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That One Kid Who Freaked Out, Or Whatever
Seventeen-year-old Nicandro Stellan Colby is doing his best not to completely freak out, despite the fact that his parents named him after a romance novel zombie, he has no clue what to do after his fast-approaching high school graduation from middle-of-nowhere Wilmurth, Texas, and oh yeah, he just accidentally asked out the boy of his dreams over the school intercom. But all is not lost. Helping Nick remember how to breathe and navigate the choppy waters of dating, surviving senior year, and even learning how to drive are fouled-mouthed lady-in-disguise, Carmen; always-sweaty yet fiercely loyal Connor; and, of course, the guiding hand of Sydney Walker, Nick’s longtime crush and first ever boyfriend. Yet when Nick starts having increasingly petrifying panic attacks, he soon realizes the vast difference between admiring someone from afar and falling under the pressures of their influence.
220 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 5, 2016
8 people are currently reading
223 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
January 29, 2016
This book is exactly why I appreciate coming-of-age stories. I love how Bourque took a simple plot and made it into something beautifully complex. At the core, this book really just highlights the growth of one teenage boy.
Nick, our main character, leads a typical teenage life but at the same time, he doesn’t. In this book, we get the privilege of being inside Nick’s mind and understanding what it means to be overwhelmed by changes you’re not prepared to deal with but have to because it’s part of growing up.
As you read on, it’s hard not to love Nick. He is funny but cheeky, awkward but brave, confused but determined. He is average in all respects, but he is genuine. I love how he wasn’t introduced as someone broken, but rather as a character uniquely Nick – with all his quirks and shortcomings.
If you’re planning to read this book because of the marketed teenage romance; don’t. You’ll end up disappointed. Read this instead for the connection that you’ll get to have with Nick – how amazing it is for someone to exactly know how you felt.
This book didn’t whitewash the wondrous journey of growing up. Because really, admit it, we were clueless at one point in our young life. And this book embraces that – personifying the real emotions of youth without disregarding the perspectives of the young.
January 23, 2016
This coming of age story started out really well. We have Nick Colby who’s funny, awkward and on the quirky side of things. He’s on his senior year when he finally found the courage to ask his long time crush Sydney Walker for a date. They hit it off right away and things are going smoothly until Nick started feeling the pressure of everything around him.
I really enjoyed the first half of this book. I loved all of the characters that were introduced, each with varying characterization. Somewhere along 70% it just stopped being not-so-super-awesome. [note: it's still awesome in a away, I guess]
Overall, I thought the author’s writing style was quite awesome and even if the way the story developed halfway didn’t work for me, I think I’ll be willing to read more from him. I reckon, the younger generations will get a kick out of this novel.
3 stars
More reviews via Paddylast Inc
I really enjoyed the first half of this book. I loved all of the characters that were introduced, each with varying characterization. Somewhere along 70% it just stopped being not-so-super-awesome. [note: it's still awesome in a away, I guess]
Overall, I thought the author’s writing style was quite awesome and even if the way the story developed halfway didn’t work for me, I think I’ll be willing to read more from him. I reckon, the younger generations will get a kick out of this novel.
3 stars
More reviews via Paddylast Inc
January 15, 2016
4.5 stars
This is an at times funny, sometimes sad, and a little bit quirky coming of age story.
The whole story is told in first person from Nick's viewpoint. He's 17 and a senior in high school in small-town Texas. He talks and thinks like you'd expect. Lots of rambling monologues here, which I found funny but might not be everyone's cuppa. And Nick is awkward as anything. He's got lots of anxiety and sticks his foot in his mouth or has panic attacks frequently especially as he finally works up the nerve to ask out Sydney, the guy he's been crushing on for a long time.
For the first quarter of this, I thought I was reading one kind of story. A funny, light and kinda silly YA romantic comedy.
But it changes and it becomes more than that. Because things in real life don't always work out like a romantic comedy. Nick feels overwhelmed by life. By not knowing what he wants to do when he finishes school. By not being as confident and sure as Sydney. And he feels all sorts of pressures and he can't communicate them properly to Sydney, to his family and to his friends. So what this story evolves into is a true coming of age story and not a romance as Nick tries to figure out himself. To paraphrase his favourite song writer he is not broken, he's growing. He's complete and worthy just as he is.
What this story also had was a colourful cast of secondary characters. There were no stock characters here. And for a story based in a small town it was refreshing to see there were no jocks, no bullies and no conservative religious stuff. Nick's friends were all unique people in their own right, each with their own issues. His parents were great, completely supportive of him while perhaps not always understanding him.
I also found it almost a unique twist that this was a YA story with a gay protagonist where none of the issues Nick was facing related to being gay.
I think this is a book that will probably resonate with a lot of teens and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys coming of age stories, especially those that are on the quirky side.
This is an at times funny, sometimes sad, and a little bit quirky coming of age story.
The whole story is told in first person from Nick's viewpoint. He's 17 and a senior in high school in small-town Texas. He talks and thinks like you'd expect. Lots of rambling monologues here, which I found funny but might not be everyone's cuppa. And Nick is awkward as anything. He's got lots of anxiety and sticks his foot in his mouth or has panic attacks frequently especially as he finally works up the nerve to ask out Sydney, the guy he's been crushing on for a long time.
For the first quarter of this, I thought I was reading one kind of story. A funny, light and kinda silly YA romantic comedy.
