$16.99 ... That's a strange statement, but you hear it all the time at the Kentucky Club. While Max is told to never do drugs, his father encourages him to casually drink. This book is heart-achingly beautiful and phenomenally written. They then head back to Neto's parents' house, where Brian spends the night. She teaches him English and prioritizes his education, while also leaving him for days and spending a lot of time at home sinking in depression. In a newspaper clipping, he sees that Tom has been arrested for trying to fake his own death and he is relieved to hear that Tom is still alive. They have sex in her apartment in Juarez twice, where they argue over him not taking his shirt off. There, he encounters Brian Stillman and they reflect on their nasty relationship during high school. Enticing thoughts. He's been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and PEN Center's prestigious award for young adult fiction. Some days it smells like piss. this was completely deserving of the pen faulker (much like his YA adult deserved the slew of awards it got this year). One night he visits a bar and leaves with an older woman, Sylvia. After he receives news about Tom's death, Michael recalls the uniqueness of their relationship, from how they met to the strange intimacy that developed between the two. While driving through the rain on a highway, Neto reminisces about his last few months of high school and the summer after. Just like his mother, Maximiliano's father is also a drug dealer and addict, funding Max's education and eventual move to Georgetown University with the drug money.
I really loved it. Neto leaves without confronting them and masturbates to the image of them that night. I felt like I had to understand by default what had ruined the lives of the narrators’ parents. i thought the use of the kentucky club was almost unnecessary--all the stories would have felt related even if they didn't all stop by the same bar (although in the last story he flips this very idea on its head a bit) and it felt at times like a slightly silly literary ploy, but i forgive this book all its minor flaws for how deeply i loved its characters. [1][2] In addition, all seven stories touch in some way on themes of survival, of trying to live through pain, grief and loss and of the struggle to find and maintain love, both within the protagonists' birth families and in their sexual or romantic relationships. There is an earnest kind of love that fades with the tragic end.