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Boy Toy

by Barry Lyga

4.05 · rating details · 1,953 ratings · 393 reviews

Josh Mendel has a secret. Unfortunately, everyone knows what it is.Five years ago, Josh’s life changed. Drastically. And everyone in his school, his town—seems like the world—thinks they understand. But they don’t—they can’t. And now, about to graduate from high school, Josh is still trying to sort through the pieces. First there’s Rachel, the girl he thought he’d lost yea...more

Hardcover, 410 pages

Published September 24th 2007 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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May 20, 2009

Jackie "the Librarian" rated it

Shelves: youngadult, controversial

Josh was sexually abused by his history teacher, Evelyn Sherman, when he was twelve, for months. It's five years later, and he's still haunted by what happened, even though the teacher went to jail. He gets straight A's, does well playing baseball, but his personal life is nonexistent.
The only person he trusts is his best friend Zik, because Zik never asks about what happened. And that's good, because Josh doesn't really know, exactly. He doesn't know what he's angry at, or WHO he's angry...more

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Jun 28, 2008

Claire Scott added it

Shelves: depressing-or-just-plain-sad, ya

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I disliked reading Boy Toy so much that I don't think I can rate its overall quality. I had to force myself to finish reading it, and then by the neatly-wrapped-up ending I didn't feel any less uncomfortable. So all thoughts below say more about my gut reaction than how good the book is.

Other reviews have already discussed the plot, so I'll leave that alone. Here are the things that I found hardest to deal with, and I think several of them may be related to Josh's narrative voice.
...moreI disliked reading Boy Toy so much that I don't think I can rate its overall quality. I had to force myself to finish reading it, and then by the neatly-wrapped-up ending I didn't feel any less uncomfortable. So all thoughts below say more about my gut reaction than how good the book is.

Other reviews have already discussed the plot, so I'll leave that alone. Here are the things that I found hardest to deal with, and I think several of them may be related to Josh's narrative voice.

First, both the characters and the author seem to implicate Josh's mom as the cause of all of this: when she goes back to work instead of staying home until Josh is ready for college, Josh becomes a potential victim for Eve. Every story contains "if only"s, but this one really does come back to the mom's choice to work, and several of the characters repeat this idea over and over in case the reader forgets it. And then when everything is found out, the mom gets angry (sure) but doesn't ever develop into a three-dimensional character. Is it just that Josh isn't an omnipotent narrator and only sees limited parts of his mom's personality? Totally possible.

Along those same lines, is it Josh's narrative voice that lingers on the fantasy-like details of the sex/seduction scenes? It totally read like MILF-themed porn, and the narrator kept the darkness of Josh's later trauma out of the descriptions. It was hard to remember, in fact, that the experience was supposed to be traumatic at all. This was clearly the author's informed choice -- to show that Josh really felt like he had agency, not like he was being molested, I guess -- but I wonder how many teen boys reading it will think "gosh, that really is inappropriate" and how many will jerk off? Maybe that's intentional too, to take them along for the ride... but I didn't like it. Along the same lines -- taking them along for the ride -- it's pretty sudden when Josh confronts Eve and she tells him that it was a calculated game for her, that she picked him out as a victim early on and was fucking with him all along (no pun intended). That explicit confession was a little surprising, as was the miraculous effect it had on Josh, who's then able to go and have beautiful, non-triggery sex with Rachel in the park that night. Does it really all resolve for him that quickly? I just had a hard time believing it.

Overall, I had a hard time with the representations of women in the book. The mom causes all the trouble by working in the first place. The hot teacher is actually an evil seductress (named Eve). The best friend's girlfriend is a gorgeous and sweet but vapid popular girl who's never had to worry about anything in her life because she has a great body. And the girl-next-door who becomes his girlfriend, the only female character the reader's encouraged to respect, is "just one of the guys". Again, maybe this is Josh's limited viewpoint and the reader is supposed to recognize it as such. I hope. (less)

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May 09, 2008

Krista rated it

Shelves: young-adult-lit

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Speak vs. Boy Toy: Sexual Assault Narratives in YA Literature

At the heart of young adult literature is the balance to present stories that both cater to a teen’s desire for escapist fantasy and tangible realism. However, as research in the field has focused on in recent years, literature targeted at young adults has become increasingly more serious in subject and tone. Choosing to forego the cliché “happy-go-lucky” nature of fluff that discusses dating, parties, and other mis-advent...more

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Jan 31, 2008

Abby Johnson rated it

This book was disturbing and super compelling. I seriously could not put it down. The story starts when Josh is 18. He's messed up. No, I mean really messed up. When he was 12, his history teacher sexually abused him. And what's worse? Her detailed confession made its way on to the internet and Josh is sure that all of his classmates and teachers know exactly what he did with her. And what's WORSE? Mrs. Sherman is getting out of jail. Early. Right now.