But it changes and it becomes more than that. Because things in real life don't always work out like a romantic comedy. Nick feels overwhelmed by life. By not knowing what he wants to do when he finishes school. By not being as confident and sure as Sydney. And he feels all sorts of pressures and he can't communicate them properly to Sydney, to his family and to his friends. So what this story evolves into is a true coming of age story and not a romance as Nick tries to figure out himself. To paraphrase his favourite song writer he is not broken, he's growing. He's complete and worthy just as he is.
What this story also had was a colourful cast of secondary characters. There were no stock characters here. And for a story based in a small town it was refreshing to see there were no jocks, no bullies and no conservative religious stuff. Nick's friends were all unique people in their own right, each with their own issues. His parents were great, completely supportive of him while perhaps not always understanding him.
I also found it almost a unique twist that this was a YA story with a gay protagonist where none of the issues Nick was facing related to being gay.
I think this is a book that will probably resonate with a lot of teens and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys coming of age stories, especially those that are on the quirky side.
July 5, 2016
Wow! That ended up being more intense than I expected. This book started very light-hearted and funny but as the story goes on it goes into deeper issues of self-esteem. Very much food for thought.
January 21, 2016
Main character Nicandro, is a rambler and a worrier and a sweetie. He thinks what he wants, what he needs, is Sydney to be his boyfriend. But what he gets is a motivator, an expectation, a commitment.
So Nick flails.
It's nicely done. Very believable. People might say Nick is younger than his 18 years. But what I think instead, is that this is what young people look like when their lives are safe and ordinary. He is only cynical about school, otherwise he is innocent of most of the horrors of other teenagers' lives.
(Not that he can't feel what it might be like to live roughly).
That's Nick's problem. He feels everything.
There are very nice secondary characters developed. I particularly like Sydney through Nick's eyes. We see a flawed character, and it's very interesting. And challenging for readers too.
So Nick flails.
It's nicely done. Very believable. People might say Nick is younger than his 18 years. But what I think instead, is that this is what young people look like when their lives are safe and ordinary. He is only cynical about school, otherwise he is innocent of most of the horrors of other teenagers' lives.
(Not that he can't feel what it might be like to live roughly).
That's Nick's problem. He feels everything.
There are very nice secondary characters developed. I particularly like Sydney through Nick's eyes. We see a flawed character, and it's very interesting. And challenging for readers too.
February 23, 2016
A really nice addition to the LGBTQ YA space; I’m so glad I stumbled upon it!
See my full review at:
http://www.thenovelapproachreviews.co...
See my full review at:
http://www.thenovelapproachreviews.co...
December 31, 2022
DNF 25%
I just ended up dnf this book because I was so confused what was happening and not in a fun let's see what happens way.. Urgh.
I just ended up dnf this book because I was so confused what was happening and not in a fun let's see what happens way.. Urgh.
September 8, 2016
For some reason this book disappeared from my TBR shelf, but I stumbled upon it again and decided to give it a go since I liked the sample, and BOY am I glad I did.
This book had me laughing, snorting and giggling throughout like a loon. But seriously beware, we also have some characters with some pretty heavy issues. (If you liked The Perks of Being a Wallflower I'm pretty sure this book will be for you.)
I will just start with this:
"I don't know. Oh my God, what if he's been out like fifty-three times and I bore him? WHAT IF I BORE HIM, BROCK?!" "You won't bore him. You're too weird. But you should probably go save him from Mom. She's been talking his ear off for the last five minutes."
Nicandro -but would prefer Nick, thank-you-very-much- is this sort of angsty kid with some weird -but great- parents, one older brother and a few great friends. He's had a crush on Sydney for 3 years and finally decides he's ready to ask Sydney out. Nick being this bumbling, rambling character he is, starts with foot fungus, graduates to a Spice Girls-serenaded ask-out strategy, and hilarity ensues.
I'm sorry I really can't do the humor justice so I will leave these two highlights from their first date here, and then return to the angst.
"Fire at me. Away. I mean, fire at me away. Wait." He laughs. "You can relax, Nick. I don't bite on the first date." Like. What? I can't even. Help.
... and I remind myself that if I can't EAT A FUCKING TACO without almost having a panic attack then how is my body going to handle it if and when Sydney and I kiss on the face, so I just close my eyes and take one for the team and bite into it. ... I swallow my first mouthful. "It tastes like personal growth and lettuce."
When Nick and Sydney start to date, Nick's anxiety sky-rockets. He doesn't know what to do with his life, he feel's left behind, he starts having panic attacks and I'm pretty sure that Sydney's intensity and perfectionism doesn't help matters. Nick feels stretched between Sydney, Carmen (his best friend), his family and all of these people's expectations.
Nick's anxiety gets worse through the story, and he's struggling with panic attacks and a general feeling of not being good enough. Help comes from unexpected and expected places, and during this book Nick starts to find himself, and grow up.
Seriously this book was so so good! The humor was spot-on, Nick's issues were handled with care and Bourque never became preachy, but offered some pretty decent solutions/scenes to Nick's problems.
There are no smexy times in this, just some kisses and noodle-legs, but it wasn't necessary for the story, and this will be a definite re-read for me.
The reason this is not a 5 star read is Sydney. I really didn't care much for him, and he became worse as the story progressed. Also I would have LOVED an epilogue about Nick's years in college or something; to know that he made it and that he is still this AWESOME, beautiful, crazy, funny character.
