Teenager: A Novel

by Bud Smith

Two teenagers, in love and insane, journey across the United States in this Bonnie and Clyde-like adventure, pursuing a warped American dream, where Elvis is still king and the corn dog is the "backbone of this great country."

"He told her he was a one-woman man and she was it for him. Teal said that was good because he was it for her. It and It. Both of them were It."

Kody Rawlee Green is stuck in juvie. Tella "Teal Cartwheels" Carticelli is packing her bags for Rome--on the orders of her parents, who want her as far from Kody as possible. But teenage love is too strong a force for the obstacles of reality. And the highway beckons.

Leaving their abusive pasts behind them in Jersey, Kody and Teal set off on a cross-country road trip equal parts self-destruction and self-discovery, making their way, one stolen car at a time, toward bigger, wider, bluer skies. Along the road, of course, there's time to stop at Graceland, classic diners, a fairgrounds that smells of "pony shit and kettle corn, and time for run-ins with outsize personalities like the reincarnated Grand Canyon tour guide Dead Bob and the spurious Montana rancher Bill Gold. On their heels, all the while, is Teal's brother, Neil Carticelli, who's abandoned his post in the navy to rescue the sister he left behind. But does she really need saving?

These all too American tropes find new expression in Bud Smith's own freewheeling prose--and in Rae Buleri's original illustrations--filling Teenager with humor, poetry, and a joy that's palpable in every unforgettable sentence.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Young Adult, Literary Fiction, Coming Of Age, Book Club

400 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 2022

About the author

Bud Smith is the author of Teenager (Tyrant Book), Double Bird (Maudlin House), WORK (CCM), Dust Bunny City (Disorder Press), among others. He works heavy construction, and lives in Jersey City, NJ.

Reviews

[Kevin Maloney · Rating 5 out of 5]

TEENAGER is one of those rare novels you spend your whole life looking for and hardly ever find. On one level it reads like a new take on Badlands or Bonnie & Clyde. Dig a little deeper and it's a comic indictment of American culture. Dig a little deeper and it's a cosmic-poetic rhapsody about being alive and in love on Planet Earth. Bud Smith writes like Kurt Vonnegut took acid with Charles Portis and tried to write an Odyssey for the 21st century. A thousand stars.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly what I want to read. Part adventure, part black comedy, part love story. I loved every minute of this novel. Beginning on the East Coast and winding through Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Montana, and California, it is the exact type of book I am always craving and can never find. Bud Smith belongs on the bleachers with Annie Proulx, Flannery O'Connor, Barry Hannah and all the other humorists whose understanding of America is so true folks forget they're so heartbreakingly funny. If I could read this again for the first time, I would.

[Justine at BookSirens (A Community of ARC Readers) · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a blanket of innocence that forms the basis of this story. A virtue that comes or brings with it elements of love, desire, rebellion, and all things that society, not just teenagers, openly or secretly desire. Although one might find aspects of the story inspired by Bonnie and Clyde, this is by every means a totally different read, a road-trip-based plot, no doubt, but one with a lot more heart and maybe a little less iconic-ism. Bud Smith’s writing is top-notch, often merging the love story with thrilling elements, black comedy, and plenty of poignant moments.

[delilah !! · Rating 2 out of 5]

i think i should reread this to understand it better but im not going to

[Ben Arzate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full Review

Teenager is an excellent novel. It’s a charming and tragic look at two young people with no home in the world and little else but each other. It’s a look at the youthful desire for freedom and the cost of it, while also having a thriller like plot that kept me turning the pages. Bud Smith has been working in the small press world for a while and this is his first with a major publisher, and I hope this will bring his work to a wider audience.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Teenager.

This is an unusual tale of two teenagers named Kody and Tella.

They're sort of like a teenaged version of Bonnie and Clyde, but not. If that makes sense.

It's also about two teenagers in love; survivors of an abusive past, searching for home and belonging, a sense of place and peace.

** Minor spoilers ahead **

After Kody busts out of juvie and comes looking for Tella when he discovers she is being put on a plane to get her away from him, an explosion of violence leaves two people dead and Kody and Tella on the lam.

