it to end. I will reread this again as I have other Smith novels. They are just too good for one read through. The subject matter is clearly male driven but there is nor reason that a wide audience of both young and old, male and female would not find this book to be a blast.
I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!!
Many, many, many miles later.
I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!
100 Sideways Miles proved to me once again why Andrew Smith is a favorite author of mine. He writes for the male population…Like the Marbury Lens series this novel is really a clever way to tell a coming of age story. Finn our young hero in this book easily stands with Jack from the Marbury lens series.
I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!!!
Why did I enjoy this read from start to finish. It is really quite simple. Andrew Smith knows what the men and boys like and is not afraid to tell it. This book is filled with potty humor, penis jokes, foul language, and awkward situations…all of which is of course surrounded by obsessions of girls, women, and sex… Boys life period.
100 Sideways Miles takes a look at an epileptic teenage boy named Finn that has to deal with so much more than the average growing up teen. His mother was killed and his back was broken when he was a boy when a freak accident occurred near his home. You see, a dead horse fell off a truck and down a hill where it struck Finn and his Mom. She died. He had a back and head injury that has left him scarred and epileptic. To make things even harder on him, his father is a famous author that has led our young hero to believe that he is a creation straight out of his pops books.
“There is something important in running a knackery. When you think about it, the universe is nothing but this vast knackery of churning black holes and exploding stars, constantly freeing atoms that collect together and become something else,
and something else again. Here is what I think about that horse falling on us: I figure it
took a little more than four seconds for the horse to travel from the span of the bridge, over three hundred feet above, to where my mother and I stood on the bank of Salmon Creek. During that fall, the earth moved approximately one hundred miles. If you were to walk a straight line for a hundred miles and drop a total of three hundred feet, you wouldn’t even realize you were descending in elevation at all.
That horse fell one hundred sideways miles.”
One of the best features of the writing style of Andrew Smith is his use of repetition. He used repetition a great deal in the Marbury Lens series and he once again employs it here to great effect. Simply fabulous.
“What else can you do? It all just keeps going. Twenty miles per second. Twenty miles per second.”
Twenty Miles per second.
This was a magical ride for me that transported me into the life of Finn Easton. I did not want it to end. I will reread this again as I have other Smith novels. They are just too good for one read through. The subject matter is clearly male driven but there is nor reason that a wide audience of both young and old, male and female would not find this book to be a blast.
I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!!
Many, many, many miles later.
Read
September 5, 2014Do you know what I love about Andrew Smith's books? If you erased the author's names from hundreds of books and slipped one of his in, I guarantee you I could find it easily. He has such a distinctive voice that it doesn't matter whether he's writing about sex-crazed insects, parallel worlds, or an epileptic kid who once had a horse fall on him. It only took me about 432,000 miles to read this book, but Finn's hilarious and heartbreaking story is going to stick with me for billions and billions of miles more.
July 6, 2014
Andrew Smith is a twisted genius. I love the circular nature of his books, circling back to seemingly unimportant details until the significance emerges.
August 4, 2015
*3.5 stars*
September 28, 2024
It's not often that I have no idea how to write one of these. Whether a book sucks, is perfection, or is on the vast spectrum between, I can do a writeup if I want to (sometimes I'm not in the mood). I'm experiencing a rarity in struggling with what to say about 100 Sideways Miles. Guess I'll figure it out as I go.
On the surface - literally, the title and the cover art - you'd assume 100SM must've achieved its goal. It clearly set itself out to be weird, and you aren't wrong. But what makes it soweird singular are several things. First, it's a Contempo YA novel written by a man. It does happen (Shusterman, Levithan, Gemeinhart and Chbosky spring to mind), but you gotta admit, this market is cornered by female authors (probably because teen girls read more than boys. It's a fact.) The MC is Finn, a teen boy with epilepsy and the strange tendency to convert time into distance. I'm not fully sure why he does that, but it seems to harken back to the catastrophic day he and his mother were crushed by a horse that fell from the sky.
Are you starting to see why I'm struggling with this?