I will leave you with this:
"I am not a spontaneous creature, Carmen. I need at least several weeks' warning to have time to properly worry about something like this, and plan conversations, and even plan excuses if necessary. I mean, it took me three years to ask out Sydney, and next month is— HOLY CRAP, I'LL BE EIGHTEEN NEXT MONTH. I CAN VOTE AND DRINK AND SMOKE AND BE PRESIDENT AND STUFF."
This book had me laughing, snorting and giggling throughout like a loon. But seriously beware, we also have some characters with some pretty heavy issues. (If you liked The Perks of Being a Wallflower I'm pretty sure this book will be for you.)
I will just start with this:
"I don't know. Oh my God, what if he's been out like fifty-three times and I bore him? WHAT IF I BORE HIM, BROCK?!" "You won't bore him. You're too weird. But you should probably go save him from Mom. She's been talking his ear off for the last five minutes."
Nicandro -but would prefer Nick, thank-you-very-much- is this sort of angsty kid with some weird -but great- parents, one older brother and a few great friends. He's had a crush on Sydney for 3 years and finally decides he's ready to ask Sydney out. Nick being this bumbling, rambling character he is, starts with foot fungus, graduates to a Spice Girls-serenaded ask-out strategy, and hilarity ensues.
I'm sorry I really can't do the humor justice so I will leave these two highlights from their first date here, and then return to the angst.
"Fire at me. Away. I mean, fire at me away. Wait." He laughs. "You can relax, Nick. I don't bite on the first date." Like. What? I can't even. Help.
... and I remind myself that if I can't EAT A FUCKING TACO without almost having a panic attack then how is my body going to handle it if and when Sydney and I kiss on the face, so I just close my eyes and take one for the team and bite into it. ... I swallow my first mouthful. "It tastes like personal growth and lettuce."
When Nick and Sydney start to date, Nick's anxiety sky-rockets. He doesn't know what to do with his life, he feel's left behind, he starts having panic attacks and I'm pretty sure that Sydney's intensity and perfectionism doesn't help matters. Nick feels stretched between Sydney, Carmen (his best friend), his family and all of these people's expectations.
Nick's anxiety gets worse through the story, and he's struggling with panic attacks and a general feeling of not being good enough. Help comes from unexpected and expected places, and during this book Nick starts to find himself, and grow up.
Seriously this book was so so good! The humor was spot-on, Nick's issues were handled with care and Bourque never became preachy, but offered some pretty decent solutions/scenes to Nick's problems.
There are no smexy times in this, just some kisses and noodle-legs, but it wasn't necessary for the story, and this will be a definite re-read for me.
The reason this is not a 5 star read is Sydney. I really didn't care much for him, and he became worse as the story progressed. Also I would have LOVED an epilogue about Nick's years in college or something; to know that he made it and that he is still this AWESOME, beautiful, crazy, funny character.
I will leave you with this:
"I am not a spontaneous creature, Carmen. I need at least several weeks' warning to have time to properly worry about something like this, and plan conversations, and even plan excuses if necessary. I mean, it took me three years to ask out Sydney, and next month is— HOLY CRAP, I'LL BE EIGHTEEN NEXT MONTH. I CAN VOTE AND DRINK AND SMOKE AND BE PRESIDENT AND STUFF."
not-for-me
January 18, 2016Despite the fact that I had a couple laugh out loud moments in the first third of the book, I had to dnf. Unfortunately Nick seemed incredibly young for an almost 18 year old and I had a difficult time getting the connection with Sydney, who seemed so much more mature. I found the two friends pretty unlikeable, especially Carmen. The whole thing seemed forced--lets take all of these characters/situations and force them together--whether it's believable or not. I love Y/A but sadly this one just didn't work for me.
July 23, 2017
This book was chosen for me to read, and so I finished reading it. But I didn't enjoy it at all. I wouldn't consider this a true romance book, but more of a teenager trying to figure out where he fits, and what he really wants out of life.
There was not chemistry at all between the MC's, and when that happens it's really hard to stay invested in the story.
Not for me.
There was not chemistry at all between the MC's, and when that happens it's really hard to stay invested in the story.
Not for me.
October 21, 2017
Very moving and authentic.
February 24, 2016
"Okay, so I’m a little awkward in front of fallen angels, and sometimes when I go to let out the awesomeness simmering inside me I revert back to the hot mess of teenage soup bubbling away at the back of the class."
That’s what it’s like to be in Nicandro Stellan Colby’s head. It’s a fun, hilarious, teenagery place. Full of stream-of-consciousness style observations, replete with likes and I can’t evens and all kinds of other teenspeak. He’s charming, and funny – and just a little bit lost.
"As I sit out on this not-perfect but still perfectly beautiful back porch with Sydney’s family, and listen to them talk and laugh, and watch the stars, and hear the wind chimes and cicadas on the evening air, I feel the confusing stirrings that the world is so much bigger than I’ve ever dreamed, yet still somehow cozy, warm, and personal, not as if I have to strike out into it and claw and carve out a place for myself with fingernails and determination, but as if a place has always been waiting for me, comfortably prepared and patiently reserved with my name on it."
That is ALSO what it’s like to be in Nick’s head. It’s a smart, sensitive, deep thoughts type place where we get to know his nearly eighteen-year-old self and learn a bit about his dreams, and what it is that makes him fear the future and feel like he’s drifting.
I enjoyed the duality of Nick, and because it’s his journey we’re on, in turn, the duality of the book. At times Nick reads as this sort of breezy teen – with his grand plan to ask out his crush, work on the current drama production, and play basketball in the spring. At other times, however, we see Nick’s anxiety, his need to please everyone, and ultimately, his ‘freakouts’ during this small snapshot of his senior year in high school.
