Nick Twisp is a dangerous teenager. Why? Simple, he knows he's destined for greatness and the desire for greatness can force you to do desperate things my friends. We learn about Nick from his diary. He introduces himself innocently enough, declaring that he eventually wants to change his surname to "Dillinger" in order to make himself sound more assertive. We soon learn that his name isn't the only thing Nick hates, he hates his trailer trash family and he hates his school and most of the people that he comes into contact with. And oh yeah, he's obsessed with girls. Convinced he's never going to be with a girl until he's middle aged, fate tosses Nick a bone when he meets Sheeni, a beautiful, intelligent and very manipulative goddess from the next trailer park over. Once Nick meets Sheeni his life changes forever. He spends every waking minute planning, plotting and strategising his way into her heart. Sheeni, being no fool, takes advantage of her newly found lap dog and uses Nick to perform menial tasks as well as larger, more illegal ones for her own amusement. I don't want to give too mych away as the lengths Nick goes to in order to win Sheeni's love are desperate, criminal and most of all hilarious. Payne perfectly captures the subconscious of a hormone riddled fourteen year old: anxious, confused, elated, depressed, conniving and depraved. Convinced that everyone around him is a moron sent by the gods to thwart his every move, Nick is eventually forced to create his own alter ego to kick ass and take names. As crass and insane as he is, I was still rooting for Nick the entire novel. One aspect of Nick's personality that I loved was how blissfully unaware he is to increasingly ridiculous setbacks he encounters. Read Youth in Revolt, as usual, the film was unable to capture the level of insanity Nick goes to for Sheeni. It's a gut-busting, laugh out loud gem that will stick with you for a long time.
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