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Freaked
A transcendent coming of age story about the most unforgettable teen since Holden Caulfield
Drugs, the Grateful Dead, and a .45 caliber handgun--this is no ordinary concert for Scotty Loveletter. He's got to get to Freedom, and not having tickets isn't going to stop him. If dedicating his life to Jerry Garcia has taught him anything, Scotty knows he's got to keep on truckin' and smile, smile, smile.
In a stunning debut novel, J.T. Dutton crafts a provocative story that evokes the brilliance of J.D. Salinger's A Catcher in the Rye.
Drugs, the Grateful Dead, and a .45 caliber handgun--this is no ordinary concert for Scotty Loveletter. He's got to get to Freedom, and not having tickets isn't going to stop him. If dedicating his life to Jerry Garcia has taught him anything, Scotty knows he's got to keep on truckin' and smile, smile, smile.
In a stunning debut novel, J.T. Dutton crafts a provocative story that evokes the brilliance of J.D. Salinger's A Catcher in the Rye.
284 pages, Paperback
First published March 17, 2009
3 people are currently reading
318 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 7, 2015
Fans of the Grateful Dead (i.e. Deadheads) should definitely check this one out. How often do you see our band in fiction? Great surprise to find this book!
October 22, 2009
This is the second book in as many months that I've read with anticipation, as the cover and premise tease me in: black, sleek, direct. Dangerous?
And again, I find myself disappointed. For 300 pages, Scotty Loveletter narrates his thoughts and the disjointed events of his life. Stylistically, "Freaked" pays homage to The Catcher in the Rye. Dutton manages to sustain this 1st person, streaming narration through trains, automobile crashes, gun violence, malevolent cabbies, LSD-induced hallucinations, and bad dorm food, but Scotty never came alive for me. Nothing really happens for the first 80 pages. I didn't feel connected to Scotty, his situation, or his angsty musings. And since I didn't care about him, I never really cared about the story. What he wanted or needed never amounted to much.
"Freaked" is too long for reluctant readers, too vague to work for historical fiction fans. Each chapter is titled with a Grateful Dead song, and there are plenty of allusions and quotes of Robert Hunter's words. I just can't imagine the audience for this book, beyond Dead Heads, but even they will find "Freaked" a stretch.
And again, I find myself disappointed. For 300 pages, Scotty Loveletter narrates his thoughts and the disjointed events of his life. Stylistically, "Freaked" pays homage to The Catcher in the Rye. Dutton manages to sustain this 1st person, streaming narration through trains, automobile crashes, gun violence, malevolent cabbies, LSD-induced hallucinations, and bad dorm food, but Scotty never came alive for me. Nothing really happens for the first 80 pages. I didn't feel connected to Scotty, his situation, or his angsty musings. And since I didn't care about him, I never really cared about the story. What he wanted or needed never amounted to much.
"Freaked" is too long for reluctant readers, too vague to work for historical fiction fans. Each chapter is titled with a Grateful Dead song, and there are plenty of allusions and quotes of Robert Hunter's words. I just can't imagine the audience for this book, beyond Dead Heads, but even they will find "Freaked" a stretch.
September 2, 2015
Scotty is a prep school sophomore who spends more time high with his roommate and friends than doing anything useful or remotely educational, and yet still manages to feel like his life is hard. His mom has posed for Playboy and is a TV sex therapist, and his latest stepdad - his favorite of the bunch - has just broken up with her. Scotty's solution to his problems is to go to an upcoming Grateful Dead show (he's a Deadhead, with tons of tapes), but he's mostly broke and thoroughly dependent on the help of his roommate. His roommate gets them set up and they make the trip, separating into their own adventures, with Scotty eventually finding pretty much what he needs.
While this book presented a well-told story with clearly delineated characters and some surprising plot turns, I was mostly annoyed with the main character. The story presents a coming-of-age line, and Scotty grows up a little bit by the end, but not too much. The story takes place in 1993, so it captures a particular time and place (New York, Connecticut), but doesn't come off as dated.
Due to prolific drug use, I would hesitate to recommend this to anyone under about 19 years old.
While this book presented a well-told story with clearly delineated characters and some surprising plot turns, I was mostly annoyed with the main character. The story presents a coming-of-age line, and Scotty grows up a little bit by the end, but not too much. The story takes place in 1993, so it captures a particular time and place (New York, Connecticut), but doesn't come off as dated.
Due to prolific drug use, I would hesitate to recommend this to anyone under about 19 years old.
April 20, 2009
Imagine Holden Caulfield, of Catcher in the Rye fame, mellowing out by smoking weed and listening to the Grateful Dead at his prep school and the mood is set for JT Dutton's Freaked. Then, add a drug dealing roommate who stores acid in the dorm room refrigerator.
