Review: Gentlemen

[Danielle Sonni]

Gentlemen by Michael Northrop

What a twisted story!! This book is told from the point of view of Mike, a high school sophomore. Mike and his friends - Bones, Mixer and Tommy - are the trouble makers at school. They are in the remedial classes because of behavior problems and apathy towards school. They don't like any of their teachers except Mr. G the science teacher, because he does cool experiments. One day in class, Tommy's math teacher does something to upset him (looks at him in the wrong way) so he flips his desk over in anger. Tommy gets sent to the principle's office and Mike and the gang know he's in real trouble. English class with Mr. H rolls around (they really don't like this teacher) and he actually is kinda interesting for a change - he has a big plastic barrel in the front of the class and students all take turns hitting the barrel with a wooden rod to see if they can figure out what is in it. No one figures it out and after class Mr. H asks Mike, Mixter and Tommy to help him put the barrel in his car trunk. The barrel is way heavier than the boys thought and takes them a lot of effort. They barrel doesn't fit so Mr. H takes out the contents - which are wrapped up in a big blanket with duct tape all around the blanket. Mike goes to touch the blanket and sees something move, almost as if the contents had joints. In English class the next day Mr. H is talking about the book Crime & Punishment and Mike feels as if he is directing the lesson towards him, and he is making references towards a student being killed. Mike, Mixter and Bones are really creeped out.

Tommy still hasn't returned, he's run away before but this time his cell phone is off and usually he tells his friends where he is. The police are now involved and the boys think Mr. H killed Tommy (and they helped put him in the trunk) but feel like if the say anything people will think they are crazy.

The way the events of this story unfold is very unpredictable and kept me on the edge of my seat. I don't want to spoil the ending...so much happens...but if you want to know just reply to this post and I'll fill you in :)

YAL Criteria
- Told from POV of a high school student, Mike. Mike is pretty witty and insightful and he is smarter than he knows. He is only in remedial classes because his is apathetic towards school. Mike makes comments regarding his future, he knows he won't have a good job because he doesn't do well in school, and knows education is important in order to be successful.
- Parents are not involved. We get to know Mike's mom a little but she's not a big part of the story and doesn't impact any of the events in the story. The boys are dealing with a very serious issue - murder - and don't go to any adults for help. They want to figure it out and take care of it on their own.
- Lots of important issues discussed. This book touches on SO MANY issues - fitting in, sex (sexual abuse), sexual identity, violence, drugs/alcohol and coming of age.

I think this book would be great for high schoolers. It's an easy read so I would recommend it for 8th - 12th graders. I think most kids would have trouble putting it down (I read it in one sitting - I had to find out what happened!). I really like how this books shows that who you hang out with is important and that impulsive actions have consequences. Teens sometimes think they have it all figured out, but this book shows the consequences of not thinking things through. This book always puts an emphasis on education and learning in an indirect way, no beating kids over the head with it.

This book was great, full of twists I did not see coming!

For more info: http://michaelnorthrop.net/?page_id=3