Flowing along with Nick’s triumphs and struggles, the tone of the book changes from the first half to the second. A.J.J. Bourque’s writing jumps between the abovementioned ‘teenspeak’ and the beautiful poetic prose of the second quote used above. Rather than wrestling with this dichotomy of style, I chose to just roll with it and let the book happen. So glad I did.
That One Kid Who Freaked Out, Or Whatever appears to be the first book published by this author – and I think he did a wonderful job with it. I liked Nick very much. I adored his family. The supporting characters were different and fun, for the most part. And, there were some great messages regarding individuality, honoring yourself, and trusting your family and friends with your feelings and your fears. This is a nice addition to the LGBTQ YA space; I’m so glad I stumbled upon it!
Reviewed by Jules for The Novel Approach Reviews
http://www.thenovelapproachreviews.co...
That’s what it’s like to be in Nicandro Stellan Colby’s head. It’s a fun, hilarious, teenagery place. Full of stream-of-consciousness style observations, replete with likes and I can’t evens and all kinds of other teenspeak. He’s charming, and funny – and just a little bit lost.
"As I sit out on this not-perfect but still perfectly beautiful back porch with Sydney’s family, and listen to them talk and laugh, and watch the stars, and hear the wind chimes and cicadas on the evening air, I feel the confusing stirrings that the world is so much bigger than I’ve ever dreamed, yet still somehow cozy, warm, and personal, not as if I have to strike out into it and claw and carve out a place for myself with fingernails and determination, but as if a place has always been waiting for me, comfortably prepared and patiently reserved with my name on it."
That is ALSO what it’s like to be in Nick’s head. It’s a smart, sensitive, deep thoughts type place where we get to know his nearly eighteen-year-old self and learn a bit about his dreams, and what it is that makes him fear the future and feel like he’s drifting.
I enjoyed the duality of Nick, and because it’s his journey we’re on, in turn, the duality of the book. At times Nick reads as this sort of breezy teen – with his grand plan to ask out his crush, work on the current drama production, and play basketball in the spring. At other times, however, we see Nick’s anxiety, his need to please everyone, and ultimately, his ‘freakouts’ during this small snapshot of his senior year in high school.
Flowing along with Nick’s triumphs and struggles, the tone of the book changes from the first half to the second. A.J.J. Bourque’s writing jumps between the abovementioned ‘teenspeak’ and the beautiful poetic prose of the second quote used above. Rather than wrestling with this dichotomy of style, I chose to just roll with it and let the book happen. So glad I did.
That One Kid Who Freaked Out, Or Whatever appears to be the first book published by this author – and I think he did a wonderful job with it. I liked Nick very much. I adored his family. The supporting characters were different and fun, for the most part. And, there were some great messages regarding individuality, honoring yourself, and trusting your family and friends with your feelings and your fears. This is a nice addition to the LGBTQ YA space; I’m so glad I stumbled upon it!
Reviewed by Jules for The Novel Approach Reviews
http://www.thenovelapproachreviews.co...
September 1, 2016
I didn't like the MC. I think we were supposed to be sympathetic to him, but he just came off as whiny and immature. If those parents don't do something soon they are going to have two grown sons living at home with no ambition.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 8, 2017
Aside from the fact that Nick feels more like a sophomore than a senior in high school, the insights in this coming-of-age novel, particularly about anxiety and the misperceptions we all labored under, are vividly fought for here. The characters, especially Nicandro, engage and do not disappoint.
October 11, 2021
This book was an experience. I want everyone to read it. This started out as a running running commentary, but ended up being part review, part reflection. It’s all been edited to tidy up talk-to-text weirdness, curb spoilers, and add punctuation; however, even with the curbing of spoilers, this might be best enjoyed after reading the story for yourself. Please go read this book!
Here’s the summary from Amazon:
Seventeen-year-old Nicandro Stellan Colby is doing his best not to completely freak out, despite the fact that his parents named him after a romance novel zombie, he has no clue what to do after his fast-approaching high school graduation from middle-of-nowhere Wilmurth, Texas, and oh yeah, he just accidentally asked out the boy of his dreams over the school intercom. But all is not lost. Helping Nick remember how to breathe and navigate the choppy waters of dating, surviving senior year, and even learning how to drive are fouled-mouthed lady-in-disguise, Carmen; always-sweaty yet fiercely loyal Connor; and, of course, the guiding hand of Sydney Walker, Nick’s longtime crush and first ever boyfriend. Yet when Nick starts having increasingly petrifying panic attacks, he soon realizes the vast difference between admiring someone from afar and falling under the pressures of their influence.
So, it’s all of that and more.
It all seemed like fun and games until somebody freaks out. So our fair Nick is the kid that freaked out or whatever. He’s more than a little overwhelmed with future prospects, his first boyfriend, expectations from…take your pick, and as a result he has a series of freak outs. He is not good at asking for what he wants and then he gets mad when he doesn’t get it–this is something that his dad pointed out to him. He feels like he’s behind and he feels that he is not enough, particularly for his boyfriend. Sydney, the boyfriend, has been through some stuff, they don’t really elaborate on what exactly kicked it all off. We just know that he was homeless for a short period of time and beyond that he’s a little more mature than Nick. Sydney’s dad says that he’s a perfectionist and actually asked Nick if Sydney was pressuring him with anything and Nick told him that he wasn’t. And that was true to an extent. Although Sydney himself wasn’t applying the type of pressure that people were referring to, Nick felt it anyway. He felt the inadequacy, he felt the distance, and he felt the imbalance because of Sydney, so that was something that he had to deal with.