Scotty Loveletter, our Holden, simply doesn't fit in at Stillwater among the wealthy Ivy League bound jocks. It's band enough being singled out as part of the "new money" crowd, but to make matters worse, his mom's amassed their family fortune by posing nude in magazines. She's called to give him the heads up on soon-to-released Playboy shots. To deter this type of attention, Scotty earns his reputation as the life of the party and an obnoxious class clown.
But mostly, all he can think about is breaking the rules by ditching school and truckin' to the next Grateful Dead show.
Scotty Loveletter, our Holden, simply doesn't fit in at Stillwater among the wealthy Ivy League bound jocks. It's band enough being singled out as part of the "new money" crowd, but to make matters worse, his mom's amassed their family fortune by posing nude in magazines. She's called to give him the heads up on soon-to-released Playboy shots. To deter this type of attention, Scotty earns his reputation as the life of the party and an obnoxious class clown.
But mostly, all he can think about is breaking the rules by ditching school and truckin' to the next Grateful Dead show.
September 23, 2013
This book is for guys. I found it interesting evan though I could not relate to the main character because he got high a lot, his mom posed for playboy, and he is rich. It seems like he has the life everyone wants but he is not happy with himself. I thought it was really cool how he finds himself and grows up at the end of the story.
February 28, 2021
Definitely a unique young adult story. It is a solid and quick read that keeps you entertained. The mix of humor, teenage sulking, and lots of Grateful Dead references make for an interesting journey, to say the least. There are many deep, thought-provoking lines that made me question my life and my connection to both music and the world in general. The setting is detailed well, and the dialog and imagery are vivid. The characterization does a fairly good job at creating a connection as well. Overall a simple read, but I would recommend it if you are looking for a bit of musical (or drug-related) revelations.
November 9, 2012
Reviewed by Lauren Ashley for TeensReadToo.com
Scotty was sent away to Stillwater, a boarding school for boys, so that his mom could spend more time on her book and focus on speaking about the sex lives of others.
Scotty just wants to have a normal family: a mom who cares about him, a dad who isn't changing every few years, and maybe even a sibling or two. However, he's stuck with knowing that all of the boys at his school fantasize about his mother - and might even be able to see her nude, if she goes ahead with her photoshoot plans.
Though he might not have a family to rely on, Scotty can always turn to Jerry from The Grateful Dead in times of need. On Parent's Weekend, Scotty finds himself forced into a car with a gun by his roommate, Todd, and they are off to the Freedom show!
FREAKED has a really good premise and I definitely enjoyed the characters. Music plays a main part in this novel, as it gives Scotty an outlet, along with drugs, to truly feel and express his emotions. Most of the story is Scotty's past memories and thoughts on life, which were interesting, but I was also waiting for more to happen throughout the book.
Overall, though, this is a coming-of-age story that has a lot of life truths.
Scotty was sent away to Stillwater, a boarding school for boys, so that his mom could spend more time on her book and focus on speaking about the sex lives of others.
Scotty just wants to have a normal family: a mom who cares about him, a dad who isn't changing every few years, and maybe even a sibling or two. However, he's stuck with knowing that all of the boys at his school fantasize about his mother - and might even be able to see her nude, if she goes ahead with her photoshoot plans.
Though he might not have a family to rely on, Scotty can always turn to Jerry from The Grateful Dead in times of need. On Parent's Weekend, Scotty finds himself forced into a car with a gun by his roommate, Todd, and they are off to the Freedom show!
FREAKED has a really good premise and I definitely enjoyed the characters. Music plays a main part in this novel, as it gives Scotty an outlet, along with drugs, to truly feel and express his emotions. Most of the story is Scotty's past memories and thoughts on life, which were interesting, but I was also waiting for more to happen throughout the book.
Overall, though, this is a coming-of-age story that has a lot of life truths.
May 16, 2009
Scotty is a college sophomore who spends more time high with his roommate and friends than doing anything useful or remotely educational, and yet still manages to feel like his life is hard. His mom has posed for Playboy and is a TV sex therapist, and his latest stepdad - his favorite of the bunch - has just broken up with her. Scotty's solution to his problems is to go to an upcoming Grateful Dead show (he's a Deadhead, with tons of tapes), but he's mostly broke and thoroughly dependent on the help of his roommate. His roommate gets them set up and they make the trip, separating into their own adventures, with Scotty eventually finding pretty much what he needs.
While this book presented a well-told story with clearly delineated characters and some surprising plot turns, I was mostly annoyed with the main character. The story presents a coming-of-age line, and Scotty grows up a little bit by the end, but not too much. The story takes place in 1993, so it captures a particular time and place (New York, Connecticut), but doesn't come off as dated.