I should probably mention Cade Hernandez, Finn's awful BFF. Cade is a terrible influence who drinks himself to a stupor, dips tobacco, and is utterly obsessed with sex. He's also a little bit wonderful in that he is Finn's only friend, which goes a long way with me. Cade serves as a kind of window between Finn's world and the world of commonplace adolescence... even if Cade turns everything gross.
Back to Finn. The nature of his epilepsy is that he only knows one is coming 2-3 seconds before it starts (imagine having only seconds to prepare for a seizure!) He always wakes up ragey. Mostly, his epilepsy isolates him from other kids and normal experiences. For example, he's 17yo and never had a kiss, is too worried to drink, etc. I forgot to mention, he's also the starring character of his father's smash hit novel about an alien boy who wants to eat people and falls through a Lazarus Door to Earth.
I know it sounds like Andrew Smith threw everything he could think of into this, but it somehow works.
If you read a lot of Contemporary YA and are looking for something very different, 100 Sideways Miles should fit the bill. If you're looking for a book of girl characters falling in love for the first time, pick anything else on the shelf.
On the surface - literally, the title and the cover art - you'd assume 100SM must've achieved its goal. It clearly set itself out to be weird, and you aren't wrong. But what makes it so
Are you starting to see why I'm struggling with this?
I should probably mention Cade Hernandez, Finn's awful BFF. Cade is a terrible influence who drinks himself to a stupor, dips tobacco, and is utterly obsessed with sex. He's also a little bit wonderful in that he is Finn's only friend, which goes a long way with me. Cade serves as a kind of window between Finn's world and the world of commonplace adolescence... even if Cade turns everything gross.
Back to Finn. The nature of his epilepsy is that he only knows one is coming 2-3 seconds before it starts (imagine having only seconds to prepare for a seizure!) He always wakes up ragey. Mostly, his epilepsy isolates him from other kids and normal experiences. For example, he's 17yo and never had a kiss, is too worried to drink, etc. I forgot to mention, he's also the starring character of his father's smash hit novel about an alien boy who wants to eat people and falls through a Lazarus Door to Earth.
I know it sounds like Andrew Smith threw everything he could think of into this, but it somehow works.
If you read a lot of Contemporary YA and are looking for something very different, 100 Sideways Miles should fit the bill. If you're looking for a book of girl characters falling in love for the first time, pick anything else on the shelf.
October 16, 2017
I could not put this book down. I cannot wait to read this book again.
I am always immediately pulled in to books that are about other books or people trapped in books or books that have a some mind-bending element. It is about a teenage boy who lives inside of his father's book (and no, not like in Stranger Than Fiction). But, this book is about so much more than that. It is about the billions and billions of miles that are our lives as we speed through space on this planet. It is about those most magical 500 miles juxtaposed with the most horrendous 2000 miles. I am immediately drawn to any book about the young adult male perspective as I am slowly realizing that I clearly have no idea what boys think. And even more, I am developing an understanding of male masculinity and the stereotypes society places on this.
This is the first book that I have read by Andrew Smith, but it is not the last.
I am always immediately pulled in to books that are about other books or people trapped in books or books that have a some mind-bending element. It is about a teenage boy who lives inside of his father's book (and no, not like in Stranger Than Fiction). But, this book is about so much more than that. It is about the billions and billions of miles that are our lives as we speed through space on this planet. It is about those most magical 500 miles juxtaposed with the most horrendous 2000 miles. I am immediately drawn to any book about the young adult male perspective as I am slowly realizing that I clearly have no idea what boys think. And even more, I am developing an understanding of male masculinity and the stereotypes society places on this.
This is the first book that I have read by Andrew Smith, but it is not the last.
January 30, 2016
I’m really disappointed with this one. The Winger series was great, but this book however, was anything but.
Let’s begin, shall we?
InstaLove: Yes, Finn and Julia have a terrible case of instalove. It’s tragic that so many YA books come down with this horrible disease. Within the first few pages of meeting each other, Finn already makes a comment about how in love with Julia he is. I get that people are attractive, and you can feel a certain pull when you first meet them. But love? No.
