The book slogs a bit in it's first half, as it blazes the same trail as other contemporary novels covering the plight of high school students. Every move she makes and even her appearance have been calculated for effect she's cold in a sympathetic way. She wants befriend a handicapped student because it will make her look forgiving. Lorelei provides the best laughs early in the novel because her every action has been researched. Mike's as a last resort, and Lorelei Paskal who is desperate to be popular.

The narrative focuses on three freshman: Peter Davidek, the affable every man protagonist Noah Stein, a tragically scarred bruiser with a heart of gold whose short temper led him to St. Beatings and violence are treated casually, as they will end at some point, but teasing lasts forever. They're all paralyzed by fear of being ridiculed. Mike's feel a lot like the real people you went to school with, but amped to the extreme. The novel stands starkly apart from the dearth of so-called 'young adult' style novels that follow the familiar paths of students facing a year in high school. The first years get a front row seat for the worst case scenario and spend the rest of the year carefully navigating the thorny social situations they want to avoid becoming the next 'boy on the roof.' The story opens with a student who's escaped onto the roof he's completely snapped from the school's near constant bullying and badgering. Freshman see survival as the paramount concern. They've decided to control hazing by allowing it to thrive at the school's annual picnic, a well-intentioned idea that produces feelings of dread among the first year student that lasts most of the year. Faculty members are mostly apathetic and absent, turning a blind eye to the violence and degradation among the students.

Students have formed an iron-clad caste system between freshman, juniors and seniors.

Saint Michael the Archangel High School, a private Catholic institution nestled in a leafy suburb of Pittsburgh, teeters on the edge of chaos. This novel will stir memories inside of you, both positive and negative, ably placing it among-though admittedly above-the dearth of stories available about the emergence of early adulthood. You're at the mercy of adults who are probably learning parenthood on the fly, grist for the proverbial mill of whatever school system you're attending, and a potential target for your classmates who view your head as a rung on the social ladder.

By Eric tough to be young, and that's the base of Anthony Breznican's debut novel, Brutal Youth, out tomorrow from Thomas Dunne Books.

Brutal youth a novel anthony breznican