Due to prolific drug use, I would hesitate to recommend this to anyone under about 19 years old.
wb/wts
While this book presented a well-told story with clearly delineated characters and some surprising plot turns, I was mostly annoyed with the main character. The story presents a coming-of-age line, and Scotty grows up a little bit by the end, but not too much. The story takes place in 1993, so it captures a particular time and place (New York, Connecticut), but doesn't come off as dated.
Due to prolific drug use, I would hesitate to recommend this to anyone under about 19 years old.
wb/wts
May 13, 2009
The year is 1993. Scotty is a sophomore at an elite Connecticut boys' boarding school. He is facing expulsion. The other boys tease him because his mother is a famous sex therapist. To cope, he smokes dope and drops acid. He idolizes Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. The story centers on a bad trip (literally and drug-induced) to a Grateful Dead concert for which he does not have a ticket; however, he does have a .45 caliber handgun.
Dutton's narrative is strong, but the book is full of cliches (e.g., last-chance prep school full of delinquent and unloved rich kids; dumb jocks; and socially-inept nerds), and pre-personal-cell-phone cultural references that will be lost on fourteen-year-olds. All Scotty wants is to be loved by a real family; however, he is whiney and unsympathetic. Freaked is more of a baby-boomer memoir of acid trips and following the Dead than a contemporary, young adult novel.
Dutton's narrative is strong, but the book is full of cliches (e.g., last-chance prep school full of delinquent and unloved rich kids; dumb jocks; and socially-inept nerds), and pre-personal-cell-phone cultural references that will be lost on fourteen-year-olds. All Scotty wants is to be loved by a real family; however, he is whiney and unsympathetic. Freaked is more of a baby-boomer memoir of acid trips and following the Dead than a contemporary, young adult novel.
November 11, 2012
A beautiful book with sharp, visual descriptions and nuanced characters that feel alive. At first I expected for this book to have the usual rhythms of a YA novel in terms of structure, but once Scotty stepped onto the train to New York I let my preconceptions go and went along with the trip.
The emotional strings of the progtagonist - the always absence of his flighty sex advice columnist mother, the recent loss of his stable step-father - are done well. They gnaw at Scotty constantly, in stabs of memory and mistaken sightings on his journey to the Freedom concert.
I loved the descriptions of Scotty's physical movement - they are perceptive and extremely realistic for a young person who is uncomfortable in their own skin. He is one of those rare elements in fiction - a character so vividly drawn that he stays with you long after the book is finished.
The emotional strings of the progtagonist - the always absence of his flighty sex advice columnist mother, the recent loss of his stable step-father - are done well. They gnaw at Scotty constantly, in stabs of memory and mistaken sightings on his journey to the Freedom concert.
I loved the descriptions of Scotty's physical movement - they are perceptive and extremely realistic for a young person who is uncomfortable in their own skin. He is one of those rare elements in fiction - a character so vividly drawn that he stays with you long after the book is finished.
April 4, 2009
Fantastic. There's humor and insight on every page. If you like the Grateful Dead you'll especially love this book but really it's for everybody. The main character is a wonderful and unique creation.
September 20, 2009
Cool cover, likeable character...but in the end a not very satisfying read. The plot in the beginning is plausible, but as it progresses, the main character Scotty Loveletter becomes involved in so many things that the book loses it's focus.
January 29, 2010
Stopped on page 114. Though I do like the Grateful Dead, this reminded me too much of Catcher In The Rye, which I do not like. Man, and I'm sure I would have liked this too, if I had more patience. Oh well.
August 29, 2008
One wild and funny ride! Loved the clever writing.
April 25, 2009
I didn't like this book. The premise is okay but it is slow and repetive. Basically, the book would appeal to Dead Head teens. Besides my son and his friends, how many of them could there be?
August 13, 2009
Not good at all...and I wanted so much to like it that I kept trying to slog through it...but failed. I made it about halfway and had to give up. Don't waste your time!
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November 17, 2014It's a Class of 2K9 Book!
January 28, 2011
So clever.
August 18, 2012
Reminded me of Catcher in the Rye, but it absolutely sucked. I couldn't even finish the book. It was pretty much just about drugs. I do not recommend this book to anyone.
December 12, 2012
At times, it felt a little more like this book would appeal to someone a little older who can now look back at his/her own teenage years and relate.
May 14, 2014
I forgot the character's actual name and just referred to him as Beaner instead of Scotty. All together I thought it was weirdly entertaining. A real "trip".
October 26, 2008
Wonderful voice, with strong, engaging characters.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews