100 Sideways Miles Review

100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith 

Title: 100 Sideways Miles

Author: Andrew Smith

Series: None

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date: September 2, 2014

Genre: Realistic Fiction; Romance; Fiction; Contemporary; Coming of Age; Young Adult

Pages: 277

Format: Hardcover
goodreads

Finn Easton sees the world through miles instead of minutes. It’s how he makes sense of the world, and how he tries to convince himself that he’s a real boy and not just a character in his father’s bestselling cult-classic book. Finn has two things going for him: his best friend, the possibly-insane-but-definitely-excellent Cade Hernandez, and Julia Bishop, the first girl he’s ever loved.

Then Julia moves away, and Finn is heartbroken. Feeling restless and trapped in the book, Finn embarks on a road trip with Cade to visit their college of choice in Oklahoma. When an unexpected accident happens and the boys become unlikely heroes, they take an eye-opening detour away from everything they thought they had planned—and learn how to write their own destiny.

The world is different to Finn Easton. He has hetero-chromatic eyes, time is measured in miles instead of minutes, and Finn’s atoms are ancient. Plagued by sporadic seizures, Finn is desperately trying to prove he’s not a character living a predetermined plot-line from one of his father’s books. Cade Hernandez, Finn’s best friend, is everything Finn isn't: hilarious, charismatic, well-versed in the ways of females, and totally fearless. They’re surviving in their boring California town until Julia Bishop shows up and messes everything up, including Finn. Julia is anything but in Finn’s league. She’s beautiful, smart, and different. As Finn falls in love with Julia, his life and his world inexplicably change and will never return to normal again.

I loved this book! 100 Sideways Miles perfectly captures the essence of teen angst and (I am purely guessing on this but I assume it is true) what is means to be a teenage boy struggling to escape the bounds of his father’s footsteps.

This is book is so imaginative, it actually hurts. Let me give you one out of about a million examples of what I’m talking about:

“Here is what I believe: Distance is more important than time.

The earth travels about twenty miles every second. 

It's easy enough to figure out: π, our distance from the sun, three hundred sixty-five days, and there you go. 

Twenty miles per second.”

I mean, come on! How can you get any more creative than that?

The only other book I’ve read by Smith was Winger. Like Winger, there was a quality in 100 Sideway Miles that attracts me like a dazed moth to a flickering flame, but I just can’t for the life of me name what it is. I adored Winger and 100 Sideways Miles, but I wish I could say why I loved them so much. Smith always puts something in his books. At this point, it very well could be honest-to-God magic that he injects into his stories.

Smith definitely has a talent. His characters are perfectly messed-up and chaotically complex. His themes are edgy and gritty. His words put on a performance that makes me want to give a standing ovation when the curtain falls. So, Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in giving a round of applause to Andrew Smith for his brilliant book-making. *raucous applause ensues*