Because of the abuse, Josh made...more

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Feb 13, 2008

Jennifer rated it

Shelves: teen-books

I had to read this one after all of the discussion on the sex and objectionable content. It's about a boy who had a sexual relationship with a female teacher in middle school. He's now in high school and is still having a hard time getting past it and his guilt, because he thinks he ruined her life, rather than realizing he was molested. With all of the cases that have surfaced lately, it's good to have a book with a boy in this circumstance, rather than a girl.

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Jul 31, 2009

Ilana rated it

Shelves: young-adult, realistic-fiction

This book is awesome and insane. It puts you in the head of someone who doesn't believe himself innocent and is full of guilt and shame for five years for something that was not his fault at all. It's also written in first person from the perspective of a boy, which is beyond weird for me. Do I really want to be inside a boy's head? No, not really. But I was, completely enough that I was almost as confused as he was sometimes.

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Jan 20, 2012

Stacia ~ platonic rated it

Shelves: young-adult

I was molested. When I was twelve. And everyone else in the world knew it except for me.

One little phrase - one big revelation. How different could Josh's life had been, had he realized this sooner?

No one ever said, "He was wrong, Josh. You're not a little fucking perv."

Boy Toy was a study in the aftereffects of abuse. Written in both present tense, as well as in flashbacks, we see one young man's life fall apart before our eyes over a period of five...more

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Feb 05, 2010

Libro Joven rated it

· review of another edition

First things first: thank you thank you thank you, Barry Lyga!!!!! For finally explaining to me the sexual meaning of baseball bases. I had them more or less figured out, (after tons of times of reading over and over and over again about second base or the importance of getting to third base), but I always had some residual doubts left. So, Barry Lyga is a god. Finally someone who's not ashamed to explain it to non-American people!! (Meaning: people without baseball engraved in their brain, and ...more

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Aug 13, 2009

Heather rated it

Shelves: ya-reads, library

Rating B+

Review There was so much I liked about this book and only a little bit that I didn't like (but it's a pretty major thing).

What I did like: the seduction by the teacher (which, I believe, is actually called "grooming" when it comes to child molestation) scenes are done really tastefully and are told from Josh's POV and are so eye-opening. That sounds weird to say, and you might think, 'Why would you want to have your eyes opened to that?' And I guess the...moreRating B+

Review There was so much I liked about this book and only a little bit that I didn't like (but it's a pretty major thing).

What I did like: the seduction by the teacher (which, I believe, is actually called "grooming" when it comes to child molestation) scenes are done really tastefully and are told from Josh's POV and are so eye-opening. That sounds weird to say, and you might think, 'Why would you want to have your eyes opened to that?' And I guess the reason I found this book so fabulous is that every year I volunteer at a camp for kids who are in the CPS system because they've been abused (physically or sexually) or neglected. It's reality, but everyone likes to pretend it doesn't happen. But I think books like this, that show how it can happen even in white middle-class America, and the effects it has on kids, can help open the discussion up so that we can start to really address the underlying issues and start to move toward solutions.

Lyga thanks a number of people at the back of the book in the acknowledgements section, but I didn't see anyone who gave him insights into the psychological profile of sexually abused kids. I don't know if he did a lot of reading, or how he did it, but Josh's confusion and misinterpretations and latent manifestations of the misplaced shame and guilt were so poignant. Very well done.

What I didn't like: The resolution of the student/teacher situation. Most notably I didn't like how it happened, or more specifically, where it happened. The situation was just so unbelievable. And everything else up to that point (up to page 392 of 410) was so believable and well done that it just left a sour taste at an otherwise exceptionally well written book.

This book isn't funny or exciting or even easy to read. But it's good and worth your time. Sure, most teens who might pick up this book are past the point where they might be prime targets for predators, but this book is fantastic reading material for parents of young children and tweens. I don't mean this to be all, "Lock up your children!" because it's more than that. It's about abuse and its effects (there are long-term effects to all forms of abuse) and it shows what life after abuse is like for the victim (and a small glimpse at the life of the predator).