Nick starts trying to work these things out. He visits the school counselor and tells her that he is not sure what he wants to do with his life. He doesn’t really have a starting point, so she gives him a little assignment and asks him to think about how his future will positively affect society. He can’t think of anything and it’s frustrating, he’s just drawing a blank, but then one day in English class, after he’s done all his work, his English teacher allows him time to consider the question. He gets into it, he starts off with a little bit of sarcasm because that’s how he deals with things and then he just rolls into this really huge and deep surfeit of feelings.
Almost taking himself by surprise, he writes about how bad the world is and how unfair things are. People are hurting and nobody is watching and nobody understands and he’s just really going through it. Then he starts crying and freaking out in class and then runs back to the counselor. She talks to him and tells him that he seems to be absorbing other people’s feelings; he kind of accepted it. I don’t think he fully agrees, I mean, I definitely think that the kid is overwhelmed and is definitely feeling like it’s all too much for him, but whether or not he’s absorbing other people’s feelings…I can’t say that that’s entirely true. I think it is in the sense that he doesn’t know enough about his own, so he’s kind of parasitic, not purposely, but I think he hasn’t explored his own enough and there is all of this free space in him, a vacancy, if you will, and he fills it with the feelings and expectations of other people because he can’t fill it with his own.
Nick has another freak out with Carmen where he ends up yelling at her, telling her that she can’t tell him what to do, but while he’s yelling at her he actually says Sydney and he starts to realize some things. Well, at first he is puzzled because he doesn’t understand or believe fully that he said Sydney and not Carmen considering she is the one that triggered his outburst and she is the one that was present. Additionally, he freaked out with Sydney. They were making out and while they usually, you know, go for broke–well, not completely broke, but they really get into exploring each other–and he’s really into it this time, but he starts feeling dizzy and suffocated and overwhelmed. Things don’t go so well with that.
Sydney, being more mature, wants the time to take a step back. He tries to not take too much of a step back, but Nick doesn’t know how to deal with these things, all of this is very new to him. Sharing his feelings and emotions, whether he puts them into words or not, just being the recipient of such attention and giving it back–he’s growing up. He is in his senior year of high school and he is coming to the realization that who he is is not who he wants to be. So the him that was present for most of his life is clashing against him that hasn’t come about yet and in that meeting is where the trouble lies. He thinks he needs to be more, but more than what, he doesn’t know. So in the process of trying to get there, trying to understand what it is, to be able to put a name to the problem, so that he can actually deal with it, he’s butting heads with all the things that he’s grown accustomed to. These things are collapsing and falling to the wayside because they don’t fit with the him that he’s becoming and whether he knows it or not, he is trying to cling to the him that he is even though he doesn’t want to be that person anymore. So there’s this tug-of-war that he’s having with himself trying to be more than whatever, but also trying to stay grounded, stay in the present because he does tend to drift. He’s just trying to not lose himself completely.
While everything with the story is really good, it’s the timing that I’m not quite understanding. Sometimes weeks have gone by and we are still in September. I think that we should be a little further along. There’s also the possibility that school started in August, but who knows? I think I might have to go back and read about that part, but yeah, the times are a little bit… It just seems like we should be further along. I keep reading weeks passing and I feel like we’ve been in September since the beginning of the book.
This book was amazing. I wish I had this kind of book when I was younger. I’m almost 40 and there are things in this book that I can so relate to. And not as in remembering when I was younger, when I was a teenager, when I was still trying to figure out what I had in store for myself, what I wanted to pursue, who I wanted to be, who I wanted to be around… I’m saying this book has things that I relate to now, that I relate to still. I didn’t expect anything from this book, just that this kid was going to have his first relationship and was going to be dealing with his friends. The title was something I was curious about and it just doesn’t really or didn’t really give me the feeling that it was referring to the main character. I thought it was going to be about something else that happened in the story that perhaps solidified something for the main character or happened adjacent to a pivotal point in the main character’s life. But no, the kid is the kid; the kid that freaked out is the main kid in this book.
That One Kid is, rather than being a coming-of-age story, a coming of self story. Nick learns how to be himself, not fully though, because by the end of the book he’s only 18, so he still has life to experience, and yet more growing pains. But he comes to a point where he realizes that he is his own worst enemy. And not in the usual way we are always tripping ourselves up and getting in the way because, you know, that’s so typical, but this is a very, very specific thing he goes through. Giving away his autonomy, being too afraid to be himself, in part because he doesn’t know fully who that is and partially because he’s afraid that if he is himself, people won’t like him, people won’t get him, and people won’t accept him or try to understand.
At the beginning of the story Nick has friends, two of them. At the end of the story he has more. But in the middle he isn’t sure what he has. At the beginning of the story he gets a boyfriend and it’s nice to see him trying to open up, trying to show who he is to this new guy and it’s very cute and kind of fluffy. It’s also a little scary because it’s his first time, but then it gets sad because he goes from trying to show him who he is and who he wants to be to trying to be who Sydney wants him to be or. more accurately, needs him to be. Nick is a kid, he’s 18, he’s got his life ahead of him. He has no idea what that’s about and he is in the middle of that everyday trying to figure it out because he spends most of the time freaking out because he can’t figure it out, because he can’t get past the anxiety and he can’t think past the frustration and he can’t think past not being enough.
