When I Was a Loser: True Stories of (Barely) Surviving High School

by John McNally (Editor), Maud Newton (Contributor)

For Anyone Who's Ever Been a Teenager

Who's teenage years weren't terrible? Remember the scary older kids? The sadistic gym teacher? The smelly kid who sat next to you in science class? Your first fumbling kiss? That time you threw up in the cafeteria? Your first attempt at putting on a condom? The period that arrived unexpectedly? That awful fight with your parents? The first time you got drunk? That note you wrote that you shouldn't have written? The day you forgot to zip your fly? That monster zit? When, you wondered, would it all end?

In When I Was a Loser , John McNally, author of the novel America's Report Card , assembles twenty-five original essays--often hilarious, sometimes tenderhearted, always evocative--about defining moments of high school loserdom. Brad Land, Julianna Baggott, Owen King, Johanna Edwards, and many more fresh, talented writers explore their own angst, humiliation, heartache, and other staples of teen life.

These essays perfectly capture what it was like to be in high to experience so many things for the first time, to assert independence while desperately trying to fit in, to feel misunderstood and unable to articulate the wild swings between heartbreak, anger, and euphoria. One writer recalls how his grandmother helped him with his home perm in preparation for the Senior Class picture; another recounts her discovery, sometime after hitting puberty, of the power she held over boys and men, while at the same time she felt herself at their mercy; a third remembers the casual cruelties visited on him by the cooler kids, and the cruelties he, in turn, inflicted on kids below him on the social ladder.

Utterly candid and compulsively readable, these essays conjure up and untangle those raw and formative years. The writers cringe and laugh at the teenagers they were, but at the same time, they honor their adolescence and the way it shaped their lives. Because, in truth, beneath the layers of adult respectability, we all still carry a little bit of our teenage selves around with us.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Anthologies, Essays

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 2007

About the author

John McNally is the author of three novels (After the Workshop, America's Report Card and The Book of Ralph) and two story collections (Ghosts of Chicago and Troublemakers). He's written two books on writing: Vivid and Continuous: Essays and Exercise for Writing Fiction and The Creative Writer's Survival Guide: Advice from an Unrepentant Novelist He's edited six fiction anthologies, on subjects ranging from superheroes to baseball. He also writes screenplays and held a Chesterfield Writer's Film Project fellowship, sponsored by Paramount Pictures. A native of Chicago's southwest side, he presently lives and teaches in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here they are: the humiliating, tooth-grinding, cringing mistakes, faux pases and social inflictions you made or experienced back in high school. Guess what? They were all suffered by other people, people who actually wrote down for the public view instead of mercifully burying it in a diary somewhere.

If you thought you were the only nerd, geek, fool, slut, or desperate brainiac just trying to make it through the day without getting your butt kicked, then this book will make you feel just a teensy bit better about those awful days. Painful, honest, knife-edged and strangely poignant in passages, When I Was a Loser offers a backwards peek at those growing pains that had more to do with wedgies and toilet swirlies than growth spurts and hormones gone wild.

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the most brilliant lines ever written are contained in this book. Such as:

"But really. Anyone who punches his brother in the face (and larynx, and then runs away) is a loser."

"I had never heard of a boy being sad and naked at the same time, let alone adopted."

So many more juicy ones. So good.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a connoisseur of loserdom, I could not resist this one. As others have pointed out, some contributions are more solid than others. It was a quick read and will invoke many memories of high school humiliation for fellow travelers who can't afford the therapy.

My take was that this was definitely a collection for adults who can look back on their loser-selves from a safe distance. It may bring actual teens some perspective (as in, there is life after the ritual torture of middle school/high school...and some losers even go on to become hipsters who write for a living.)

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very good stories hidden behind a terrible cover. A great number of the essays in the collection are funny and poignant, as well as uncomfortably familiar. A sameness starts to plague the book in the second half and a few writers seem to lose the thread a little as they dig up old grudges and drag them into the light. Overall, though, When I Was a Loser is an enjoyable chronicle of adolescence in America at the end of the twentieth century. It's reassuring to learn that so many of us carry the same sorts of scars.

[Callie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A somewhat mixed bag with several real stand-outs. I'm a sucker for the coming of age/high school genre and this collection definitely did the trick. John McNally asked 24 authors to contribute a glimpse into their own high school experience; and boy, did they ever deliver. The section "In God We Trust" came a little too close to home. I also LOVED the very last story "Dancing in the Dark"- all too familiar!

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of reasons to pick up this book. Great contemporary writers (Elizabeth Crane, Tod Goldberg, Julianna Baggott, the editor John McNally, among others) you may already be reading, great introduction to others you haven’t read (my list of books to check out just grew exponentially. no joke.). High school humiliations: so preciously painful when thinking of your own, so histerically hilarious when reading of other people’s. What’s not to love?

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

hit and miss collection. LOVED Maud Newton's essay.

The library where I checked this out has it cataloged and shelved under Young Adult. I don't agree with this, not because of the content, but I think the intended audience is other adults. I can see how teens could enjoy the collection and get something out of it, but I don't think it belongs in YA.

[Tattered Cover Book Store]

This book is on the bibliography of books challenged, restricted, removed or banned in 2007-2008 put out by Robert P. Doyle and the American Library Association. More info at http://www.ila.org/pdf/2008banned.pdf

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Not that compelling, overall, and mostly authors with whom I'm not familiar. Also, far less teen appeal than I'd have expected. Some of it's funny, some is just bland.

[npaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

really good but not as good as the John Hughes one. not surprising as nothing is ever as good as John Hughes.

[Yana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly smart collection of essays on surviving high school. Not all great, but many thought provoking.

[Romane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everybody felt what the people inside this book felt.

At least everyone gets to experience that phase or road.

Funny, sad, and compelling.

[Arianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was full of short stories that were very interesting.