I don't know that this is the best book I've ever read from a literary stand-point (okay, I know it isn't... the dialogue was really lacking in some parts), but the way the subject matter is handled earned this a good grade in my book.

Recommendation Anyone who doesn't want to have their head stuck in the sand. (less)

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Apr 17, 2008

K Nolfi rated it

Oh how I hated this book. It's way too long. Like, I'm not fazed by sex talk and I didn't think it was too explicit but it made the character one dimensional to me. If the point was that sex was the only lens he had for viewing people and that he thought was a disgusting perv, that's fine. But it didn't make an interesting complex character. If I read this book as a younger person, I would be uncomfortable with his objectification of women's bodies. And again, if that's the point, that hi...more

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Mar 27, 2008

Jennifer rated it

Shelves: teen-reality

Interesting take on the tteacher as predator, it is the female teacher and the boy is in 7th grade. Very Mary Kay LeTourno. I like the complexity of the impact of the relatio0nship on teh boy not the typical acting out, getting bad grades, turning to drugs you might expect. it was the guilt, and complete isolation he put himself under that was interesting. ASlso, his own complex emotions about the teacher. he liked her on some levels, he wanted her on soem levels too. But the book NEVER blames t...more

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Aug 10, 2011

Andrew Porteus added it

Boy Toy is a disturbing look at the life of Josh Mendel from the time he was sexually abused by his seventh grade teacher, Eve, until the end of high school. It portrays his relationship with his friends, family, other students, teachers, and team-mates both before and after the abuse, but most of all deals with the maelstrom of emotional and psychological issues that he must deal with. These are brought to the forefront when Josh accidentally reconnects with Rachel, a childhood buddy, after avo...more

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Feb 03, 2012

Allison rated it

Shelves: ya-realism

"Josh Mendel has a secret. Unfortunately, everyone knows what it is.Five years ago, Josh’s life changed. Drastically. And everyone in his school, his town—seems like the world—thinks they understand. But they don’t—they can’t. And now, about to graduate from high school, Josh is still trying to sort through the pieces."

I don't ever really go around picking up books and saying to myself, "I seriously hope this is like Lolita..." but I did with this one. I knew it ...more

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Dec 30, 2011

Brittany rated it

To be frank, I thought Boy Toy was very offensive. Sexual abuse victims heal at their own pace, at their own time. It rubbed me the wrong way to see the side characters criticize Josh for his feelings and his inability to move on. Telling someone to simply "get over" it doesn't help them...get over it. It's not as if abuse victims don't want to move on. Many just don't know how to. Nobody ever tried to understand where Josh was coming from and I didn't like that. Actions do speak loude...more

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Nov 15, 2011

Wesley Mcginnis added it

Shelves: 2010-2011-advisory-m-lau

The book Boy Toy by Barry Lyga was a very informative and thought provocative novel about a boy named Josh who was sexually harassed by his teacher as a child. When Josh was 10 his teacher convinced him that she loved him and they embarked in a secretive illegal relationship that lasted about seven months. It ended when Josh at his birthday party attacked a girl he liked in a closet and while explaining to his mom what happened he let it slip that he was having a romantic relationship with his...more

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Oct 02, 2011

Marriah Levesque rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 22, 2011

Miriam rated it

Shelves: ya

Risk of retraumatization for those with sexual misconduct-related trigger issues.

Five years ago, Josh was twelve and sleeping with his history teacher, Mrs. Sherman, a fact which came to light following a disastrous spin-the-bottle game with his best friend, Rachel. Now he’s a senior in high school, the teacher has been released from jail, and when he bumps into Rachel after years of avoidance, he learns that she’s not mad at him for the reasons he thought she was mad at him. And she d...moreRisk of retraumatization for those with sexual misconduct-related trigger issues.

Five years ago, Josh was twelve and sleeping with his history teacher, Mrs. Sherman, a fact which came to light following a disastrous spin-the-bottle game with his best friend, Rachel. Now he’s a senior in high school, the teacher has been released from jail, and when he bumps into Rachel after years of avoidance, he learns that she’s not mad at him for the reasons he thought she was mad at him. And she doesn’t want to stay mad at him; she wants to pick up where they left off. And he’s waiting to hear from his Holy Trinity of colleges while trying to keep up both his straight-A streak and his remarkable batting average.

