ARC Review: The Tragic Age

Title: The Tragic Age: A Novel
Author: Stephen Matcalfe
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: March 3, 2015
Source: ARC from publisher via Goodreads First Reads giveaway program
Rating: ☆☆

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This is the story of Billy Kinsey, heir to a lottery fortune, part genius, part philosopher and social critic, full time insomniac and closeted rock drummer. Billy has decided that the best way to deal with an absurd world is to stay away from it. Do not volunteer. Do not join in. Billy will be the first to tell you it doesn’t always work— not when your twin sister, Dorie, has died, not when your unhappy parents are at war with one another, not when frazzled soccer moms in two ton SUVs are more dangerous than atom bombs, and not when your guidance counselor keeps asking why you haven’t applied to college.
　
Billy’s life changes when two people enter his life. Twom Twomey is a charismatic renegade who believes that truly living means going a little outlaw. Twom and Billy become one another’s mutual benefactor and friend. At the same time, Billy is reintroduced to Gretchen Quinn, an old and adored friend of Dorie’s. It is Gretchen who suggests to Billy that the world can be transformed by　creative acts of the soul.　

With Twom, Billy visits the dark side. And with Gretchen, Billy experiences possibilities.Billy knows that one path is leading him toward disaster and the other toward happiness. The problem is—Billy doesn’t trust happiness. It's the age he's at.  The tragic age. 

Stephen Metcalfe's brilliant, debut coming-of-age novel, The Tragic Age, will teach you to learn to love, trust and truly be alive in an absurd world.

The Friday 56 (12)

The Friday 56 is a weekly bookish meme hosted over at Freda's Voice. The rules are easy  to follow, and this is a great way to share books with other bloggers.

So what do you need to do to participate in The Friday 56?

• Go to page 56 (or 56% for e-readers like Kindle and Nook) of the book you're currently reading
• Grab a few sentences to share with your blog's readers, but be sure not to spoil anything too major
• Add your name to the link-up on Freda's blog

This week, I've been reading an advance copy of The Tragic Age by Stephen Metcalfe that I won through the Goodreads First Read program. I'll be reviewing it as soon as I'm finished reading, which will probably be soon because I only have about one hundred pages left to finish. Keep your eyes peeled within the next week if you're curious to find out more about the book and what I thought of it.

The following is dialogue from one of the book's characters, Twom Twomey. He's pretty strange, but I like him so far.

"'Okay, dude, it's like this. My folks are messed up, okay? They're fucking derelicts. The only reason they stay together is because nobody else would have them. Living with relatives is pretty much all I do. Okay?'"