Let Me Explain

by Jonathan Dyer

""In loco parentis. No matter what anyone else tells you, take it from me, that's Latin for 'Your parents have to be nuts to send you to a New England boarding school.' Mine are; they did; here I sit."" So begins the narrative of Harry Taft, a junior at a worn-out, Massachusetts prep school. After a series of misadventures at school, Harry hops on a bus for Monterey, California, hoping for a fresh start. Instead, the hits keep coming as Harry once again finds himself stumbling through the bizarre and comic events that make up his life. Raw, hilarious, tender, and, at times, all of the above simultaneously, Let Me Explain is a wild addition to the long list of American coming of age novels.

261 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 9, 2011

Reviews

[Little Acorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book from Jonathan Dyer.

With the current political uncertainty, this book has an eerie undertone that makes you think how just a few people in powerful positions could cause such devastating atrocities when in possession of deadly weapons.

An updated modern day Cold War thriller superbly depicted that is gripping and thought-provokingly disturbing.

[Rob Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only put comments on books I really enjoyed and this is one of them. Fantastic read - The character of Harry Taft is a likeable adolescent and the way Dyer portrays him made me want to know more. The book is humorous in places and sad and interesting in others all the way to the end.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you liked The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, then you will probably like this novel. It has a similar feel to it, however it is modernized. The terminology can be crude at times, but it does capture the character of a teenage boy from a current(ish) generation.
At first I was actually kind of enraged by the book because I ordered on the only website I could find it on because I was so excited to read it. When I finally got it though, I was very confused because the publishing company seemed to be the website I bought it from, and it quickly came to my knowledge that it isn't quite "finished" yet. It hasn't been refined, so there is grammatical and spelling errors throughout the novel.
However, that aside, it was a VERY good novel. I really enjoyed it from start to finish. It really did capture the character very well, and although he has many flaws, you really do tend to like Harry, or at least I did.
The writing is very good as well. I found myself marking down certain pages because there would be whole passages of writing that spoke to me for some reason. Upon rereading them, I realized that I liked them because it felt like I had written them myself. It really got in my head at certain parts and made me want to finish the novel as quickly as possible.

[Marianne Donovan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let Me Explain tells the story of Harry Taft’s, a junior at a New England prep school, journey into adulthood. The book begins by chronicling the horrors of boarding school continuing on to when Harry finds his first love, Dana Carlton. Their relationship creates a chain of events that leads to Harry leaving for Monterey, California. Thus begins the journey of Harry trying to find himself.

The book is often humorous (though often in a very crude teenage boy type way) and yet has its sad moments as well. I enjoyed the book, though at times the crude language and thoughts of the main character were so juvenile and off putting that I found myself not liking him as much as I could have done. Besides that, it was a good book.

[Paul Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

An very good book. Well written. Great dialogue. For those interested in Russian and/or medieval history with a modern Cold War context this would be an excellent choice. The writer sets the scene wonderfully well.