It’s absorbing, powerful, and really well-written. Josh is an interesting but likable first-person narrator, his pain and issues omnipresent but not melodramatic or maudlin. The lengthy sections in which he goes through his relationship with Mrs. Sherman and its immediate aftermath are particularly stellar, and particularly creepy; the author doesn’t spare us the details of Josh’s first sexual experiences, though he does for some reason shy away from the vaginal intercourse and actions that focused on her body, rather than his. Throughout it all, we can see her manipulations as she carefully works Josh around so that he thinks the guilt lies with him.

In the present-day sections, we can still see the remnants of those manipulations, even after years of therapy and being told that it wasn’t his fault. He is still obsessed with what happened, so much so that he doesn’t realize that while people in his small town know and remember, that it’s not all they think about. He realizes that his best guy friend, Zik, is doing his best by always being there for Josh and never asking about it, but he never, for five years, thought about what that does to Zik and Zik’s friendship with Rachel. And when he does, we see how painful it is for him, how he sees yet another reason for him to apologize.

The major flaw in the modern-day sections is Rachel. She knows what she wants—Josh—and she’s determined to get it. Whether he wants her or not. Their conversations are sometimes painfully reminiscent of Josh with Mrs. Sherman; him demurring, her instructing. Yes, they are the same age and neither is in a formal position of power, but the massive guilt he feels toward her does put her at an advantage over him—and she uses it. She does not respect Josh’s sexual agency—his right to not say yes—and she is emotionally manipulative, using, perhaps unknowingly, some of the same strategies that Mrs. Sherman used. She is presented as a heroic figure putting herself on the line to rescue her friend from his issues, but her actions are reprehensible. Boy Toy took pains to remind us that boys can be raped and taken advantage off; unfortunately, it forgot that men can be raped and taken advantage of, too. Absence of a yes is a no, regardless of gender, and a yes must be freely given, not the result of manipulation or abuse.(less)

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Sep 01, 2011

Beth added it · review of another edition

Shelves: pre-2011-reads

I told myself I wouldn't start blabbing off about books I read pre-2011 while I still had VERY IMPORTANT READING and SCHOOLWORK to get done, but Mello's review (which I would link to if I knew how) inflamed a lot of my old feelings about this book.

The key problem was this:

What do you do with a book whose central point you agree with 100% in principle, but whose execution you wholly disagree with?

Such was my problem with Boy Toy.

At its core, I thoug...more

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Jun 22, 2011

Mello rated it

This was probably one of the most disgusting books I've ever read. Keep in mind, I like Barry Lyga. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl was really awesome. Goth Girl Rising wasn't my cup of tea, but I figured that bad weighed the good and all was well, still. But this? Just disgusting.

Not really in a bad way, either. Well, actually, yes, in a bad way. Okay, you're probably saying "Jesus Lady, you're reading a book about child molestation and you want bubblegum and ...more

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May 25, 2011

Wanett rated it

Wow, was this book...a lot to take in. I have never read anything like this. It is always so interesting to read from a boy's point of view. I think this author really captured the genuine voice of a teenage boy and the feelings of a troubled person extremely well. The portrayal of Josh's emotions about Evelyn, the conflict between wrong and right, the heartbreaking admission that he felt he was the aggressor and the crushing reality check that discovering he wasn't were powerful. "I was mo...more

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May 10, 2011

Rhiannon Ryder rated it

Chapters/Indigo are having their annual 20% off sale on all children's and teen titles, this week, and I couldn't help myself, I had to get one more of Barry's books (among others of course, sale and bookstore are two word that combine to spell Rhiannon's epic wallet disaster).

Josh is eighteen and about to graduate and escape from Brookdale at long last. This should spell the end of his misery, until the beautiful teacher who sexually abused him when he was twelve is let out o...moreChapters/Indigo are having their annual 20% off sale on all children's and teen titles, this week, and I couldn't help myself, I had to get one more of Barry's books (among others of course, sale and bookstore are two word that combine to spell Rhiannon's epic wallet disaster).

Josh is eighteen and about to graduate and escape from Brookdale at long last. This should spell the end of his misery, until the beautiful teacher who sexually abused him when he was twelve is let out on early parole. As he struggles to pick Universities, re-kindle a relationship with the girl who helped expose his abuse when they were 13, and just make it through to graduation, Josh also has to learn to finally find some closure and forgive himself. As if High school wasn't hard enough.