The characters themselves in this novel bothered me too. Finn measured time in the distance the earth traveled, which was annoying and just silly. Every few sentences of the book was, “Twenty miles. Twenty miles” or “One hundred sideways miles passed.” It wasn’t charming or quirky or funny anything, it was just annoying. Also, when leaning that Finn had epilepsy, Julia said: “That must be cool.”
"That must be cool." ?!?!?
This book lacked plot and direction. I wasn’t really sure what our narrator was working towards, or what he was trying to achieve. It was a bit all over the place.
I got too much of the John Green vibe from this one. Too much manic pixie dream girl fluff. Finn is socially awkward and falls for (in his words) the beautiful and evasive Julia. I’m growing seriously tired of this trope.
I didn’t like the writing in this novel nearly as much as I enjoyed it in Winger. There were too many page breaks, too many sideways miles counted. Everything in the text felt scattered and the sentences were often long and run on.
Something I did like with this book was the dynamic of friendship between Finn and Cade. Andrew Smith defiantly captures the voice of teenage boys. The way that Finn and Cade interacted almost brought them to life. Their crude jokes, cursing, and warped sense of humor made their friendship feel legit.
Even if you loved Winger, I would still stay away from this one. With the lack of plot, annoying characters, and the number of times the word miles is listed, it makes a truly atrocious read.
Let’s begin, shall we?
InstaLove: Yes, Finn and Julia have a terrible case of instalove. It’s tragic that so many YA books come down with this horrible disease. Within the first few pages of meeting each other, Finn already makes a comment about how in love with Julia he is. I get that people are attractive, and you can feel a certain pull when you first meet them. But love? No.
The characters themselves in this novel bothered me too. Finn measured time in the distance the earth traveled, which was annoying and just silly. Every few sentences of the book was, “Twenty miles. Twenty miles” or “One hundred sideways miles passed.” It wasn’t charming or quirky or funny anything, it was just annoying. Also, when leaning that Finn had epilepsy, Julia said: “That must be cool.”
"That must be cool." ?!?!?
This book lacked plot and direction. I wasn’t really sure what our narrator was working towards, or what he was trying to achieve. It was a bit all over the place.
I got too much of the John Green vibe from this one. Too much manic pixie dream girl fluff. Finn is socially awkward and falls for (in his words) the beautiful and evasive Julia. I’m growing seriously tired of this trope.
I didn’t like the writing in this novel nearly as much as I enjoyed it in Winger. There were too many page breaks, too many sideways miles counted. Everything in the text felt scattered and the sentences were often long and run on.
Something I did like with this book was the dynamic of friendship between Finn and Cade. Andrew Smith defiantly captures the voice of teenage boys. The way that Finn and Cade interacted almost brought them to life. Their crude jokes, cursing, and warped sense of humor made their friendship feel legit.
Even if you loved Winger, I would still stay away from this one. With the lack of plot, annoying characters, and the number of times the word miles is listed, it makes a truly atrocious read.
Read
October 25, 2014This is more accessible and, I think, better written, more tightly edited, and more enjoyable than Grasshopper Jungle. It's still a weird story about aliens and falling horses and a boy who sees things in miles, rather than in minutes, but Finn's story is also one about love and learning how to live your life for yourself. This is also a solid story of guy friendship. Smith offers up a diverse cast of characters, too: Finn has epilepsy, Julia is half black, and Cade is Latino.
My one criticism with Smith remains, though: there's always something wrong with his female characters. It took 50 pages before a female came along who wasn't just a prop, and Julia, as fully-fleshed and great as she is, has a rape back story (which in this case felt too convenient).
At heart, this is an adventure story. It's the kind of adventure story for today's teens: it's about going out, finding yourself, and doing some courageous -- and maybe even dumb -- things along the way.
My one criticism with Smith remains, though: there's always something wrong with his female characters. It took 50 pages before a female came along who wasn't just a prop, and Julia, as fully-fleshed and great as she is, has a rape back story (which in this case felt too convenient).
At heart, this is an adventure story. It's the kind of adventure story for today's teens: it's about going out, finding yourself, and doing some courageous -- and maybe even dumb -- things along the way.
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