He gets help along the way. Sometimes it’s inadvertent or unsolicited and other times it’s in a way that’s for his own good. From his counselor to his father to a friend who’s been a friend for a long time and he kind of took for granted to his best friend who I think is a little pushy but does care about him.
Side note. I am looking forward to reading a story about a gay guy that has a female BFF who isn’t pushy or overbearing even if it is out of love.
But he gets all of this help from these existing resources, resources that he’s never engaged before because he didn’t know and didn’t know how. He couldn’t get around it, he couldn’t understand and it was all so much.
So back to the thing about what Nick’s counselor said about him absorbing other people’s feelings. Going through the story, as it went further along, I began to agree, but I feel still think that there was definitely a vacancy because he couldn’t fully examine his own feelings, so he had that space. So he’s getting all of this help from the people in his life–family and friends–but he gets to a point where he realizes, he fully internalizes that they can’t make the decision for him. The saying–the horse and the water. They can help him, make suggestions, point him in a direction, but ultimately it is his responsibility to make these decisions for himself. He finally understands something he’s gone through the entire book not understanding. I think that school started in August and the story about the beginning of November, so really, this is just the first couple months of his senior year of high school. Wow.
The story addresses how there are all types of changes that can occur and that change itself is inevitable. It looks at it in a positive light and Nick is presented with this notion that things aren’t set in stone. And even though he was kind of at war with change, knowing that things weren’t set in stone was good thing because Nick’s not a set-in-stone kind of person. He needs space–not just figuratively–to breathe, to think, to work things out, to change his mind it it comes to that; it’s just how he’s built. There’s nothing wrong with that and there’s nothing wrong with him needing to escape, to wait until he calms down, but he also learned that there’re other ways to deal with it. He learned that he doesn’t have to get to that point and that’s one of the great things about it, that he doesn’t have push himself to the point where he just can’t take it, where it’s hard to deal with whatever he’s facing. He learned to not run away and to not ignore things and that he will have to deal with things eventually or they really will fall and collapse on him. But he knows that he can’t or shouldn’t, for example, not do the dishes and get to the point where he has to throw them away or where he’ll just have to get down and put his back into cleaning them. I’m the former, though; I prefer it if things get too bad, to just let it all go and start from scratch.
Reading this might be…difficult is the word I want to use…or might be unexpectedly trying for some people because of Nick’s dialogue. There’s a lot of inner dialogue and it’s more of a natural flow of words, not like somebody typed it out, edited it, refined it, proofread it, and then started thinking it. This is stream-of-conscious freaking out, words running into each other, words just trying to get out–not just out of Nick’s mouth, because that’s a whole other thing, but just untangled from whatever thoughts are around these words that he needs to form in order to give shape to the ideas that he’s having. This is how a lot of the passages are, but if you’re up for that kind of thing, please check this book out.
I thoroughly enjoyed That One Kid. I started out laughing and cracking up and moved onto lots of contemplation and silence. I was absorbed by the story and I’m glad that I took a chance on it because I don’t generally jump for high school stories; they don’t interest me as much as stories about adults. I don’t think that it’s so much about my age, not anymore anyway. I used to think that because I was the age that I was, that certain types of stories just didn’t appeal to me anymore, but when I think back on it, it’s not anymore it’s ever actually. I’ve never really been into stories about high school kids, I’ve always wanted to read stories about adults. But I’m so glad I read this one.
Here’s the summary from Amazon:
Seventeen-year-old Nicandro Stellan Colby is doing his best not to completely freak out, despite the fact that his parents named him after a romance novel zombie, he has no clue what to do after his fast-approaching high school graduation from middle-of-nowhere Wilmurth, Texas, and oh yeah, he just accidentally asked out the boy of his dreams over the school intercom. But all is not lost. Helping Nick remember how to breathe and navigate the choppy waters of dating, surviving senior year, and even learning how to drive are fouled-mouthed lady-in-disguise, Carmen; always-sweaty yet fiercely loyal Connor; and, of course, the guiding hand of Sydney Walker, Nick’s longtime crush and first ever boyfriend. Yet when Nick starts having increasingly petrifying panic attacks, he soon realizes the vast difference between admiring someone from afar and falling under the pressures of their influence.
So, it’s all of that and more.
It all seemed like fun and games until somebody freaks out. So our fair Nick is the kid that freaked out or whatever. He’s more than a little overwhelmed with future prospects, his first boyfriend, expectations from…take your pick, and as a result he has a series of freak outs. He is not good at asking for what he wants and then he gets mad when he doesn’t get it–this is something that his dad pointed out to him. He feels like he’s behind and he feels that he is not enough, particularly for his boyfriend. Sydney, the boyfriend, has been through some stuff, they don’t really elaborate on what exactly kicked it all off. We just know that he was homeless for a short period of time and beyond that he’s a little more mature than Nick. Sydney’s dad says that he’s a perfectionist and actually asked Nick if Sydney was pressuring him with anything and Nick told him that he wasn’t. And that was true to an extent. Although Sydney himself wasn’t applying the type of pressure that people were referring to, Nick felt it anyway. He felt the inadequacy, he felt the distance, and he felt the imbalance because of Sydney, so that was something that he had to deal with.
