who needs goals, anyway?

Life after high school is a confusing time for everyone, but especially for Stan Smith, whose uninteresting name matches his uninteresting life. A former child prodigy with an IQ of 165, recent graduate Stan has no direction — or car, or girl, or even chance at college, because he never applied. He’s perfectly content (with a few nagging doubts about wasted potential, voiced by numerous adults around him) to work at his underpaid, dead-end job as a cashier in his town’s only video store, hang out with his cool best (and only) friend, and work on his clichéd screenplays while he figures out what to do with his life.

What I love about Sean Beaudoin’s Going Nowhere Faster is that, in spite of some entertaining action — Stan’s love for a girl named Ellen, his crazy hippy parents, and his conviction that Ellen’s menacing ex-boyfriend, Chad, is out to kill him after a mishap with a firecracker and Chad’s locker — Going Nowhere Faster doesn’t have the most driving plot in the world. It’s different in a refreshing way, and it fits with the book. After all, Stan is “going nowhere,” and the plot reflects that. But don’t take that to mean that the book has no plot points (see Ellen, crazy hippy parents, Chad, and Stan’s cool best friend, Miles), or that the book is pointless. Going Nowhere Faster hits on that post-high school time perfectly, where everyone’s trying to figure out what they’re supposed to do with their lives. And Stan’s life shows that potential doesn’t always equal opportunity — a point not usually touched upon in upbeat YA books. So Stan’s story has many poignant moments about finding oneself and shaping that terrifying The Rest of Your Life… all amidst wacky scenarios, humor, and a lot of sarcasm.

If you’ve read the rest of my reviews, you had to be expecting it, and it’s true: Going Nowhere Faster is also hilarious. Jaded Stan, the “special” kid who amounted to nothing, is sarcastic, neurotic, and hypercritical, resulting in sharp, funny first-person prose. Yet in spite of his neuroses, he’s still completely amusing, sympathetic, and likable. He has a caring relationship with his little sister, and his friendship with Miles is honest and enduring when a girl comes between them. It’s not just the prose that’s comical, however. The situations Stan finds himself in (like the death threats) are off-the-wall and sometimes unrealistic, but all the funnier for it.

So join Stan on his crazy-yet-dull, confusing, neurotic life post-high school as he tries to find, a plot, a girl, a screenplay, a journey. You’ll be glad you did.

And remember: if there’s a mid-list book you love, write an original review and shoot me an email at doingitwrite@gmail.com and I’ll post it under a “guest reviewers” section. And as always, spread the word to help save mid-list authors!