How to Win at High School

by Owen Matthews

[Leah]

HarperTeen are one of my favourite publishers, if only because I am pre-approved for all of their titles, and since they add 10 or so titles every couple of months, that’s a pretty great thing to celebrate. One of the titles I downloaded was How To Win At High School and when I was flicking through my Kindle, wondering what to read next, I saw two things: firstly, that the novel has 371 chapters which literally blew my mind, and secondly, the first chapter only had one line to it. I was intrigued! I wanted to know what was going on, and as it turns out, a novel with short chapters (two pages is the longest chapter) keep you hooked, because the chapters just end in the middle of a scene. Which is a good thing, sure, but also sucks if you like to sleep (which I do).

How To Win At High School is pretty much the definitive guide to winning at high school. Kind of. It depends if you go to the kind of exlusive preppy sort of school Adam lands in. I also wouldn’t really advise doing what Adam does, because a lot of it is illegal and some of it will get you kicked out of school (if you don’t get arrested for the illegal stuff, obvs). So while I can’t recommend the book and say go do this and you’ll be king of your high school, it is a bizarrely entertaining read for imagining yourself in Adam’s shoes. What he does, and how he strives to be king of Nixon Collegiate is applaud-worthy (and sometimes icky). Because, let’s be honest, we all want to be the popular kid in school and you have to be a lucky SOB to be that kid. I wasn’t, and probably never would be, so it was nice to egg Adam on in my head as he came up with more ways to please the Gods and Goddesses at Nixon.

I’ve never been so blown away by a novel. Adam does a lot wrong especially in regards to how he treats his actual friends, as well as his poor brother Sam but I could then also see why he just couldn’t bring himself to stop his Pizza Man enterprises, because it must be like an addiction, to be wanted by people; to be needed by people; to make money off these lazy rich kids and be one of the pack. Did I want Adam to fall on his butt? Yes, eventually, because he does get too big for his boots, but I was addicted to the novel as Adam was addicted to being popular. It was sort of like witnessing a car crash. I knew it was wrong to keep staring, but I just couldn’t stop myself.

I actually cannot get over how much I enjoyed How To Win At High School. From the crazy unique way of telling the story, and the hundreds and hundreds of chapters and the fact Adam loved Scarface, which I’ve never seen (I have homework, I know). Owen Matthews pays homage to another writer Don Winslow in his acknowledgements who also stylizes his books the way How To Win At High School was stylized, so I’ll definitely be checking him out, and I hope this is the first of many, many YA novels for Owen Matthews. He hit the scene perfectly, and it’s one of the most impressive books I’ve ever read and already a favourite for 2015.