As they lit out of town, they live an existence that could only exist in a book, in their own bubble of reality.

They eat at diners, they camp out under the stars, they steal and live on junk food and what they can loot from unlocked homes and cars, they visit Graceland, they encounter more violence, they get married at the Grand Canyon, and live their lives as best as they can with what they have.

In the meantime, Tella's older brother has gone AWOL from the Navy to look for his sister.

Kody and Tella's is fraught with excitement and danger, love and sorrow, despair and hope.

The author has a beautiful writing style; lyrical, endearing, poetic, almost purple to the point where it's too much but not quite.

He captures the romanticism and boundless energy and innocence of young love; how young people just throw themselves wholeheartedly into relationships with no rhyme or reason to what it means for people outside their social circle. Everyone else be damned.

The illustrations are a great addition to each chapter, reminding the reader the innocence and naivete, to a certain extent, of our protagonists.

Yet, I'm still not sure what Teenager is about.

Is it about love?

The reckless and wild innocence not so innocence of being a teenager?

The complexity and difficulties of being a certain age?

Or maybe that's what being a teenager is about.

Love. Wildness. Breaking free. Living your life away from rules and expectations. Being with someone who knows you, accepts you, and loves you for who you are.

This isn't a typical story and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for something different to read.

[tia lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of those books that you can't help but think about whenever you put it down. the plot isn't anything new or groundbreaking but the writing style makes it feel fresh. none of the characters are particularly likeable and yet I can't help but like them. the kind of book that makes you want to write. long-ish but an easy read, definitely recommend if you're looking for something quick!

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

devoured this weird and wacky book in less than two days. gross and engrossing, yet all the while entirely heartfelt. loved it.

[Thushara]

Dnf @12%

[Shannon Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to collect my thoughts and write a real review but for now I’ll say this: Bud Smith continues to be a stand-out author here. Kody is an authentic, nuanced, even sympathetic maniac and his relationship with “Teal” calls to mind, not just the obvious parallel of Bonnie and Clyde but Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate - less enthused true-crimers may know them as the teen couple who inspired the movie Natural Born Killers. I really enjoyed how Smith uses place as a propellant throughout the novel - we get to see America through a new, strange lens and it’s almost addictive. The story is gripping, and at the sentence level, Smith remains unmatched: gorgeous, compelling prose that remains with you even after you close the book.

[Ben Loory · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was nothing Kody liked more than hearing of someone going West.

[Annabelle Fowler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn't good but wasn't bad. I don't think I was the intended audience for it - maybe too old for it?

[Gabrielle Anagnostopoulos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pros: wonderfully inventive story. Cons: As with most road trip centered plots, it gets to the point where the whole trip becomes tedious.

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

“‘i hadn’t believed in miracles and still don’t. but if there had to be one, it would be you coming into my life.’”

[Emma Alden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part Wild at Heart part Butch Cassidy, Teenager somehow carries the weight of America and God and all their heaviest symbols, new and old, in the hearts of two teens on the run in their own illy imagined fantasy world. Humble and with self aware grandiosity, Bud Smith has written a novel so pure, so rooted, yet so new. For the first time in ages, I felt the joy of being swept away by a good fucking story. This is a tragic young love of epic proportions. It obsessed and destroyed me.

[brandi gaspard · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book has everything you could ask for: love, blood, an all-american road trip,the extreme level of naivety and desire only teens can exude. FFO: true romance (both the film and the actual concept), crimes (both light and major), badlands (1973), east coast dreams of going west, tight yet poetic sentences.

[Lauren Rochford · Rating 4 out of 5]

It reads like Hemingway and Bukowski decided to co-write a teenage love (?) story. Insane and fun! Great writing. It was a nice break from my usual books.

[Skylar Hauge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like the Bible

[Jonathan M · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Executioner's Song meets Wild at Heart but it's a cartoon.

[Jennie Brouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would make a great film if they casted the right director and actors!

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...there would have been a million fireflies that time of year. And why did they light up? Just so something could snap its jaws down and kill them easier? No, they were trying to attract a mate. That’s what it always was and you usually died from that too."

