Reviewed by Leah on
At first I was a little unsure over Brutal Youth. It’s not a young adult novel, it’s more of a literary novel, and it’s a very wordy novel, with a shedload of characters to get used to in such a short space of time, and it took me a while to get into the book, but it’s actually one of the most stellar novels I’ve ever read. It was clever, it was witty and amusing and sad, all at the same time, and it was also kinda scary because although it may be fiction, it’s also scarily real. I’m super pleased I went to Secondary School when I did, because it was nothing like the events of St Michael’s, and if it was, I probably wouldn’t have survived. The novel opens with one of the most ridiculously amazing Prologue’s I will ever read – no other novel can beat a Prologue that features a crazy, tormented kid going up on to the roof of the school building, and downing all the statues that sit atop the roof. It’s just BEDLAM. A sort of preview to what it is to come in the novel, with fingers being removed (ew), glass jars being thrown at students, and just absolute utter chaos. The sort of chaos that would lend itself to a very beautiful opening to a movie, actually.
I actually admired Breznican’s writing. It’s honest, it’s bloody brutal, but it’s unflinching. Breznican does not paper over high school as this easy, glossy time, filled with rainbows and magical butterflies and fairies. Instead, the school year at St Michael’s is akin to a WAR, the seniors vs the freshmen and people doing their level best not to get caught in the middle. The novel just has SO MUCH going on, you can barely keep up and for a novel the size of Brutal Youth that’s a very good thing indeed. Breznican doesn’t just focus on one character, or two, but ALL of them. Teachers, parents, students, they all get to have their day, but the most important ones to me were Davidek and Stein. They were the two I rooted for, the ones I loved being back with, time and time again, and the ones I feared for the most. All the rest was just an added bonus, to sort of be able to get an overview of all the other things happening in the school, but it was Davidek and Stein I cared for the most. None of the characters in Brutal Youth are ones you can call likeable – in fact, they’re all downright unlikeable, but Davidek and Stein were different. I liked them, I wanted them to win, I wanted them to show the awful seniors that they couldn’t just bully them like the other freshmen allowed, and I admired Stein’s abilities to go around irritating the seniors, and making them scared of him. In the same way, I also admired Hannah Kraut, for being ingenious enough to do what she does to stop herself being tormented. It takes guts to pull off what she did, but pull it off she did.
Once I got into the novel, I really got into it. I was fascinated and horrified by what I was reading. I thought I was bullied when I was at school, but it’s nothing like how the students at St Michael’s acts. I had it easy, in comparison, to the hazing and the treatment and just everything at St Michael’s. It was as if the whole school was poisoned by the “hazing” mentality and it did make me wince to see teachers who could not care less, even going so far as to say it was tradition. No one wanted to take responsibility and it was quite frightening, but utterly absorbing. Like watching a car crash. You know you shouldn’t look, but you just can’t help it. The culmination of the entire novel at Graduation was quite something, I was equally dreading and really looking forward to Hannah Kraut’s great, big reveal and to see how such a novel could really end (in fact, I was super disappointed it had to end, because I honestly could have read for so much longer than I did because it was simply THAT captivating). But I felt Breznican handled it well – firmly, but delicately and he ended it in a very satisfying way. It’s not a happy-ever-after kind of book, but it was a satisfying conclusion.
My only complaints would be this: Firstly, after what Lorelei does, I felt she should have got her come-uppance big time because it’s her two-faced behaviour that started one of the most devastating scenes in the novel that left me feeling bereft and I felt she got no come-uppance and felt no remorse for her actions. Secondly, there was an incident with Stein, and he doesn’t really feature in the last half of the book which personally was a disappointment as I loved his character so much. But really those are personal observations and the Stein thing is because I hanker for happy-ever-afters as that’s kinda my thing, but I can understand why he went, even if I didn’t like it and wished it was different. I absolutely loved Brutal Youth. I loved how nothing was ever black or white and it was always multiple shades of grey, and I just very much admire Breznican’s storytelling abilities – any writer who can weave such a sordid, multi-character novel is a writer who I can admire and applaud and Breznican handled it deftly and with seeming ease. The novel never wavered, never slowed the pace, and I was absolutely riveted from beginning to end. I am mighty curious as to whether Breznican would consider a sequel – because I do feel there are still untold stories from St Michael’s and I, for one, would read a sequel especially if Davidek and Stein return… This is a novel like no other, and I can only tell you that Stephen King said it better than I ever could – it’s a helluva tale!
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 3 June, 2014: Finished reading
- 3 June, 2014: Reviewed