Boy Toy was an amazingly crafted book, and it constantly had me thinking about sexual abuse and it's myriad ways of screwing people up more than they would have been on their own. I had honestly never thought of how different sexual abuse may be treated when it was between a teen and a good looking teacher. I immediately thought of Mary Kay Letourneau, the teacher charged in 1997 of sexually abusing her 12 year old male student who later married her upon her release from prison. It's exceedingly strange that people think differently about abuse between an adult male and a teen girl from the abuse by an adult woman and a teen boy. As if somehow boys are more sexually mature and it's somewhat ok. I love how Barry chooses to approach this, it really had me thinking, and that's an amazing feat for a book about such a difficult subject matter.

The positive moments of Boy Toy were a really nice counterpoint to the very dark narrative of the abuse itself. Josh's friend Zik is a very small character and yet I think Josh's story might be a lot harder to read if it wasn't for his simple support.

A thought provoking story, proving Barry Lyga is an author to watch. Be aware there is sexually explicit scenes in his descriptions of the abuse. If that's something you're uncomfortable with then please take a moment to consider the context before saying no to this story. It's one I think everyone should read.
(less)

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Jan 08, 2011

Chody Joi rated it

"All of them adults and all of them full of shit.
We can know what love is. It's adults who have forgotten, substitute and yell at kids who dare to live with real love. Pure love. Love without compromise or distraction. Hell, when you're a kid you've got all the energy and all the free time in the world. You'll never have the chance to devote more to love ever again in your life." -Page 386

It was sickeningly sweet and so realistic, it was like you were part of his life. T...more

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Nov 11, 2010

Kiana Jennifer rated it

· review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Kiana LeGro
English C
Boy Toy
By: Barry Lyga (410)
Barry Lyga’s stomach churning story, Boy Toy, is focused on one unfortunate kid, Josh Mendel. Josh is the kind of kid who’s got gifts; great ball skills, and a great mind. He’s the type of guy who gets straight A’s in all his classes from elementary to high school, and whose name is known by all in the city for how well he hits in baseball. But Mendel’s got a dirty secret, one that everyone knows.
From the moment he la...moreKiana LeGro
English C
Boy Toy
By: Barry Lyga (410)
Barry Lyga’s stomach churning story, Boy Toy, is focused on one unfortunate kid, Josh Mendel. Josh is the kind of kid who’s got gifts; great ball skills, and a great mind. He’s the type of guy who gets straight A’s in all his classes from elementary to high school, and whose name is known by all in the city for how well he hits in baseball. But Mendel’s got a dirty secret, one that everyone knows.
From the moment he lays eyes on Evelyn Sherman, his seventh grade history teacher, he cannot stop lusting after her. When she begins to invite him to her house, and purposely treats him as an adult, he falls prey to her trap.
Eve, as she tells him to call her, has sexual relations with Josh for months. They keep themselves as discreet as possible from everyone, including Eve’s husband, and Josh’s parents.
They are discovered by a simple game of spin the bottle, played by Josh and his best friends Zik and Rachel, along with Zik’s girlfriend Michelle in Rachel’s basement. The two girls, Michelle and Rachel, had specifically devised this game so that Rachel would get to go into a closet with Josh, and Michelle would have her alone time with Zik.
Rachel never expected that in that closet, Josh would use his skills that he’d inherited from Eve on her. Eve was a grown woman, and was able to take the force in bed like pleasure. Rachel, however, was not.
When her underwear was ripped, Rachel ran out, screaming and crying, leaving the fabric in a disoriented Josh Mendel’s hands. From there, people were called and Josh was being accused of rape.
When his mother asked why he would do such a thing, Josh slipped about Eve. From there, things went to court. Eve, of course, pleaded innocent, and Josh, not wanting to turn in his lover, kept silent, causing fines and other legal charges to be put on his parents.
Finally, after seeing how badly it had affected the Mendel family, specifically Josh, Eve pleaded guilty, and was sent to prison. But five years later, she was released.
When she was, Josh panicked. This was the woman who put him through so much. After she was sent off to prison, Josh was angry. He felt so embarrassed and that resulted in anger. He would sock you in the jaw if you looked at him the wrong way. After a long while of smacking people around, Josh just wanted to be invisible. He focused his life on just himself. He only worried about himself, and barely had any other human contact besides Zik and his parents. He still amazed the school with his work, but he didn’t do much else there, besides baseball, of course. And even that became centered around himself. In his mind, baseball wasn’t a team sport. You didn’t have to worry about anything but you, the ball, and the bat.
So Josh soon came to be the school’s pariah. Everyone was in awe at his story. Here was a kid who could play ball like nobody’s business, get straight A’s in every class with both hands tied behind his back, and got laid by the hot history teacher on a daily basis. On top of all that, rumors spread of almost sexual incident in Rachel’s closet. He avoided her, and all other girls as much as possible. Zik was the only person he could confide in now. And they didn’t even talk about what happened.
So Josh found himself cautiously looking left to right, expecting Eve to be anywhere at any given moment. But that’s not Josh’s only problem.
Right around the same time Eve’s let out of jail, Rachel weasles her way back into Josh’s life. She almost forces Josh to be with her, and for good cause. Rachel knows the harsh problems Josh has had to face, and she wants him to see that it doesn’t always have to be this way.
Throughout time, Josh realizes many things. He gets ideas knocked into his head by his friends, family, his new girl friend, and even Eve. These ideas and realization help Josh realize that life isn’t about just you, and this is the theme of the story. There are other people in life no matter what. He applies that thought everywhere, including baseball. Because he knows that, “in order to hit a homerun, someone else has to pitch the ball.”
I rated this story a four out of five because although it was an amazing read, it makes any girl uncomfortable to read about sexual abuse. It happens more often with females, and the thought of it has always made me shiver. And for that reason, I could not give this book five stars.
(less)

