Review: Narrative Loserdom by Ryan Collins

Reading Level: Young Adult
Publisher: CreateSpace
First book in possible series

Justin Taggart doesn’t know anything (about being a loser). He likes girls and plays sports and has some friends. Unfortunately his fear of rejection outweighs his ability to deal with these well. Mostly there’s Sterling, the girl of his dreams who knows how to stop his heart by not knowing he likes her. Another thing is trying to get money with Adam, who’s rich anyway so it’s more about hanging out. As for Justin, he makes ends meet by mowing people’s yards with Adam, and sometimes by breaking into vending machines and selling late-night cable programming to peers (also with Adam). But it’s not like he doesn’t feel bad about it, since Jesus died for his sins. School is pretty terrible with all the work and practice, but there are a few people there worth mentioning. Anyone who picks up his journal will be in for something, if they feel like getting through a lot of grammar and spelling problems. They’ll probably end up seeing that they shouldn’t have looked at it anyway, because this is someone’s private anthem of girls, grass, and loserdom.

Narrative Loserdom is a book written in diary entries. The diary entries of Justin Taggart a 16 year old boy who lives in Texas. It explains what happens to him in basically one year but it does slow down a little when he stops writing as much which I didn't like. Another thing I didn't like was how it bounces back and forth between past and present a little to much especially towards the end.

Justin was a very interesting character. I really liked him he was relatable and since it was his diary I felt that we got to know him pretty well. He also seemed very real almost to a point where I totally thought this could be someones real life that was just made into a book. I didn't really understand his relationship with his besfriend Adam all they did was try to make money doing very interesting things and mowing lawns but in the end I thought they liked each other well enough. I did think that they should have spent more time doing school so that they could get out of the boring town that they lived in. Justin's crush on Sterling was cute but it got a little creepy sometimes I doubt he was really in love with her.

Overall I really enjoyed this book I've never read anything like it. I hope that there's a second one because I really want to know what happen to Justin and his friends next.
3.5 out 5 stars

-Marissa