Brilliant! – Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin

Posted 18 July, 2013 by Danny in Blog, Danny, Danny's Book Review / 8 Comments

Brilliant! – Wise Young Fool by Sean BeaudoinWise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin
Published by Little Brown Books for Young Readers on August 6th 2013
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher
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4.5 Stars

Teen rocker Ritchie Sudden is pretty sure his life has just jumped the shark. Except he hates being called a teen, his band doesn't play rock, and "jumping the shark" is yet another dumb cliché. Part of Ritchie wants to drop everything and walk away. Especially the part that's serving ninety days in a juvenile detention center.

Telling the story of the year leading up to his arrest, Ritchie grabs readers by the throat before (politely) inviting them along for the (max-speed) ride. A battle of the bands looms. Dad split about five minutes before Mom's girlfriend moved in. There's the matter of trying to score with the dangerously hot Ravenna Woods while avoiding the dangerously huge Spence Proffer--not to mention just trying to forget what his sister, Beth, said the week before she died.

This latest offering from acclaimed author Sean Beaudoin is alternately raw, razor-sharp, and genuinely hilarious

You all know these moments when you start a book and don’t really know what to expect, only to end up being super surprised. When “Wise Young Foul” came in, I wanted to read it because it sounded great and … well, the word “rockstar” totally helped a little too. But… what I ended up getting from this book was something I didn’t expect…

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Who’s Richie Sutton???

This is how the book starts, with a note from the Editor saying that they got this manuscript and ever since are looking for Richie Sutton. If that isn’t smartly intriguing enough, we jump right ahead and hear Richie’s story from his POV and… especially in his very own voice! (Coming to that in a second..)

Richie right now is in Juvie, for what we don’t know yet – but the story is alternating with stories from inside the Juvie and from before, telling us how he ended up in Juvie in the first place!

Sex , Rock and Roll and lots of Attitude!

Richie is the classic rocker with tons and tons of attitude! His voice was incredible and I know I won’t ever find the words to describe him correctly. He’s playing the badass and he#s playing it right. He’s a jerk, sometimes an ass – but what he always is and was especially to me – real! I not often have a feeling of genuine characters, characters that feel like they are just ripped off real lives – but Richie was just fabulously real. He’s 18 and yeah, he things he owns the world but then has to realize that being 18 doesn’t mean being wise enough yet to tackle what life is throwing at you.

There is lots of casual talking of sex – but it was never downplayed not overplayed, it was just right and it was right for Richie!

But even with all his badass attitude, Richie was incredibly smart and clever which made this boy even more intriguing! I couldn’t help but like him and most of the things that came out his mouth made me laugh out real bad!

“A band is dying to be born. To rise from the ashes of our lameness”  -ARC, Wise Young Foul

But with all these funny moments, there are lots of underlying drama and issues, which made the story not just light but also meaningful and earnest.

Brilliantly written!!!

I cannot say it any other way and I’m sad that I cannot express myself any better – but this book was absolutely and incredible brilliantly written. I’m in awe of the incredibly talented Sean Beaudoin as he managed to create characters in such a brutally honest way that made me want to jump into the pages and get to know these people! Richie’s voice was super smart, funny but then also filled with an earnest vulnerability Richie would totally deny himself.

Bewitched Rating

Rating 4.5

Bottom Line

Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin is a brilliantly written and brutally honest story of the 18 year old rockstar (to be) Richie. It deals sex, grief and growing up  with lost of laughter but is still earnest enough.  Richie was an outstanding character who can hardly be put into any cliché but managed to win us over with his smart wit and hilarious attitude!

 

 contemporary 

Now, that I read Wise Young Foul I’m sad that I didn’t read anything else from Sean Beaudoin! He is an icnredible writer and I’m curious to read his other stories! Have you read anything from him and which one can you recommend? 

 

Much Love,
P.S.: and for your viewing pleasure here is the Book Trailer:

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