Written by a rich 17yo about a bunch of rich teenagers in New York + drugs. I gave it an extra star for the ending.

Always love it when friends hand me random things to read.
Didn't see this one coming... Thanks Ralf!
Not an easy thing to translate a slang-ridden New York tale of affluence and youthful disenchantment into German and not make it sound like an A-Team rerun on ZDF. Congrats Thomas Gunkel!
"Als Chris aufwacht, beschließt er, lieber ein paar Kondome zu kaufen, für den Fall, das er's Heute Nacht treibt. Das er mit einer Tussi Popo. Ihr das Hirn rausvögelt. Sie wundvögelt. Sie richtig durchvögelt. Sie von hinten vögelt. Sie gnadenlos vögelt. Es ihr besorgt. Ihn bei ihr wegsteckt. Ihn reinsteckt. Ihr das Loch zusteckt. Es ihr steckt. Sie nagelt. Sie fickt. Sie bumst. Pimpelt. Das alte Rein-Raus spielt."
The book itself surprises nor disappoints. An impressive feat for a seventeen year-old on any score.

Meh. It was written in a weird style. If you're into that whole upper east side prep school kid kinda thing this is a good look at the gruesome side of that. I definetly loved the ending just because it was absolutely ridiculous. I dunno. I wasn't throughly impressed. Didn't strike me as one of those classic coming of ages stories.

Oh, come on, people! I hear McDonell got this published because his parents are wealthy & in the publishing industry in NY. Nevertheless, could you have written something like this when you were 17? Hm? Could you write something this good now? I'm sure I couldn't. So yeah, I liked it! I hated the end. Other than that, good job. The book reminds me of impressionist painting - though I wouldn't elevate it to that level of artistry. But the speed at which it's presented, the sketched-in details about New York City, the quality of "light" (or darkness) you can almost see & feel, & the almost one-dimensional or cartoonish depiction of characters made me think of an impressionist painting, or maybe a poem more than a novel. White Mike the sober drug dealer is the only character who stands out a little bit more, & I think he is a memorable character, though maybe not an entirely believable one - but it proves that this novel succeeds on some level. You'll remember it even if you don't like it. I thought the blankness of the character development was actually somewhat deliberate on the writer's part - he's showing us that there isn't any "there" there. While the kids that he's writing about aren't "bad" for the most part, they really are sort of empty, & that's frightening too. There are little touches here that are great though - the little stoner kids going to the grocery store & eating the crackers & Marshmallow Fluff - Molly jumping rope in her room because it's the thing she's been good at since she was a child - Andrew taking four hours to get ready to go to the party - three hours of that sitting around watching TV & checking the mirror. I think it's pretty hard to write well about things that are so small and yet so real. They say when you start to write, you should write about what you know, & I think McDonell has done that. So for those who say this is a book about nothing & people with no lives - I say exactly - and that's why it's so frightening. Hm - maybe it helps having grown up with upper middle class kids in Connecticut in the 80's! If you think this book is bad, go read some Danielle Steele. Seriously.

I was running out of things to read when I picked up this book. I have never lived a lifestyle full of parties and drugs, not even when I was younger, and I don't find it glamourous or particularly enticing. When everyone was killed at the end of the book, I couldn't even muster a slight bit of sympathy. I wouldn't recommend it.

What inspired to read it was the fact athat it was written by a seventeen year old, and the mind of a seventeen year old seemed an adventurous place to spend a few hours.

I must confess however, that I watched the movie first, (I know, cardinal sin!) so the reading of this book was really a study on how it was interpreted by the movie.I already knew the mainn character,White Mike, before I opened the book, and the things he did or said either did or did not agree with the character in my mind.

The book was a quick, light read, even though the topic itself wasn't light. A curiosity.

Quick read that got me through boring down time at work. It's nothing mind blowing, but was enjoyable enough for something written by a 17 year old.

Ich habe das Buch für Fracki gelesen und bin überrascht, dass es doch nicht so schlimm war, wie erwartet. Das bedeutet jedoch nicht zwangsläufig, dass es gut war. Ich bin beeindruckt, dass ein siebzehnjähriger solch ein Buch schreiben konnte, aber für mich war es nicht das Beste. Das Ende war ziemlich enttäuschend und auch irgendwie vorhersehbar. Ich mochte, dass es verschiedene Erzählperspektiven gab, für mich waren es schon fast zu viele.

Alles in allem ist es ein Buch, das gut geschrieben ist für einen siebzehnjährigen Autor, aber nichts Weltbewegendes für einen Leser.

So good. It was brilliantly paced - I couldn't put it down and it was such a good and fascinating bunch of people that you actually felt like the description of the New York's upper east side excesses was actually accurate. This was brilliant.

The ending, however, was a little too contrived for me. I thought a less climactic ending would've sufficed much better but in any case, it was very good.