Varsity 170

by Evan Jacobs

Hard-hitting, contemporary young adult fiction is not trendy--it's not dystopia. There are no vampires, no werewolves, no castles. It's real life. It's unflinching. Gravel Road highlights the talent of YA authors committed to creating realistic fiction with emotional authenticity. No topic is suicide, homosexuality, drugs, rape, gangs, bullying. Teens live with this reality each day. And they find a way to survive. Each paperback book is 200 to 275 pages.

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2014

Reviews

[Wyatt Fortner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a book called “Varsity 170” by Evan Jacobs. I would give this book 5 stars. The reason is because it is very interesting. The author didn’t dance around the point he was very precise and never got off topic. I could relate to this book because it is about handling all the pressure from sports, school work, and hanging out with friends. The book was also interesting because the whole book has action. On page 22 Chad’s best friend, Marcus, dies because of an accident. It hooked me right off the bat. It made me want to keep reading after each chapter. When I had only a couple days to finish the book, it wasn't that bad because the book really pulled me in and kept me attached and I didn’t want to put it down.

It was very unfortunate what happened to Chad’s best friend. I realized that this could happen to anyone of my friends in any sport that we play. In football someone could get hit wrong and be paralyzed for life or even die. I put myself in Chad’s shoes and thought about what it would be like to lose one of my best friends. That empathy made me want to keep reading and really tied me into the story. It helped me relate to how hard it must have been for him to continue on with life as normal. I can also see why he did those things that he probably shouldn’t have. I can see why he stole beers from his parents and drank them in private. I can understand why he stole liquor from the general store. I am not justifying his action, but I can see why he would do something like that. He was just trying to cope with the pain of losing his best friend, and breaking up with his girlfriend. I would recommend this book to everybody. This book really is more about life in highschool then it is about wrestling. This would tie a lot of people to the story. This book hits home a little bit because we all can assume what it would feel like to lose a best friend. This is what pulled me in and kept me hooked on the book.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book it really goes to show how wrestling can change your life and just by doing one little thing can change your life forever. I chose this book because I love wrestling and it is by far my favorite sport. Chad and Marcus are seniors in high school both weighing 170, the coach has asked them to wrestle off, Chad was very nervous in the beginning of the match but after match was over and Marcus was dead Chads whole life changed because he had slammed his best friend not on purpose but from having so much adrenaline for wanting the varsity spot for 170 he then killed his best friend. Once that had happened everything was different for the whole wrestling team and nobody was happy with Chad because of what he did the didn't understand why. I think anyone who is in wrestling should read this book because you can really relate to it and it really shows how one little thing can change your whole life and not a whole lot of people understand that.

[Alex]

One slam to the mat, and his best friend is gone forever. Anyone who is a high school student, high school wrestler and is looking for a relatable but exciting book, this is the book for you.

Varsity 170 is based on the life of a high school student, who is potentially facing the toughest challenge of his life “Acceptance”. During a wrestle off he and his best friend are wrestling, and he slams him to the mat, little did he know that would be the last time he would see him alive. After this he goes down a road of grief, anger, and disbelief. This road leads to him making some bad decisions, pushing some of his closest people away from him. He also finds himself in some hot water because of the coping mechanism he has discovered. His friends, and family are doing everything they can to try and steer him on the correct path and get him some help, but for right now he is on his own journey, and feels like nobody understands what he is going through, and they never will.

The protagonist in the story is Chad, who is now a senior in high school. He is just your average high school student, and a pretty good wrestler. His best friend is Marcus, with whom he does everything with. He has a girlfriend named Maria who he has been dating for quite some time, and she is also a senior in high school. They all go to Shepard High School, but without his best friend Chad is lost, at a place he has been going to for years.

I really liked how relatable this book was. This book was easily relatable for me, because I am currently a high school student. I also have wrestled for a couple years in my life. I really like how the author made the conversations and the scenery so relatable and believable for someone like me. Between wanting to skip school and not wanting to do assignments, the author did a great job explaining and incorporating the life of a high school student, so it was very easy to connect with. One thing I did not like about the book was how early on the death of Marcus took place. I feel like that it almost made the author have to try and stretch out Chad’s journey more than it needed to. Other than that I feel like this book was very exciting, and made me want to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next.

In conclusion I thought it was an amazing read, that had a great message. The message being acceptance. As a high school student goes on a journey, working towards acceptance. In the end he goes through some ups and downs, but comes through better and stronger than ever. This is a great way to relate to anyone going through a situation like this, and could help them choose the right path. This is exactly why I think this book was so good, and enticing to the reader.

