Skip to main content

Review of WINGER

Cover art taken from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11861815-winger.
Ryan Dean West (known by his rugby nickname “Winger”) is a 14-year-old junior at a strict boarding school. As if being two years younger than his classmates isn’t bad enough, he’s been assigned to Opportunity Hall (the school’s punishment dorm), so he’s having to adjust to life without his usual roommates while sharing a room with one of the rugby team’s biggest jerks. Ryan Dean is also in love with his best friend, Annie, but he worries that she’ll never see him as anything more than a cute little kid. Just as things are starting to look up for Winger, tragedy strikes and he must figure out how to navigate high school without his moral compass.
“You know, nothing ever goes back exactly the way it was. Things just expand and contract. Like the universe, like breathing. But you’ll never fill your lungs up with the same air twice. Sometimes, it would be cool if you could pause and rewind and do over. But I think anyone would get tired of that after one or two times.” (p. 367-368)
Winger is hilariously irreverent, but it’s not for the faint of heart. As Ryan Dean says to himself on page 174, “Your head is a freaking watering hole in the desert of purity for all things perverted,” and the book is an unfiltered look inside that so-called oasis. If you aren’t easily offended by a stream of consciousness-style unloading of impure thoughts and curse words, however, Winger is worth reading as a cautionary tale about the dangers of toxic masculinity. My only complaint is that Smith doesn’t explore the aftermath of the tragedy more fully, but this terseness does serve a purpose by drawing attention to the reluctance of many males to discuss heavy emotional issues.
80382
Rugby is a critical element in Winger, but most Americans know little to nothing about the sport. If you’d like to learn more about rugby, read Deadspin’s guide at https://deadspin.com/the-complete-guide-to-understanding-rugby-1796388722.

Smith, A. & Bosma, S. (2013). Winger. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Infographic Adventure

Image by UnboxScience on Pixabay I have been intrigued by infographics since I first started to notice them seven or eight years ago. A French teacher at the time, I was excited by the possibilities French infographics presented as authentic input that was significantly less intimidating to students than a text-only article. What was intimidating about them, however, was the thought of trying to make one myself. A few times over the years I thought I might try to tackle an infographic syllabus for my courses - always during that fleeting, golden moment of end-of-summer motivation - but each time I abandoned the idea after a few half-hearted attempts. This is just too hard , I thought. And then my Internet for School Librarians course required that I create an infographic. *Gulp* Being an over-achieving, grade-grubbing perfectionist, I knew I had no choice but to finally overcome my intimidation. Luckily, aspiring infographic designers do not need to purchase or learn complica...
3 comments
Read more

Review of THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO

Cover art taken from  http://www.candlewick.com/cat.asp?mode=book&isbn=0763676187&browse= . Todd is an orphan who has been raised by family friends in the New World settlement of Prentisstown, which was founded by colonists looking for an alternative to life on Earth. Life in Prentisstown in difficult- all of the women have been killed by an alien germ, and all of the men have been infected with Noise – the inescapable ability to hear other men’s every thought. On the verge of his thirteenth birthday, when Todd will officially become a man according to Prentisstown tradition, he discovers a frighteningly quiet spot. The truth behind this quiet is so dangerous that Todd, his talking dog Manchee, and a mysterious new arrival are soon running for their lives from the men of Prentisstown. Can they reach safety in time, and can they save the other settlements of New World from the army at their heels? “The world’s a dangerous place when you don’t know enough.” (p. 142...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review of OUT OF DARKNESS

Cover art taken from  http://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2015/09/book-review-out-of-darkness-by-ashley-hope-perez/ . Naomi is a high school senior whose father died before she was born and whose mother died after giving birth to Naomi’s twin half-siblings, Beto and Cari. After being raised by their grandparents in San Antonio for the past decade, the twins’ father, Henry, finds Jesus and decides his family needs to live with him in East Texas. They are enrolled in the New London School for the 1936 school year, where Naomi endures taunts of the “dirty Mexican” variety; she puts up with this and many more indignities so that the twins (who can pass for white) will have the opportunities afforded by their state-of-the-art new school. Naomi finds solace in her friendship and budding romance with Wash, but they must keep their relationship secret because Wash is African-American. When tragedy strikes the school, a grief-stricken community looks for a scapegoat, and Naomi and Wash...
Post a Comment
Read more