Nick starts trying to work these things out. He visits the school counselor and tells her that he is not sure what he wants to do with his life. He doesn’t really have a starting point, so she gives him a little assignment and asks him to think about how his future will positively affect society. He can’t think of anything and it’s frustrating, he’s just drawing a blank, but then one day in English class, after he’s done all his work, his English teacher allows him time to consider the question. He gets into it, he starts off with a little bit of sarcasm because that’s how he deals with things and then he just rolls into this really huge and deep surfeit of feelings.
Almost taking himself by surprise, he writes about how bad the world is and how unfair things are. People are hurting and nobody is watching and nobody understands and he’s just really going through it. Then he starts crying and freaking out in class and then runs back to the counselor. She talks to him and tells him that he seems to be absorbing other people’s feelings; he kind of accepted it. I don’t think he fully agrees, I mean, I definitely think that the kid is overwhelmed and is definitely feeling like it’s all too much for him, but whether or not he’s absorbing other people’s feelings…I can’t say that that’s entirely true. I think it is in the sense that he doesn’t know enough about his own, so he’s kind of parasitic, not purposely, but I think he hasn’t explored his own enough and there is all of this free space in him, a vacancy, if you will, and he fills it with the feelings and expectations of other people because he can’t fill it with his own.
Nick has another freak out with Carmen where he ends up yelling at her, telling her that she can’t tell him what to do, but while he’s yelling at her he actually says Sydney and he starts to realize some things. Well, at first he is puzzled because he doesn’t understand or believe fully that he said Sydney and not Carmen considering she is the one that triggered his outburst and she is the one that was present. Additionally, he freaked out with Sydney. They were making out and while they usually, you know, go for broke–well, not completely broke, but they really get into exploring each other–and he’s really into it this time, but he starts feeling dizzy and suffocated and overwhelmed. Things don’t go so well with that.
Sydney, being more mature, wants the time to take a step back. He tries to not take too much of a step back, but Nick doesn’t know how to deal with these things, all of this is very new to him. Sharing his feelings and emotions, whether he puts them into words or not, just being the recipient of such attention and giving it back–he’s growing up. He is in his senior year of high school and he is coming to the realization that who he is is not who he wants to be. So the him that was present for most of his life is clashing against him that hasn’t come about yet and in that meeting is where the trouble lies. He thinks he needs to be more, but more than what, he doesn’t know. So in the process of trying to get there, trying to understand what it is, to be able to put a name to the problem, so that he can actually deal with it, he’s butting heads with all the things that he’s grown accustomed to. These things are collapsing and falling to the wayside because they don’t fit with the him that he’s becoming and whether he knows it or not, he is trying to cling to the him that he is even though he doesn’t want to be that person anymore. So there’s this tug-of-war that he’s having with himself trying to be more than whatever, but also trying to stay grounded, stay in the present because he does tend to drift. He’s just trying to not lose himself completely.
While everything with the story is really good, it’s the timing that I’m not quite understanding. Sometimes weeks have gone by and we are still in September. I think that we should be a little further along. There’s also the possibility that school started in August, but who knows? I think I might have to go back and read about that part, but yeah, the times are a little bit… It just seems like we should be further along. I keep reading weeks passing and I feel like we’ve been in September since the beginning of the book.
This book was amazing. I wish I had this kind of book when I was younger. I’m almost 40 and there are things in this book that I can so relate to. And not as in remembering when I was younger, when I was a teenager, when I was still trying to figure out what I had in store for myself, what I wanted to pursue, who I wanted to be, who I wanted to be around… I’m saying this book has things that I relate to now, that I relate to still. I didn’t expect anything from this book, just that this kid was going to have his first relationship and was going to be dealing with his friends. The title was something I was curious about and it just doesn’t really or didn’t really give me the feeling that it was referring to the main character. I thought it was going to be about something else that happened in the story that perhaps solidified something for the main character or happened adjacent to a pivotal point in the main character’s life. But no, the kid is the kid; the kid that freaked out is the main kid in this book.
That One Kid is, rather than being a coming-of-age story, a coming of self story. Nick learns how to be himself, not fully though, because by the end of the book he’s only 18, so he still has life to experience, and yet more growing pains. But he comes to a point where he realizes that he is his own worst enemy. And not in the usual way we are always tripping ourselves up and getting in the way because, you know, that’s so typical, but this is a very, very specific thing he goes through. Giving away his autonomy, being too afraid to be himself, in part because he doesn’t know fully who that is and partially because he’s afraid that if he is himself, people won’t like him, people won’t get him, and people won’t accept him or try to understand.
At the beginning of the story Nick has friends, two of them. At the end of the story he has more. But in the middle he isn’t sure what he has. At the beginning of the story he gets a boyfriend and it’s nice to see him trying to open up, trying to show who he is to this new guy and it’s very cute and kind of fluffy. It’s also a little scary because it’s his first time, but then it gets sad because he goes from trying to show him who he is and who he wants to be to trying to be who Sydney wants him to be or. more accurately, needs him to be. Nick is a kid, he’s 18, he’s got his life ahead of him. He has no idea what that’s about and he is in the middle of that everyday trying to figure it out because he spends most of the time freaking out because he can’t figure it out, because he can’t get past the anxiety and he can’t think past the frustration and he can’t think past not being enough.
He gets help along the way. Sometimes it’s inadvertent or unsolicited and other times it’s in a way that’s for his own good. From his counselor to his father to a friend who’s been a friend for a long time and he kind of took for granted to his best friend who I think is a little pushy but does care about him.
Side note. I am looking forward to reading a story about a gay guy that has a female BFF who isn’t pushy or overbearing even if it is out of love.