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Oct 15, 2010

Brooke rated it

Shelves: books-i-want-to-own

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 06, 2010

Barky rated it

Shelves: disturbing, teacher-student-affairs, relationship-problems, relationships, sexual-abuse, sex, young-adult-fiction, post-traumatic-stress-disorder, received-review-copy, donated-to-the-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. When Josh was twelve, he was sexually involved with his twenty-four year old teacher, Eve. She was young and pretty, he was physically and intellectually more mature than most kids his age. To Josh, it seemed like their relationship developed slowly, naturally. Eve was doing a research project and she needed Josh to be her test subject. Josh’s parents were always working, so arranging for Josh to stay late after school or go to Eve’s apartment was preferable to him coming home to an empty ho...moreWhen Josh was twelve, he was sexually involved with his twenty-four year old teacher, Eve. She was young and pretty, he was physically and intellectually more mature than most kids his age. To Josh, it seemed like their relationship developed slowly, naturally. Eve was doing a research project and she needed Josh to be her test subject. Josh’s parents were always working, so arranging for Josh to stay late after school or go to Eve’s apartment was preferable to him coming home to an empty house. Eve’s husband was a video-game designer, so there were plenty of video games around her apartment for Josh to play. It was ideal in so many ways. But then things got more intimate, and Josh was way too young for what happened next.

He started having the flashes – where vivid memories of past events would take him away from the present. He couldn’t stop thinking about Eve. And then he ended up in a closet with a friend of his, Rachel, and she wanted to make out. But Josh didn’t have any idea of what normal thirteen-year-old making out was like. So he did something that scared her and that’s when everyone found out what had happened to him. And Eve went to jail.

Now, it’s several years later and Eve’s getting out of prison on good behavior. Josh is still broken in ways that he can’t fully understand. He hasn’t talked to Rachel since the closet incident; he avoids Rachel like his life depends on it. But they run into each other one night and she gets him thinking about what happened and talking about it. Their new and fragile friendship begins to deepen, but Josh knows that he can’t go anywhere with Rachel until he can wrap his mind around what happened with Eve.

Josh’s story is powerful and personal. It will make you squirmy and squeamy and uncomfortable, because that is the nature of the subject. And while you’re in his twelve year-old mind, you won’t know if his relationship with Eve was right or wrong, and you won’t know if she loved him or led him on. Everything that you think you know about how much age difference matters will be set on its ear. So, it’s not for the faint of heart. It is brutally honest and real and extremely well-written. I have no idea to whom I could recommend it, and I’m not sure what I can say about it except what I’ve written here. I hope it finds an audience because Barry Lyga has told a really compelling story.(less)

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Jan 12, 2009

Jaemi rated it

Shelves: ya-fiction, favorites, favorite-authors

When I saw Barry Lyga's bulletin on MySpace about getting a copy of the ARC for his newest book, I jumped on it. And I jumped right in without reading any of the blurbs. Which I generally tend to do if a book grabs me in its first sentence. So by the time I realized where it was all headed, it was too late to stop or go back or put it down. Because it's a great story. And I give unending kudos to Barry for writing it. And I know there are going to be a lot of people who are going to be up in arm...more