Bud Smith's TEENAGER is literary. Its a similie. A metaphor. Its about something and something much deeper. Its about teenagers. Destructive little humans. Unstoppable. Emotional. Naive. One helluva combo, if you ask me. Or Bud Smith.

This books is so different yet so much the same as all previous Bud Smith works. Its beatifully written. Its a character study. Its a piece on human behavior. Its a pure display of talent and creativity. Its wild.

TEENAGER is accesible to everyone. Its a special kind of literary novel. You don't have to read past the words to find the deeper meaning. You may not even grasp the full deeper meaning. Don't matter, the words still form a gripping story. But, underneath it all, there's something deeper to be said. I know it. I recognize some of it. Some of it shot right over my head, I'm sure. This is a great book and likely even better than I am capable of giving it credit for.

[Kristi Rolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really captures the irrational and dramatic mindset of 17-year-olds through a series of absurd situations. Classic American road trip, but if you’re on the run from police. Great for readers who hate long sentences

[Luke Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

hum dinger

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was dark, at times dense, and totally unlike anything I’ve ever read before. The prose was gorgeous. I couldn’t help but find all characters endearing. Utterly bizarre but equally unforgettable. Not even sure I’d say I liked it, but after reaching the second half, I couldn’t put it down.

[Liv · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is about as abstract as I can tolerate in terms of fiction so that’s how I feel about the writing. The story is kind of like Alice in wonderland…but more depressing. It was odd to have so much despair in the narrative juxtaposed to the characters’ joy. I mean, I know people live through horrible things and can still experience joy but this is multiple gruesome murders which are basically just left behind by the couple like “oh well.” At least one (if not more!) of the murders, Arturo, is meant to feel “justified” but I just couldn’t get there. It didn’t feel satisfying even knowing that Arturo was an abuser, it just felt more horrifying. So yeah I wasn’t really reveling as the young people discovered life and each other even through tragedy, I was sad and disgusted that any individual depravity that was part of the narrative is actually totally realistic in this country (though unlikely all of them together). Nothing in the story grappled with the severe indigence, inequality, and lack of a true safety net that produce teenagers that end up living like Teal and Kody.

Edit 10/26/24: I am reading American Fire and the author includes depictions of many American criminal couples, which is how I learned that the Teenager story sounds a lot like the events of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate. Just a note to say that reading enriches reading and books give a more complete appreciation for other books!

[alissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

i’ve been searching for this book for a long time.
it was beautiful in its imagery, its dedication, its very human quality, in its love.
this book puts into words things i could only see in my mind when i was a child, driving down interstates reading billboards about salvation and finding life’s beauty in “i spy” books and warm hot chocolate. it puts into words that feeling that made me love small towns off the coast and the california sun and the quiet beaches right over the indiana sand dunes where you can feel the earth’s core touch your soul and big antique stores off the milwaukee highway that ooze life. it feels like being a kid and watching cartoons and infomercials late at night, sprawled on the carpet, thinking about what life out there is like. it’s eating razzles on the steps at covington square and walking home with the scent of cigarette smoke lingering on your clothes and small town georgia and the middle of nowhere washington and those short stories you read in middle school that never leave you and the goodwill off highway 278 and that little cafe by the waterfall up state and the games you used to play at summer camp and making flower crowns during recess with the girls you haven’t seen in years but think about often and it’s the mythical america that consumes you.
in other words, it’s beautiful and i loved it.

[Victoria Campisi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teenager was weird, yet charming. Teal and Kody, like a young Bonnie and Clyde, leave their past lives behind in New Jersey and take off on a destructive road trip across the country, meeting even wackier characters along the way and escaping their fate by the skin of their teeth time after time. There’s no question these kids are screwed up, but they had my heart in the end. 🥲

[Clara Canavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Manic pixie dream girl but it’s a mentally Ill teenage boy who breaks out of jail to take his gf to Elvis’s house!?! Explores morality and the duality of love while also being funny, sweet, and unhinged. The writing itself is also enchanting!!

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brautigan, Vonnegut, Smith.

[Nick Gaston · Rating 2 out of 5]

this is just the plot of Badlands