[Braylon Fults]

Me personally this book was not very good a pretty mid book. But I can see how a lot of people who love wrestling can really enjoy this book. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in wrestling. This book is literally a wrestling book about a good who is trying to make the weight to make the varsity team. That relates to a lot of high school and college wrestlers trying to make the top team while they are staying a specific weight. In my opinion this book really tells us how hard the grind is for people in the sport of wrestling. You have to be strong and big but you also have to be very agile and quick , maintaining both of those is a problem of its own. The more you run the more you loose weight which means youe loosing your gains.
What didnt I like. Well although the wrestler relates to wrestlers and wrestling a lot that is a good and a bad thing. I feel like people interested in other sports can’t really be interested in a book about wrestling. It needs to be more of a everyone book in stead of a super directed audience. The book is very slow and takes forever to really get to what your trying to learn or read. I read this book in the course of a month and the first half there was not a lot of events that happened in the book. All the major events are packed into the last half of the book. Makes it really hard to wanna keep reading when over half the book is very boring.
The theme is definitely like courage. They really emphemcied on the important lessons. The main lesson they gave to the audience was never back down and never give up. They repeated it so much throughout the book. This can really affect the audience by mmotivating them to not give up and to keep going and pushing through anything. This is a very valuable lesson to learn, if you just quit right away then you will never be able to get anything in life done. The 2nd main thing was how to always trust the process. The main character really leans on his coaches and team to help him get better throughout the wrestling season. This is valuable because it teaches that you dont have to do everyint by yourself you can have a team or people in your corner to help you.

[Duran Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

My book is called Varsity 170 by Evan Jacobs. This book is about a kid named, Chad and his best friend, Marcus. Chad and Marcus are entering their senior year of high school and they find out that they have to wrestle off for the top spot at the weight class of 170. Chad wanted to wrestle at 170 really bad and ended up slamming down Marcus a lot harder than he wanted to and ended up killing Marcus. He stopped talking to everyone and started to drink his father's beer that he had in the fridge. Chad started stealing beer from the store until he got caught and was put in jail. Chad had to go to a grief support counseling session until he started acting normal. This made him start talking to people again. He then made it back onto the wrestling team and won his first match by a pin. Marcus’ parents were in the crowd and watched him win. Chad started talking to them about Marcus. Chad then started going over there at least once a week and working out with Dave, Marcus’ brother, and teaching him wrestling moves. Chad struggled but ended up making everything better and started to live a normal life again. I really liked how Chad recovered from all of the bad things he did, especially by staying in contact with Marcus’ family. I liked everything about this book. It is really interesting and will keep you attracted to it. There really is not anything to dislike about this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes sports or just reading in general. This is a very good book for anybody.

[Enrique Patino · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. Chad and his best friend Marcus both compete for a spot on the varsity team but little did chad know that would be the last time they will be together. Chad starts to do many horrible things to forget the lost of his best friend. I do not really have anything to dislike about this book. This would be a book that I would recommend to someone to see someones life and how to get help when your in a certain spot in life.

[Sufyan Almadani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Varsity 170 contained a lot of action and emotional events that lead to an overall positive ending. I liked how the author showed the transition of a broken High school student ending up as a happy and social student. Concluding the book I really liked it and the main topic which was wrestling. I find the way it started to be very dramatic, but that was the whole point of the story.

[Ryker Houser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good book; it took me about a week and a half to fully read. It was a book that was easy to comprehend. The book is about these two boys who are on a wrestling team together that fight for a team on varsity, then have an accident between them, and one goes to the hospital.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far the best book I have ever read. If you like a book full of action I would highly suggest.

[Benjamin K]

It was a good book it a bout a kid who unlived his friend by accident in a warmup match.

[Nolan Hills · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was very interesting and a very good read. I liked how you got to go into the readers head and find out all the things he was going through and understand why he did the things he did. It was a great book and I recommend it for anyone how like books about trouble teenagers. Also people how like to go into the head of the main character and see what they were thinking.

[Bentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I've ever read

[Dylan Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I read is called ‘Varsity 170’ by Evan Jacobs. I am going to rate this book five stars. The reason I am giving it five stars is because it was a very entertaining book. I also like how the author didn’t put unnecessary details in the book to draw things out. This book was a book I could relate to because I enjoy wrestling and the character was close to my age.
I found this book to be entertaining because it jumps right into action. Within 25 pages Chad’s best friend dies. It hooked me right away and made me want to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next. Later in the story Chad makes bad decisions and gets away with it for awhile but then he gets caught. One night I kept reading really late because I wanted to know what was going to happen and how long he was going to be in jail.
Some of the books I read go on and on with details that are not needed. By the time I get done with the chapter I’ve forgotten some of the things I just read because I start zoning off. It’s good to have some details but some authors have way too much. Sometimes less is better. This book has really short chapters which made it flow better and held my attention.
I really relate to this book because I like to wrestle and being competitive like Chad is. While reading this it made me think about me wrestling around with my best friend that I have known since I was three and it made me realize how this could accidentally happen to anyone. I could feel myself feel his emotions and I know I would not feel the same on the wrestling mat. I would feel as guilty and upset as Chad was and I’m not sure how I would handle my friend dying because of me.
Overall I think this was a really good read. The whole book kept you on the edge of your seat waiting to find out what would happen next. There were no parts where I got lost in the reading or started to zone out. If this was a sequel I would read the next book immediately.