There's no way to review this book without spoilers. Read at your own risk, folks. (view spoiler)[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' (hide spoiler)] More...

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 years.

This isn't the first book I've read a More...

HOLY FUCK!! This book was disturbing, beautiful, awesome, amazing. I stayed up until 4 in the morning reading this. And I had to catch a plane at8. But god it was worth 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 a mistake w More...

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.

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.

I was surprised at what a great read this is. Honestly I was a bit sceptical, I don't like YA written by guys, as a general rule. Too jock-y, too jokey, too hearty, too hokey. They don't usually have an emotional component that resonates with me. But this one completely had a powerful and intense impact on me. Also it's from 2007, and I've been trying to keep up with new stuff, but this felt fresh and new, even though student/teacher affair stories are hardly even news anymore. Remember Mary Kay More...

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...

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 reason I found this book so fabul More...

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

In BOY TOY, author Barry Lyga takes readers on an incredible journey into a world that, for some, like main character Josh Mendel, is all too real. Josh's life was changed at age twelve when his teacher took the role of educator far beyond the limits of acceptable behavior. Lyga's story does not cut corners or mince words. He is straightforward and direct in telling Josh's story. His graphic descriptions may have earned him criticis More...

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 his teach More...

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...

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...

WOW. I am honestly shocked. This book was amazing. We always find books where a girl was sexually abused by a man, but this is the first book I've read where a boy has ben sexually abused my a woman. And Josh's case was more unique than usual.

We hear Josh's story when he is explaining to his friend Rachel why his actions were what they were five years ago when they were playing Spin the Bottle. His story is what happened with him and his teacher Eve, the led up to him being sexually abused.

Josh More...

When he was twelve, Josh was sexually abused by his history teacher, Eve. Five years later, Eve is released from jail and Josh is at the end of high school, still trying to piece together his life. Boy Toy is unflinching and unsensationalized, a surprisingly robust and level-headed look at the personal effects of sexual abuse. It's utterly joyless as a result, but by no means a bad book. Josh's narrative is inseparable from his history: while not strictly an unreliable narrator, his point of vie More...

So I know this review is going to be controversial, and I know I’m probably going to piss a few people off. I am also very familiar with the place that Josh comes from so I’m not speaking from some “ivory tower”. I have my own story that I will not be sharing. Just so people know that I have this perspective and hindsight is 20/20. I will also be generalizing. When I speak of teens (especially boys) always remember that I mean SOME and not all.

Now as for the writing, I thought it was superb. The More...

Barry Lyga did it again. Simply marvelous! I've never seen an author capture young adult literature nearly so well as Lyga does (I read "I Hunt Killers" a month back, look for my review, it's equally amazing!). One of my professors told me that I absolutely, positively, HAD to read this book. I am soo glad I did.

This young adult novel follows eighteen year old Josh as he tries to come to terms with his shameful past. As a twelve year old he had a relationship with his middle school teacher, the More...

I really liked this book. it surprised me; all the time. i dont usually like reading books by male authors or in a male point of view because i feel like guys dont put enough emotion or description into anything. but id like to thank Lyga for changing my bias point of view.

but yeah, like i said, i enjoyed the book. i couldnt pry my eyes away. i had so many questions.
"whats his secret?"
"who did that to him?"
"why is he having these flickers?"

i finished this book just now tonight to get the answers More...

I'm heartbroken, disgusted, appalled, touched, attached to this book in more ways than one, and I thought that alone, or those feelings alone, already proves how much of a success this bold novel of Barry Lyga is to me. I thought there was something so raw and painful in the 17-year-old protagonist Josh, who was molested by his seventh-grade history teacher when he was 12, that anybody could relate to, be it literally or even just figuratively. This novel should be read by more people, especiall More...

This is the story of Josh, an 18 year old senior who is coming to terms with a relationship he had when he was 12 years old... with his 7th grade history teacher. There is a major ick factor here, especially considering I am a teacher, but I appreciated that the story was told with great empathy and honesty. Josh was sexually attracted to his teacher, so it's not like he was forced to do anything he wasn't willing to do, but he is scarred and damaged nonetheless. The flashbacks showing the devel More...

This book made me uncomfortable and disturbed which means that it fulfilled a part of its purpose right off the bat. I don't think any book about child sexual abuse should make a person relaxed and happy.

I'm a fan of Barry Lyga's writing and I was immediately hooked to this book. I think Lyga writes as a teenager, not as an adult writing a teenager if that makes any sense. The characters are real with all their quirks, flaws and average human-ness.

The story of Josh Mendel who was sexually abused More...

Excerpt:

On the way home, Eve drove with one hand; we held hands over the armrest.
"Did you like tonight, Josh? Please tell me." She pouted. "Yes." Deep down, though, I felt bad. Bad that I'd made her do it. Guilty that she'd felt compelled. Guilty for making a mess, of all things.
"Good. Look, this went farther than kissing, you know. I wouldn't just lose my job if this got out. I would go to jail. You don't want me to go to jail, do you?"
-page 185

Plot Summary:

Josh is an 18-year-old high school More...

this book was pretty strange. which can be a good or bad thing.

SPOILER ALERT

for one thing, the whole idea that josh seduced eve instead of the other way round was pretty creepy but unique as well as that idea that he almost raped or actually raped (i'm not sure which it is) rachel. then there was that whole thing with rachel forgiving him and them actually ending up together and the flickers just going away after he visits eve and finds out the truth. it doesn't really make sense but hey life do More...

"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 was about sexual abuse, and I kne More...

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 h More...

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 thought Boy Toy and I were about to embark on the kin More...

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 flowers?", but More...