I just finished Twelve the other day, by Nick Mcdonell (his first novel, he was only 17 when he wrote it). The focus of the book is on a loosely connected group of "high society" teens in New York...so uh, think sex, drugs and pop culture references. Hunter S. Thompson had the following to say about the book -
Quote:
Nick McDonell is the real thing, a powerful young writer with the look of a dangerous freak and very sharp teeth. The ratio of age to talent is horrifying. His trick is he writes the truth. I'm afraid he will do for his generation what I did for mine.
— Hunter S. Thompson
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Uh, Thompson was no doubt on crack when he said this. Twelve isn't a bad book by any means; it's well written, concise (too much so even...finished it the day after I bought it), and captures the sense of loneliness and isolation the author is going for very well. On the other hand, the characters lack depth, and Mcdonell doesn't really draw any conclusions from the events contained within. The book has received a lot of praise from critics, one crackpot suggesting that it may knock Catcher in the Rye off the "required reading list". All this shows is how absolutely out of touch these people really are (after reading everyone from Thompson to the New York Times praising this novel I was expecting genius, what I got was the OC in prose...an exaggeration but you get the idea). In any case, I'd say Mcdonell is a writer to watch out for...in uh, thirty years when he has something to write about.
Still a decent read though.
Also, I just started reading Heart of Darkness yesterday...I don't know why it's taken me so long to get 'round to this one, but eh...so many classics, so little time ffs.