King of the Screwups |  | Author: K. L. Going
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
List Price: $17.00
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as of 11/23/2009 15:33 CST details
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Seller: AmbrosiasBooks
Rating:  41 reviews
Sales Rank: 175135
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 0152062580
EAN: 9780152062583
ASIN: 0152062580
Publication Date: April 6, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Liam Geller is Mr. Popularity. Everybody loves him. He excels at sports; he knows exactly what clothes to wear; he always ends up with the most beautiful girls in school. But he's got an uncanny ability to screw up in the very ways that tick off his father the most.
When Liam finally kicked out of the house, his father's brother takes him in. What could a teenage chick magnet possibly have in common with his gay, glam rocker, DJ uncle who lives in a trailer in upstate New York? A lot more than you'd think. And when Liam attempts to make himself over as a nerd in a desperate attempt to impress his father, it's his "aunt" Pete and the guys in his band who convince Liam there's much more to him than his father will ever see.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 41
"You can't create love...you just have to take it wherever you find it." August 10, 2009
Hippie2MARS (Tennessee)
I guess this is aimed at the "young adult" audience, but I read this book in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. Liam is a 17 year-old with a serious self-esteem problem, for which he can thank his emotionally abusive father. Banished to live with his cross-dressing, gay uncle in a trailer park, Liam sets out to reinvent himself as an unpopular teen, hoping that will finally convince his father he is worthy of his love. (His father has repeatedly admonished Liam's "screw-ups" with "Do you think being Mr. Popularity will be enough to to get you by in life?)
Unfortunately, Liam can't quite pull off the transformation. In trying to deny who he really is, he finally finds himself. The characters tend to be one dimensional in this book, especially his parents. However that doesn't make them less real. Liam's struggle to overcome the years of hearing his father's words playing over and over in his mind is poignant, and maddening at times.
There is a sprinkling of foul language in the book, as well as references to sex and drinking. I REALLY wanted to see Liam's father get his comeuppance, but alas, it was not to be. I also wanted his lovely, free-spirted mother to be set free. Disappointed there too. But then, this is Liam's story, not theirs.
I truly enjoyed this book, which really surprised me. I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a light, compelling read.
 Really three and a half stars July 15, 2009
SarahP (Iowa)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have some quibbles with this one, but I did enjoy it quite a lot. Liam is beautiful and popular, and he has major father issues and a problem with self-sabotage, so he's sent away to spend his senior year living in a messy trailer owned by his "Aunt Pete," a musician. The book is about Liam figuring out who he is and realizing that he's actually been suffering from emotional abuse for years, that he's not the giant screw-up he thinks he is. I really enjoyed that part of the story, particularly Liam's engagement with fashion and his fearlessness about being a straight boy who loves clothes and loves to make other people look good. I also appreciated his Uncle Pete and the other guys in Pete's band. Pete has his own arc, his own struggles with having this kid dropped into his life. What I didn't like so much is that Liam is pretty much a Gary Stu character--he's so beautiful and charming that everybody likes him instantly. Some of his attempts to be not-popular seemed to me more like farce than realistic fiction. On the whole, though, a good read with some surprising emotional depths.
Screwed-up Indeed July 6, 2009
B. Niedt (Cherry Hill, NJ United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Liam Geller is a self-described screw-up. No matter that his mother is a former supermodel, his dad is a successful CEO, and he is a walking fashion ad and one of the most popular kids in school. Liam is not a stellar student, and he has a knack for making bad decisions and getting himself into hot water. What's more, senior year is approaching and he is floating rudderless in the sea of life. When Dad catches him in a particularly embarrassing situation, it's the last straw, and Liam is sent to spend "a few weeks" (likely much longer) with Dad's estranged brother, a cross-dressing, glam-rocking DJ whom Liam calls "Aunt Pete". Stranded in a jerkwater town and living in a cluttered trailer with Pete, Liam decides he needs to make a fresh start at his new school and reinvent himself as a geeky, "unpopular" student (to please his dad, he rationalizes). But as he observes, he even manages to screw this up, because no matter how hard he tries, he still attracts the popular, football-player/cheerleader crowd. He also is on a mission to impress his new next-door neighbor, a social outcast named Darlene, with how "uncool" he is. Liam's slow progress toward coming of age and understanding himself and his strengths is the crux of this book. And it's not a bad read - rather poignant at times and funny at others (though not nearly as funny as the back-cover blurb suggests). If only Liam were a more likable character: he seems annoyingly self-obsessed and often clueless throughout the book. Although he eventually matures and finds some direction (suffice to say he accepts being more like his mom in career aspirations than his disapproving dad), it's so obvious that you wonder what took him so long. As far as the audience is concerned, the book contains moderate profanity and several sexual references (including a rather mature scene with the main character early in the book), so I wouldn't recommend it to a reader under age 14.
 Wondeful Young Adult Fiction! June 25, 2009
Kevin Hunter (Los Angeles, CA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Going creates an engaging cast of characters . . . Liam is a complex character whose development into a sympathetic, real person is compelling.
Charming narrator, heart-wrenching story June 21, 2009
lore (Neverwhere)
Liam is the privileged child of a powerful businessman and a mother who used to be a top supermodel. From a very young age, Liam has been disappointing his no-nonsense father even as his mother shows him everything about the modeling and fashion worlds. As a 17-year-old, Liam has partied his way into a DUI, bad grades and a reputation for sleeping around. He feels like a perpetual screw-up and isn't surprised when his father kicks him out of the house for good.
His mother manages to help him land at "Aunt Pete's", rather than his strict grandparents. Aunt Pete is a gay glam rocker who lives in a trailer park and DJs at night and Liam's father hates him. Liam decides that the only way he can win his father's respect is by becoming the most studious, unpopular person possible at his new high school. If only Liam's attempts at unpopularity didn't keep completely backfiring....
The story is told in first-person from Liam's point of view, including flashbacks to his past and some of his greatest "screw-ups", and it's impossible not to identify in some way with the poor kid. The story is peppered with plenty of well-drawn secondary characters; unfortunately, some of the side plots are aren't as thoroughly fleshed out as the characters involved in them.
While the narrative swept me along from beginning to end, I had a nagging feeling that something was missing almost from the very beginning of the story, and I still felt that way by its end. I never was able to put my finger on it, but I believe it had something to do with only getting Liam's first-person account of things. I suppose I wished I could read more of the story from different angles.
Nevertheless, I certainly enjoyed the read and the intense immersion into Liam's world. The dialog, while peppered with strong language, is effortless, unlike other YA first-person books I can think of ("Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" coming to mind first).
This book is quite unlike any other young adult book that I've read, in both spirit and attitude, and that's saying something, considering the multitude I've read. I'll be keeping an eye out for K.L. Going books from now on.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 41
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