But he gets all of this help from these existing resources, resources that he’s never engaged before because he didn’t know and didn’t know how. He couldn’t get around it, he couldn’t understand and it was all so much.
So back to the thing about what Nick’s counselor said about him absorbing other people’s feelings. Going through the story, as it went further along, I began to agree, but I feel still think that there was definitely a vacancy because he couldn’t fully examine his own feelings, so he had that space. So he’s getting all of this help from the people in his life–family and friends–but he gets to a point where he realizes, he fully internalizes that they can’t make the decision for him. The saying–the horse and the water. They can help him, make suggestions, point him in a direction, but ultimately it is his responsibility to make these decisions for himself. He finally understands something he’s gone through the entire book not understanding. I think that school started in August and the story about the beginning of November, so really, this is just the first couple months of his senior year of high school. Wow.
The story addresses how there are all types of changes that can occur and that change itself is inevitable. It looks at it in a positive light and Nick is presented with this notion that things aren’t set in stone. And even though he was kind of at war with change, knowing that things weren’t set in stone was good thing because Nick’s not a set-in-stone kind of person. He needs space–not just figuratively–to breathe, to think, to work things out, to change his mind it it comes to that; it’s just how he’s built. There’s nothing wrong with that and there’s nothing wrong with him needing to escape, to wait until he calms down, but he also learned that there’re other ways to deal with it. He learned that he doesn’t have to get to that point and that’s one of the great things about it, that he doesn’t have push himself to the point where he just can’t take it, where it’s hard to deal with whatever he’s facing. He learned to not run away and to not ignore things and that he will have to deal with things eventually or they really will fall and collapse on him. But he knows that he can’t or shouldn’t, for example, not do the dishes and get to the point where he has to throw them away or where he’ll just have to get down and put his back into cleaning them. I’m the former, though; I prefer it if things get too bad, to just let it all go and start from scratch.
Reading this might be…difficult is the word I want to use…or might be unexpectedly trying for some people because of Nick’s dialogue. There’s a lot of inner dialogue and it’s more of a natural flow of words, not like somebody typed it out, edited it, refined it, proofread it, and then started thinking it. This is stream-of-conscious freaking out, words running into each other, words just trying to get out–not just out of Nick’s mouth, because that’s a whole other thing, but just untangled from whatever thoughts are around these words that he needs to form in order to give shape to the ideas that he’s having. This is how a lot of the passages are, but if you’re up for that kind of thing, please check this book out.
I thoroughly enjoyed That One Kid. I started out laughing and cracking up and moved onto lots of contemplation and silence. I was absorbed by the story and I’m glad that I took a chance on it because I don’t generally jump for high school stories; they don’t interest me as much as stories about adults. I don’t think that it’s so much about my age, not anymore anyway. I used to think that because I was the age that I was, that certain types of stories just didn’t appeal to me anymore, but when I think back on it, it’s not anymore it’s ever actually. I’ve never really been into stories about high school kids, I’ve always wanted to read stories about adults. But I’m so glad I read this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2017
Great story. It’s much more than I thought it would be. It’s funny, yet speaks to teens transitioning into adulthood about their inner turmoil and self worth. This book should be in every school’s library. This book is Sofa King awesome!
October 23, 2016
Part Perks of Being a Wallflower, part YA romance. I like that it touches on anxiety and panic attacks and how people deal with mental health. Being a teenager is hard. Being a teenager in a small town in Texas is even harder. I'm glad the author didn't make Nick being gay an issue for other people.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 31, 2016
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did, but it just didn't do much for me. I liked some of the characters and the overall arc of Nick and his anxiety, but this just felt so all over the place and unfocused. maybe that was the author's intent? I suffer from anxiety and I felt there were some very real moments in the book that explored that but 1) the "freak out" didn't even happen until halfway through the book and 2) there were more moments that felt forced and awkward than felt right and honest. I also don't necessarily understand how or why no one thought Sydney was good for Nick? I get that Nick was his own wear critic (anxiety will do that to you), but the whole hands molding bread and all that seemed like a real stretch when Sydney was just kind of not a good match but also not a terrible person? idk maybe it's just me.
January 27, 2017
This is a wonderful read that is well-written, seeming to come straight from the head of a 17-year-old boy. The main character, Nick, is profoundly confused about what he wants to do with his life and who he wants to be. He's a perfectly captured character who resonates with realism. And he's surrounded by a boyfriend, friends and family, all of whom are rendered wonderfully by the author. This is a great teen coming of age tale that I highly recommend.
October 20, 2018
Wow. This book is gorgeous! Nick is every one of us in high school, uncertain about where he's supposed to be, what he's doing, and where he's headed. Just...so on point! Nice shout-out to The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I think I enjoyed this book more!
April 23, 2016
Probably more like 3.5 stars, but I will leave it at 3.
It was cute story and I liked the way the lead character developed over time. Very well told.
It was cute story and I liked the way the lead character developed over time. Very well told.
August 21, 2016
4.5
Full review to come!
Full review to come!
August 30, 2016
I loved this book sofa king much.
4.5 stars full review will be up on my YouTube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/lakinaleyse
4.5 stars full review will be up on my YouTube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/lakinaleyse
September 5, 2016
My predictions were right for some part of the ending. The read was absolutely great. I learn a lot from understanding what Nick was going through and how relatable it seems to my life.
February 1, 2017
It started out really really good until that very sappy ending.
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