Crashing

by Chris Wooding

An intense novel about facing your enemies and facing your friends - from young UK phenom Chris Wooding

Sixteen-year-old Jay wants to throw a party to celebrate the start of the summer. He wants to spend time with his friends before they all drift apart. He wants to make himself known to Jo, the girl he's had a crush on for years. He wants to bring everyone together. But quickly things start going wrong. Friends turn on each other. The past comes back with a vengeance. And the party is crashed by some locals who want to drag Jay to a place he'd vowed he'd never go again.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Chris Wooding grew up in a small town in Leicestershire, where not much of anything happened. So he started to write novels. He was sixteen when he completed his first. He had an agent by eighteen. By nineteen he had signed his first book deal. When he left university he began to write full-time, and he has been doing it professionally all his adult life.

Now thirty-nine, Chris has written over twenty books, which have been translated into twenty languages, won various awards and been published around the world. He writes for film and television, and has several projects in development.

Chris has travelled extensively round the world, having backpacked all over Europe and North America, Scandinavia, South East Asia, Japan and South Africa. He also lived in Madrid for a time. When he wasn’t travelling on his own, he spent his twenties touring with bands and seeing the UK and Europe from the back of a van.

He also learned not so long ago that his family tree can be traced back to John Milton, author of Paradise Lost, which has no bearing on him whatsoever but it’s kind of interesting anyway.

Chris lives in London.

Reviews

[Sophia Barsuhn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am being very generous with those three stars. This is a debut novel written by (I believe) an eighteen-year-old; of course it was going to be a little rough. The problem is that once you’re past the age of eighteen, none of these scenarios hold up. This felt, and I apologize for the crudeness, like a 142-page-long pissing contest between the four main characters. So much teenage bullshit, and keep in mind that some of my favorite books are YA. I’m very curious to read Chris Wooding’s most recent work and see how his writing style has matured and changed, because this was just not it.

[Asianslayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

You already know ye boy has a book assignment due in 2 days. Here I am looking for a summary of this book to pull off at least a B on this project. Wish me luck.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

For my class I had to read the fiction book Crashing, by Chris Wooding. It’s about a 16 year old boy Jay and his senior year coming to an end. Once his last summer is done with his friends, everyone will go their own ways. In my opinion I first thought this book would be very boring, but once I actually started to read it, it got really interesting and I related it to it a lot. Basically what’s happening is Jay and his friends are throwing an end of the year party, and some guys from their school who weren’t invited went to the “zone”. Once they heard about Jay’s party, I knew it wasn’t going to end well. Throughout the book I think Wooding really wrote it knowing he’d have a lot of teenagers and younger people reading this book. I also think that the dialogue is really spread out and it’s not just people talking to each other all the time. I think Crashing mostly relates to teenagers, so I think they would like it best. Overall I’d give this book a 3.5/5.

[Kimberley · Rating 2 out of 5]

End of school, parents away, start of summer party. Boy meets girl, girl breaks up with boy. Gang party in the ZONE. Fight for Justice. Boy gets girl in the end.
I remember those days a LONG time ago!! ha ha

[Ekaterina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author managed to show everyday activities and events in an exciting and adventurous way. It's well-written too.

[Karley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, my boyfriend who doesn’t like to read couldn’t put it down

[Brandon Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book Chris Wooding wrote. He was twenty. Obvioulsy had strong emotions to purge.

He's become known for his fantasy writing, so the realism of it might throw his fans. I hope they aren't deterred -- it's a fantastic book, a kind we don't see enough: teen dudes dealing with parting ways and the emotions that arise. And it doesn't get too dismal, it maintains an air of fun, highlighted by hi-jinks the boys pull to grasp their dwindling boyhood.

Jay's throwing a huge party. Not one to have throw a big party before, he's got his reasons: overwhelmed by the thought he and this three best buds (recently graduated, going separate ways) will get too busy for each other, make new friends, and thing's will never be the same, he's set up one last night to make new memories to strengthen their bond in the face of the changes to come.

But they've built up a fair amount of problems between them. Problems that keep surfacing throughout the night.

Wooding's frank narrator's voice captures that scared, over-thinking sentimentality many -- if not all of us -- have rounding the corner at the end of our high school days, of being all to aware that you can't picture the future, but you sure as hell know it won't look like the past you're just starting to look at through the idealization of memory.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

over the course of one night's party at the end of the school term, Jay feels himself and his friends drifting apart, a foreshadowing of what's to come when they go their separate ways in education ad then life. so, they have one last foray into a dangerous part of town - the Zone - to pull the best prank of their young lives against a bunch of crazy bullies.
this is a Brit book, so some of the slang is a bit difficult to quess at, but a quick google search should clear up any confusion. and the situation is familiar to just about any teen. angst about girls,excitement about parties, good times with your friends.

[Joseph Cumberworth]

This is a book about a teenager named Jay who is having a hard time with the idea of high school ending and his group of friends splitting up to go their separate ways, so he throws a final party for them. During the party, a group of (what I like to call) thugs show up. The story is about these interactions.

I didn't really like this book and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Chris Wooding has a lot of other really good books I would recommend, but not this one.

[Courtney Chappell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read about two chapters of this book but just could not get into it. I don't even know where it was taking place or what age they were. There was something about different schools depending on what score you got on this one test. There was also this place called the zone with zombies in it. I just could not read anymore.

[Joshua Mumford · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is mostly about a party that goes horrably wrong, or so the main character thinks. This party is mainly for his friends who he thinks might be split apart forever, so he makes a party so his friends can remember it forever

[Eendju · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this book several times when I was in my teens. Once I had picked it up, I wasn't able to put it down and I read all through the night. Good times...

[Hollow May · Rating 1 out of 5]

A house party, teens, and no parents around. 'Nuff said.