Winger Review

Winger by Andrew Smith 

Title: Winger

Author: Andrew Smith

Series: Winger #1

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date: May 14, 2013

Genre: Realistic Fiction; Contemporary; Young Adult

Pages: 439

Format: Hardback
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Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy.

With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.

Filled with hand-drawn info-graphics and illustrations and told in a pitch-perfect voice, this realistic depiction of a teen’s experience strikes an exceptional balance of hilarious and heartbreaking.

"My name is Ryan Dean West. Ryan Dean is my first name. You don’t usually think a single name can have a space and two capitals in it, but mine does. Not a dash, a space. And I don’t really like talking about my middle name."

It took me way too long to finally pick up this book, even with it continuously reappearing on my “Recommended for You” and “Books You Should Read” lists like the plague. In all honestly, the main reason I didn’t pick it up sooner was…well…the cover. I know, I know; Dots has judged a not-so-proverbial book by its not-so-proverbial cover. But, you got to admit, it really is not the most attractive cover. Someone’s aftermath of getting socked in the face? Doesn’t really scream “Pick me up!” to me. But, after reading it, I can now say that the cover does not do this book justice. You’d never know by looking at it that the story it contains is heart-wrenchingly real, and thoroughly enjoyable.

Ryan Dean is a fourteen-year-old genius, a junior, and is constantly struggling with how he sees himself and who he wants to be. He is hopelessly in love with rugby, danger, trouble, and his best friend Annie. He lives his life repeating his one mantra: I am such a loser. Recently banished to O-Hall (Opportunity Hall), his whole complicated life becomes even more complex with new friends and freshly made enemies. Riddled with lessons on being accepted and learning to accept others, this book is an interesting voice in the trials of growing up.

“Nothing could possibly suck worse than being a junior in high school, alone at the top of your class, and fourteen years old all at the same time. So the only way I braced up for those agonizing first weeks of the semester, and made myself feel any better about my situation, was by telling myself that it had to be better than being a senior at fifteen.”

I liked this book. I didn't love it and I definitely didn't hate it. I just liked it. From a female’s perspective, I found this book incredibly enlightening in the ways of the male species. The voice of Ryan Dean seemed very realistic, though I cannot be sure, on a boy’s thoughts. This book was also nothing short of hilarious. On multiple occasions it had me laughing out loud. That’s the good. Now for the bad: Winger is was not light of the language department. I can’t say that the language was overblown, because let’s face it: High school students are not the most clean-mouthed of people. I would've appreciated it being turned down a notch, though. If it was any other book, I would've put it down before Chapter 2, were it not so refreshingly hysterical. I am also not so much on victimization- in people or in the characters of books. People who downgrade themselves by repeating, for example, “I am such a loser”, are not very attractive to me. But for some reason, it did not bother me as much in this book. In short, Winger is not usually something I would read, let alone like. But the point of view of the character and the thoughts of the author were so realistic and succinctly truthful that it was too interesting not to finish.

Overall, this book was good and worth reading–just not worth loving. I really liked the main character’s beliefs on the world and the people living in it. This book about one boy growing up showed me that the thing that makes us different from everyone else is not necessarily the thing that defines us.

“Joey told me nothing ever goes back exactly the way it was, that things expand and contract–like breathing, but you could never fill your lungs with the same air twice."