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Jan 28, 2012

Chris rated it

Others have certainly covered enough of the detail of this book's storyline so I really don't need to get into that. On the whole, Boy Toy is really out of the ordinary for what I've read of Teen/YA lit thus far, and in both bad and good ways. First, the bad. the women in this story were basically stereotypes: hot teacher, slutty mother, vapid best friend's girlfriend, girl next door, and that's about it. Everyone else was basically male. This has been touched on in other reviews, and while I am...moreOthers have certainly covered enough of the detail of this book's storyline so I really don't need to get into that. On the whole, Boy Toy is really out of the ordinary for what I've read of Teen/YA lit thus far, and in both bad and good ways. First, the bad. the women in this story were basically stereotypes: hot teacher, slutty mother, vapid best friend's girlfriend, girl next door, and that's about it. Everyone else was basically male. This has been touched on in other reviews, and while I am not defending it (and certainly think that Lyga might have fleshed the characters out quite a bit more), I think the man is genius for putting us, the readers, into the mind of a teenage boy. We see the characters as Josh sees them, and I believe that were he given a chance to narrate this 5 years down the road, we would be given a different book. But what we are given is what is there right now, the thoughts of a high schooler. The second bad part was that I think the fantasy section of the 'times with teacher' were too provocative. This is supposed to be a book geared toward teens, and it felt in places more like erotica. I think Lyga put it together well, but at the same time it seemed a little like he was writing for his own gratification. Tone it down slightly and it would be acceptable. Also, the ending feels like it was just slapped on there. no one heals that fast.
All of that said, I think this was a work of genius. The same way that Thomas Harris, author of Silence of the Lambs, has the reader disgusted with themselves for really empathizing with Dr. Lecter is the same thing that Lyga does here. This in my mind is somewhat miscategorized as anything other than psychological...something. Not exactly thriller at all, but I think the book is getting so much flack in reviews because readers are 1) disgusted with themselves for wondering if Eve really is at fault at times (because we are inside Josh's mind) and 2) because readers really aren't getting at what Lyga is trying to get across.

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Jul 27, 2011

Ubalstecha added it

Barry Lyga's second novel is a tour de force. This is not an easy ready, but it is an important read. By choosing the male victim of molestation by a female teacher, Lyga is taking on the myth of the older woman intiating a young man into the arts of love. He is also pointing out that not all peodophiles are men.

Lyga walks a very fine line in this book between explotation literature and moralism. In doing so, he hits just the the right note. Lyga has created a main character who is not just...more

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Jul 12, 2011

Lyndicals rated it

Shelves: must-reads

Holy CHIZZZ!! It is like 4 o'clock in the morning and I just finished reading this book...yeah I'm crazy I know but, I don't care...I absolutely looovvveedd this book it is amazing.

Barry Lyga somehow put humor in this incredible story that just made me love it even more. I don't know why this book is just so compelling to me..it has the issue of molestation in it which is a very touchy subject...of course....but I can not describe the way this book made the subject matter out in a se...more

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May 26, 2011

Lourdes rated it

I choose to read this book because I had some friends tell me how good of a book it was and since I had heard a little summary about it I thought it would be an interesting book to read after all. The genre of this book was like teen fiction/non-fiction because I think it is possible for someone to go through something similar like this boy. The setting of this book takes place at school, Eve’s apartment, baseball games, park, and his house. Josh doesn’t like when people look at him, he assume...more I choose to read this book because I had some friends tell me how good of a book it was and since I had heard a little summary about it I thought it would be an interesting book to read after all. The genre of this book was like teen fiction/non-fiction because I think it is possible for someone to go through something similar like this boy. The setting of this book takes place at school, Eve’s apartment, baseball games, park, and his house. Josh doesn’t like when people look at him, he assumes that everyone knows he was the kid that had a relationship with a teacher. He has only had one true best friend since 7th grade which has been Issac which he knows as Zik. Josh is traumatized with what happened between him and his history teacher Evelyn Sherman best known as Eve to him. He hasn’t been able to open himself up with anyone since then so he tries to avoid everyone but Zik, he likes it that Zik doesn’t ask him any questions about what happened with Eve.

It all started out back in 7th grade…Zik and Josh had history class together and they both shared the opinion about thinking that Mrs. Sherman was hot. There was a snow storm one day and he missed the bus and there was no one home to take care of him so he went back inside to ask the office for help. There he found Mrs. Sherman, the principal, and the secretary. Mrs. Sherman offered to take care of his situation and call his mom. Josh’s mom wasn’t home from work yet and neither was his dad. Mrs. Sherman told his mom that she could take josh home with her until she came by to pick him up. That day he met George Mrs. Sherman’s husband. Josh was really happy while he was at their house because they had an X-Box and he played for a while since his parents didn’t want him to have one. One day he wrote this paper and when he handed it in to Mrs. Sherman she wrote on it a “see me after class” note, he thought that maybe he had done a bad job writing it. It turned out to be that she loved it and told him that she was writing a research paper and wanted to see if she could get interviews with him about the topic. That’s how he ended up going to her house after school every day. Mrs. Sherman arranged it all with his parents to be bringing him home every day. One day she felt really tired and went to lie down in bed and told josh that he could go and play x-box and that they’d leave the interview for some other day because she wasn’t feeling so good. Josh turned on the tv and he saw that there was a dvd in there he saw some part of it... which turned out to be some type of porn video. He went to Mrs. Sherman’s bedroom to tell her about it because he thought it might have been her husband watching it. He found her sound asleep and was seeing here sleep for a while, the thing is that while she slept he wanted to touch her but he didn’t. When she woke up she went to the living room and saw josh just sitting there. She asked him why he wasn’t playing and he said that he accidently had seen a dvd he shouldn’t of seen. The day after that she told him that she thought it was best if they stopped the research thing because she wouldn’t want his parents to find out she let him seen such a thing. Josh said he wouldn’t tell…as time passed they started to kiss, touch and eventually have sex. She’d always tell him to remember she loved him but she could lose her job if he told anyone so he said he promise no to ever tell. On Rachel’s birthday they were playing spin the bottle and Michelle and Zik stayed outside making out while Rachel and Josh went in the closet…he ended up ripping off her underwear which she reacted badly about. Rachel ran upstairs and immediately her parents go ahold of Josh’s. When his mom got there she asked him why he had done it and he said it was a game like the one he played with E. And once he mentioned the letter E she figured out everything. They started to go courts and well Josh never testified against her. She was the one who pleaded guilty. The conflict was that as years went by he couldn’t look at anyone because he assumed everyone knew about his affair with the teacher. He never spoke to Rachel again after the incident not even to apologize. After all Josh had gone through he couldn’t be with any other girl because Eve’s presence was always there. One day he bumped into Rachel and she started talking to him he was kind of in shock because he couldn’t believe she was talking to him…. who he never apologized to her. Finally after 5 years of not seen her he apologized and he told her everything. Since Eve had gotten out of jail early he went to go look for her and there she told him that he shouldn’t have thought all those years it was his fault because it was really hers she was the one who had planned to seduce him. He was finally able to have a normal relationship with Rachel even though he was going to go to Stranford College.
I thought that the beginning of the book was pretty boring but once you get to the middle of it, it gets interesting. I liked this book but I think that the author could have left some things out like all the batting averages and the sports thing. He could of just made josh like math and not math and baseball so he wouldn’t have to made the beginning so boring but over all I liked the book. I think that this book is appropriate for both girls and boys.
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About Barry Lyga

Barry Lyga is a recovering comic book geek. When he was a kid, everyone told him that comic books were garbage and would rot his brain, but he had the last laugh. Raised on a steady diet of comics, he worked in the comic book industry for ten years, but now writes full-time because, well, wouldn't you?

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl is his first novel.

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Books by Barry Lyga

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl (The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, #1)

Goth Girl Rising (The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, #2)

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Quotes from Boy Toy

“See, forgiveness doesn't happen all at once. It's not an event -- it's a process. Forgiveness happens while you're asleep, while you're dreaming, while you're inline at the coffee shop, while you're showering, eating, farting, jerking off. It happens in the back of your mind, and then one day you realize that you don't hate the person anymore, that your anger has gone away somewhere. And you understand. You've forgiven them. You don't know how or why. It sneaked up on you. It happened in the small spaces between thoughts and in the seconds between ideas and blinks. That's where forgiveness happens. Because anger and hatred, when left unfed, bleed away like air from a punctured tire, over time and days and years. Forgiveness is stealth. At least, that's what I hope.” — 23 people liked it

“Anger and hatred, when left unfed, bleed away like air from a punctured tire, over time and days and years. Forgiveness is stealth.” — 17 people liked it

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